Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.
Foreword
T
he literal meaning of Islam is submission, that is, submission to God’s will. Submission, in fact, is the name of that natural response from a person to God, the response that is expressed by human beings after their realization of God. It is with this submission that that life has developed which is called a religious life. A person’s quest does not stop here but rather becomes a part of his life in the form of a process of discovery. Now, he discovers his relationship with God. In the process, he realizes that he is not free but has to act at God’s behest and be accountable to Him. This makes him live a God-oriented life.
He discovers that death is not the end of his life, for, another life begins after death, where he will stand before God, so that God may declare His final decision about his eternal future. This process of discovery continues until he realizes that the end of his life is going to culminate in the form of either eternal Paradise or eternal Hell. This quest makes him extremely serious about the course his life should take. Now he plans his life anew. Now he redefines everything. If at first all his activities were self-oriented, now they are God-oriented. It is this very lifestyle which is called Islam.