What makes an Islamic believer a true and righteous Muslim? Is it by performing religiously the Five Pillars of Islam? Or is it by submitting himself completely by faith to Allah and let Him work things out in his life? Or both?

Every Islamic sect defines a norm of conduct even the posture of prayer. Liberal-minded Muslims stress more the spirit of religion believing that Allah considers more the content of the heart and mind, the motive and reason for the act, than the act itself. But fundamentalist Muslims consider the same intrinsic factors but the letters of the law are given heavier weight. Your religious position lies somewhere along the continuum—either towards the middle or towards the other extreme end. However, as far as Allah is concerned, what is true faith? Let us find the answer from Allah's holy book—the Qur'an and not the man-made tradition or human opinion though how learned the person may be. Let Allah speak and settle this issue!

We are called to be true in faith. The Arabic term for such state is hanifa. There is no other person called hanifa in the Holy Qur-an but Abraham. In Lesson 1, we studied that Allah instituted formally the universal religion of Islam through Abraham. Islam means complete submission of the whole being to Allah. Abraham passed such Faith as a legacy to his sons, mainly: Ishmael and Isaac. In turn, Ishmael passed it on to his descendants-the Arabs and Muslims. Likewise, Isaac passed it on to his descendants-the Israelites (or Jews) and Christians.

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