You will surely reply:
"No sir, such a man is not called Muslim.
A Muslim
is not a Muslim because of belonging to a particular racial group but because of accepting Islam, and if he renounces Islam, he ceases to be a Muslim.
Any person who may be a Brahmin or a Rajput, an Englishman or a Jat, a Punjabi or a black, will be incorporated in the Muslim community on accepting Islam, while another person born in a Muslim home is expelled from the Muslim community
if he gives up Islam, though he may be the son of a Sayyid or a Pathan".
Well, gentlemen! you will surely give the above answer to my questions. So now this fact has been established from your own answer that the greatest boon of God i.e., the boon of your being a Muslim, which you enjoy,
is not a racial asset which you automatically inherit from your parents and which clings to you mechanically all your life whether you bother about it or not, but that it is a boon for acquiring which you must make efforts. If you make an endeavour for it then you can acquire it
and if you don't care for it, it can also be snatched away from you.
May God forbid.
Meaning
of accepting Islam
Now let us go ahead.
You say that a man becomes Muslim by accepting Islam. The question is : What does the acceptance of Islam signify? Does it mean that whoever makes a
verbal profession:
"I am Muslim or I have accepted Islam", becomes a Muslim? , if in the same way a man utters some phrases of Arabic without understanding them, he then and there becomes Muslim?
Now you may tell what reply will you give to this question. Naturally you will answer that the meaning of accepting Islam
is that a man should consciously, and deliberately accept what has been taught by
Muhammad (peace be upon him) and act accordingly.
Whosoever does this,
is a Muslim and whosoever does
not do this, is not a Muslim.
First requirement-
knowledge
From this answer of yours the fact automatically comes to light
that
al-Islam is firstly the name of knowledge and then the name of putting
that knowledge into practice
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shukran:
akhuukum mukhlis
abu ali
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http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/M_foi/