Difference between "Religion" & "Deen"
Asslamo Allaikum,
In my humble opinion there are lots of Brothers/Sisters who may not be clear about the differences between “Religion” & “Deen”.
Allah (SWT) refers to Islam as “Deen” which is sometimes wrongly translated in English as religion.
A religion generally has following characteristics:
• Someone to worship (Allah in case of Islam)
• How to worship that someone (Follow Sunnah in case of Islam)
• Social Customs (Eid, Aqeeqah, weddings, Walima in case of Islam)
So according to this definition Islam is a religion and in most places where the Brothers/Sisters are living, you are free to practise this Islam.
However as I have said that Islam is NOT a religion, it’s a “Deen” which is a way of life, now a way of life has 4 additional things which are collective:
• An Executive System (Khilafa in case of Islam; most countries in the world are democratic)
• A Judicial System (Laws are based on Qur’aan or Sunnah, laws in most of the world is based on a voting system, if majority votes for a man to marry a man then that’s the law)
• A Financial System: I am going to try to put in context for Brothers/Sister here. Socialism has borrowed the Muslim ideals about helping the less fortunate in society (as commonly admitted by law makers in England) & Capitalism has borrowed “Free Market economy” of Islam (as admitted by Ralph Nader & others)….But Islam believes in NO Interest, Usury or selling of items before they are in someone’s possession (diametrically opposed to today’s banking system & stock market)
• A Collective Social System: (In Islam how you marry, how you divorce, child custody, child support etc; these laws again in most countries are based on democratic voting i.e. if a woman goes to a court & gets a divorce then she is divorced & free to marry or what-ever in direct contradiction to Islam).
Islam is a SYSTEM of Allah (SWT) & it cannot co-exist with another system i.e. democracy, socialism, capitalism or communism because Allah (SWT)’s law must be implemented.
All those who think that they are “free” to practise Islam are taking Islam in the sense of a religion (see definition above); but right now in 2007 Islam as a ”Deen” doesn’t exist anywhere & no one is free to implement or practise it.
P.S: This forum is not the right place to get into a discussion about it.
P.P.S: I am NOT describing Political Islam (because that is the term used by the Kuffar)...I am describing Islam of Allah & His Rasul (Sallaho Alaihe Wassallam)