The Meaning of Deen and Maz'hab
The Arabic term Deen or Maz'hab stands for the word "Religion"
in English. Religion is Human recognition of superhuman
controlling power and especially of a personal God entitled to
obedience, effect of such recognition on conduct and mental
attitude." (OED)
Man by nature is conscious of an Absolute Authority, a Super
Power of the highest order, and the way he thinks and behaves in
his desire to reach or to please that Power, that is religion.
Islam, as a religion, stands for the divinely prescribed code for
disciplining the human Ego or self in its practical life on
earth, to
enable man to raise himself from the abyss of material
degradation towards the sublime heights of eternal heavenly
bliss. Such bliss is in store for those who successfully conquer
the lust for material possessions and physical power and restrain
carnal desires.
Islam is a divinely formulated and perfectly regulated
formula. Expressed in a few words, it is:
Say thou (Oh, our Apostle Muhammad!), My Prayer, my
Sacrifice, my Life and my Death (are all, only) for God,
the Lord of the worlds. (6:163)
It is worth imagining, if man ponders over the complete
implications of this heavenly guidance in its fullness and acts
upon it, how glorious life on earth would Be; there would be no
need for man to aspire to Paradise, For the earth itself would
become a replica of Heaven. This is the spirit and aim of Islam,
the Islam-Original called Shiaism .
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