Editorial

Review of Religions: September 20012 Islam means ‘peace and submission to the will of Allah’. In these troubled times, this is often forgotten as ‘Islam’ is paired with words like ‘terrorist’, militant and ‘suicide bomber’. Such terms are wholly contradictory to Islamic practice and teachings and one wonders why such a situation has come about. In this month’s Review of Religions, we conclude the article detailing the lives of the Caliphs who succeeded the Holy Prophet(sa). Although once Caliphate ceased the Muslim world still enjoyed many years of peace and scientific development, it was this move away from a leadership, which united all Muslims that eventually led to the break up of the Islamic empire. Muslims began to forget the true meaning of Islam. As the Promised Messiah(as) reminds us in this month’s except from Malfoozat, ‘Success without the Qur’an is an impossible and difficult task and the thought of achieving such success is just wishful thinking. One should keep before one the example of the Companions of the Holy Prophet(sa) and see how they followed the Holy P r o p h e t( s a ) and how they kept their religion paramount, above all else.’ In her article, Aliya Latif reminds us to give faith in Allah precedence over all other distractions and stresses the need for prayer in achieving this. T h i s echoes our selection from Malfoozat where the Promised Messiah(as) writes ‘The key to the victories and successes of Muslims was the strength of their f a i t h . ’ Writing about the state of Muslims in his day, he says ‘Until the Muslims turn to the Holy Qur’an and until there develops in them belief and faith, their situation will not improve. Respect and an upturn in their fortunes will come from the same direction as was the case before.’ It is therefore up to the Muslims of today to remind themselves of the basics of true Islam by referring to the teachings of the Holy Qur’an and the practice of the Holy Prophet(as). Only by doing so can they begin to reverse the destructive image of Islam that is currently in vogue. It is worth remembering the example of the great leader Salahuddin who was revered by both the East and the West because of his exemplarily conduct during times of war. However he was only following the practice of the Holy Prophet(sa) and the teachings of Islam but in doing so he earned himself a place in history. Editorial