The main items in this Islamic prescription are:

1. Prayers (Salah);

2. Zakah or Alms – giving;

3. Fasting (Sawm);

4. Pilgrimage (Hajj);

5. Love for God and His Messenger, love for truth and humanity for the sake of God;

6. Hope and trust in God at all times; and

7. Sacrifice for the sake of God by virtue of actual unselfishness

Various aspects of these items have already been discussed in some detail, and here we have only to add that without these fundamental elements there can be no true Faith as far as Islam is concerned. The reader is advised to refer to the previous sections of this work.

The Intellectual Life

The intellectual nature of man is made up, as already mentioned, of mind or intelligence or reasoning power. To this aspect Islam pays extraordinary attention and builds the intellectual structure of man on most sound foundations which may be classified as follows:

1. True knowledge based on clear proofs and indisputable evidence acquired by “experience” or experiment or by both. In this connection it is safe to say, beyond doubt, that the Qur’an is the first authority to enjoin zealous quest for knowledge through “experience” as well as experiment, meditation and observation. In fact it is a Divine injunction incumbent upon every Muslim, male and female, to seek knowledge in the broadest sense of the word and search for truth. Nature and the whole universe are open and ever revealing treasures of knowledge and truth, and the Qur’an was the first book to point to these rich sources of knowledge. It does not accept inherited “truths” or claimed facts which have no proof or evidence to substantiate them. As far as we have been able to know, the Qur’an was the first Scripture to say intelligently: “Why” and to demand proof in support of any conviction or contention (Qur’an, 2:111 and 21:24) The Qur’an itself is an outstanding intellectual challenge; it challenges the human intellect to dispute any Qur’anic truth or produce anything similar to the Qur’an. Open any chapter of the Qur’an and you will find the warmest appeal to search for knowledge through the infinite sources of nature. Devotion to true knowledge is regarded by Islam a devotion to God in the most compensating sense.

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