Landasan Pendidikan Islam ( 3 )

Islam is the only religion of revelation
 

After the Revelations of God perfectly revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, God insists that "On this day I have perfected for you your religion, and I have both ends meet My favor unto you, and I ridhai Islam as your religion." (Qur ' an 5: 3) .
 

This verse clearly states that "Islam" is a religion that is blessed by God. And the word "Islam" in this verse is referring to the name of religion that was revealed by Allah to the Prophet Muhammad. In fact, strictly speaking, the name of this religion called "Islam" perfect after Allah revealed to His Prophet the latter, namely Muhammad. The followers of earlier prophets given the designation as "Muslim", but the name of the previous prophets, did not explicitly named "Islam" as a religion revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Although, all the religion brought by the prophets contain the same core teachings, the teachings of the faith.

 

However, the religions of the prophets before, it's been difficult to ascertain their authenticity, because it has undergone tahrif (changes) of its adhérents. (Surah 2:59, 75, 79).
 

Therefore, should the followers of the previous prophets, such as Jews and Christians, also believe in Muhammad as a prophet of God. The Prophet said:
 

"By the One who controls the soul of Muhammad, no one was both Jews and Christians who heard about me from the Muslims, then he died and did not believe in the teachings that I brought unless it will be the Fire." (Muslim)
 

Because Islam maintain continuity of prophethood, then in the eyes of Islam, Islam is the only religion that maintains continuity of revelation. Therefore, Islam can be regarded as the only religion of revelation. Thus, Islam is the only religion that has a universal ritual, final, and authentic, because Islam has a model (model) the final of all time. The nature of authenticity and universality of Islam has been preserved until now. Although times change, ritual in Islam has not changed. Muslim prayer is the same everywhere. Regardless of time and place. (On the concept of Islam as a "true submission" , see dissertation Dr. Fatimah Bt. Abdillah in ISTAC entitled An Analysis of the Concept of Islam as "True Submission" on the bases of Al-Attas Approach , 1998).
 

As a religious revelation, Islam has many special characters:
 

First , among the existing religions, Islam is a religion whose name is specifically mentioned in the Sacred Scriptures. Names of religions other than Islam given by observers of religious or by humans, such as the Jewish religion (Judaism), Catholic (Catholicism), Protestantism (Protestantism), Buddhism (Buddhism), Hinduism (Hinduism), Confucianism (Confucianism), etc. , While Islam does not. Name of Islam, as the name of a religion that was revealed to Prophet Mohammad peace be upon him, is mentioned in the Koran:
 

"The religion of the pleasure of Allah is Islam." (Qur'an 3:19) . "Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will not be accepted and in the hereafter will be among the losers." (Surah 3: 85),
 

On behalf of Islam as a religion, Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, in his book, Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam, writes:
 

"There is only one genuine revealed religion, and its name is given as Islam, and the people who follow this religion are praised by God as the best among mankind ... Islam, then, is not merely a verbal noun signifying 'submission' ; it is also the name of a particular religion descriptive of true submission, as well as the definition of religion: submission to God. "
 

Second , in the name and concept of God. As the concept of Islamic worldview characterized by an authentic and final characteristics, the Islamic concept of God, according to Prof. Naquib al-Attas, also are authentic and final. That's because, the concept of God in Islam, formulated by the revelation in the Quran which are also authentic and final. The concept of God in Islam has special properties that are similar to the conception of God in other religions, is not the same as the concept of God in the tradition of Greek philosophy; not the same as the concept of God in modern western philosophy nor in the Eastern and Western mystical traditions.
 

God, in Islam, known by the name Allah. Words 'Allah' is pronounced with a certain reading. The word "Allah" can not be spoken in vain, but must conform to the example of the Prophet, as well as readings of passages in the Quran. With the ilmul qiraat based on the chain - which came to the Messenger of Allah - then the Muslims have no problem in naming God. Muslims are no different opinions about the name of the Lord, that the name of God who is God. Thus, the "name of God", "God" is also authentic and final, because it found a strong backup from the chain consecutively reported that up to him. Muslims do not make 'philosophical speculation' for the name of Allah, because the name was already introduced directly by God - the Quran, and directly taught how to recite by Muhammad.
 

Speculation about the name of the Lord be done by the Jews. In the concept of Judaism (Judaism), the name of God can not be known with certainty. Modern Jews only speculate, that the name of their God is Yahweh . The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions explain 'Yahweh' as "The God of Judaism as the 'tetragrammaton YHWH, may have been pronounced. By orthodox and many other Jews, God's name is never articulated, least of all in the Jewish liturgy . »(See, John Bowker (ed), the Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions , (Oxford University Press, 2000). Yahweh is God allegations. Harold Bloom in his book, Jesus and Yahweh , (New York: Berkley Publishing Group, 2005), pp. 127, wrote "How the name was pronaunced we will never know: Yahweh is merely surmise."
 

In the conception of Islam, Allah is the personal name (proper name) of the One, the Almighty, who has a name and specific attributes. The nature of God and His names were already described in the Quran, so it does not give an opportunity to the speculative sense in this matter. God of Islam is clear, namely, God, the One, not begotten and not begotten, and there is nothing whatever like unto Him. (Surat al-Ikhlas). And the creed of Islam is very clear: "La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad ur Rasulullah" - There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah ". The Islamic creed is final and has not changed since the time of the Messenger of Allah until the Day of Resurrection. Muslims around the world - with different cultural backgrounds and different languages ​​- also called and say the name of God in the same way. Therefore, Muslims practically having a fundamental difference in the concept of ' God '.
 

Third , the characteristics of Islam as a religion of revelation can be seen from the worship / ritual in Islam are all based on al-revelation (Quran and Sunnah). Because the authenticity of revelation in Islam, Islam also has the concept of a final and authentic worship, to remain through the ages, and not changing the dynamics of the times. Islam has religious one, that crosses time and place. Whenever and wherever, Muslims perform prayer, fasting, pilgrimage, charity, in the same way, and do not depend on the conditions of time and place. Of course, this is the basic concept, not a concept that enables furu'iyyah differences on a number of issues furu '. However, it should be noted, that only Muslims, who now have a ritual that one. To the mosque where Muslims perform prayer, surely perform morning prayers two cycles, starting from the interpretation of 'Allahu Akbar' and ends with greetings. This tradition is different from the concept of other religions that have different rituals, depending on time and place.