Islam for Idiots Chapter 2

Food for the Soul

1. It is one of the most memorized passages of the Qur'an and it gives a good introduction to the way in which Muslims view God. 

2. The four things that prove the existence of god according to Islam are;

• The natural world with all its complexity and beauty.
• Our human abilities and capacities for thought, belief, invention, creativity, and moral choices. 
• The revelation of God's guidance and the existence of religion.
• Our inner feelings.

3. "Surrendering to Allah" in Islam means to accept the rulings and teachings of Allah without questioning the wisdom behind them. To make Allah a number one priority in life and to care about pleasing him and not pleasing other people. It also means to submit yourself to him, to humble ourselves, seeking his forgiveness, and saying prayers all the time. Just the word "Islam" itself means to "surrender to Allah."

4. Free will plays a complex role in Islam tradition and it can be hard to understand. There are four premises in Islam; Allah is omniscient, nothing happens except by Allah's will, Allah himself has free will, and Allah cannot make a mistake.  Because nothing happens except by Allah’s will, all human beings are created only according to Allah’s will. Allah is omniscient, Allah knows the eventual fate of every person even before the moment of their creation. Because Allah has free will, he has the free will to create or not create any human being he chooses.

5. When humans appeared as physical creatures on Earth, they would be earned free will, self-awareness, intelligence, reason and moral compass called "Fitrah." Fitrah means natural inclination and its role is to basically help guide humans through life. Reason alone cannot guide our actions that our animal urges plague us. We need a nudge from inside of us to counterbalance the animal within. That is where Fitrah comes in to play. That nudge is our Fitrah, or natural inclination to seek God.

6. The term fitrah literally means, creation; the causing a thing to exist for the first time; and the natural constitution with which a child is created in his mother’s womb. It is for this reason that Muslims prefer to refer to those who embrace Islam as reverts rather than converts, as it is believed they are returning to a perceived pure state.