Free Will

Chapter one


A Total Way of life
I think you will agree with me that a religion is ineffective if it does not demand anything of its followers, or leaves those who have newly entered into it more or less where they were before they embraced it. It becomes a mere set of beliefs or rituals which does not affect the conduct of living.
Islam does not fit this description. Islam is not a mere belief system, an ideology or a religion in the usual sense in which these words are understood. Rather it is a total way of life, a complete system governing all aspect of man’s existence, both individual and collective. It is in fact a religion which frees human beings from domination by their material and animal aspect, and makes them truly human.
We live in an age of tremendous upheaval and uncertainty. People everywhere are grouping anxiously for something that can save humanity, which has lost its way and is on the brink of unprecedented disaster. It may be true that today we live in an area of ultimate in material civilization and progress. However, in the realm of values and morals, mankind appears to be close to bankruptcy.
In the Islamic view, these problem are fundamentally of spiritual nature. They are the result of humanity’s having lost sight of who they are in relation to themselves, to other human being, and above of all to God. In God, being it self, and all human relationship, originate. And until humanity is able to find meaningful and correct answer to the ultimate question, and discover solutions which are compatible with the fundamental realities of existence and their own nature, their lives will remain adrift without a base of direction. Their personalities will be distorted and fragmented, human nature will be abused by permitting its animal part to dominate, and societies will be full of overwhelming problems.
Islam claims to provide answer and solutions which are compatible with reason, the realitiesof the physical universe, and with the human nature itself. For islam is, above all, a view of the total reality. In encompasses the existence and attributes of the creator, humanity’s relationship with Him, their role and purpose in this world, and the relationship between this life and the life of the hereafter. It puts all the exist into proper prospective, and give balance and direction to the lives of human beings and their societies.