ESSENTIAL TEACHINGS OF ISLAM: ONENESS OF GOD AND PEACE
Quranic teachings can be summarized under two broad headings: tawheed, or the Oneness of God, and salaam, or peace. The Quran (36:40) presents the universe as a model of harmony and peace.
The teachings of the Quran (and Islam) can be summarized under two broad headings: firstly, tawheed, that is, the Oneness of God, and secondly, salaam, that is, peace.
Tawheed gives us the Divine ideology of life, which covers man’s entire existence. However, Islamic teachings are not system-based: they focus on the individual. So they cover his thinking, his speech, his behaviour, his everyday dealings, and his spirituality.
Tawheed means that God is One. It is God who has created everything and every being, including man. It is God who has settled man on Planet Earth. It is God who has created the spectacular life support system on Earth. It is God who has created life and death.
Moreover, it is God who will reward or punish man after the man leaves this present world. God is All-Powerful. There is no deity but the one God, and He reveals His guidance through prophets.
Salaam, or peace, is the bedrock of Islam. Without peace, it is impossible to follow Quranic teachings properly. Only a peaceful mind or soul can truly understand the Divine message and act in line with it. Therefore, the importance of peace is not merely theoretical but practical.
In our world, there are millions and millions of people, each with their agenda. A peaceful atmosphere is, therefore, a prerequisite for all people if they are to carry out their respective plans. Without social peace, there can be no constructive activities. In this sense, peace is central to all authentic religious teachings, including the Quran.
The main objective of the Quran is to make people aware of the Creation Plan of God. According to this Divine plan, man has been created as an eternal being. The Creator has divided man’s life into pre-death and post-death phases. The pre-death period of man’s life is that period when he is on Earth and is being put to the test. The post-death period is when man will be rewarded or punished, depending on how he conducted himself in the pre-death phase. The former period is temporary, while the latter period will last for all eternity.
The test of man in the pre-death phase of life is essentially freedom-based. A person who has misused his freedom will be deprived of God’s blessings, while someone who has used his freedom properly will be rewarded with eternal Paradise. The Quran gives all the details necessary to understand this Divine scheme.
The Quran presents the universe as a model characterized by harmony and peace (36:40). When God created the heavens and the earth, He ordered things so that each part might perform its function peacefully, without clashing with any other part. For billions of years, the entire physical universe has fulfilled its function in total harmony with the Creator’s Divine plan. In contrast to the rest of the universe, God has given man freedom. What He wants from a man is that despite having freedom, man should live a disciplined and God-oriented life, just as is being done by the rest of the creation. This is the essence of the Divine plan.
