Chapter 4/ All About Allah Summary :)

*Again, I kept the questions in mind while completing this summary

• Islam forbids making any representations of God
• God cannot be brought down to the level of human imagination
• In movies and Hollywood, God is portrayed totally wrong thus changing the publics views
• Portrayals of the prophets in movies, TV shows and such are considered blasphemous because in Islam any attempt to represent a prophet is wrong
• The Prophet Moses asked Allah if he may see Him and passed out before he saw Him
• Islam says the He is only one being without division, children or any partner
• The idea of God making any racial preference is ridiculous to Muslims
• The practice of idolatry is also blasphemous
• Every person has to face God alone
• They deny that Jesus died on a cross
• Islam denies the exsistence of Original Sin
• No need for sacrifice from anyone
• Allah is not remote and unconcerned with human affairs
• Taqwa- means awareness of God in your life
• Ninety-Nine Names of Allah. A list of Gods qualities that take away any need to know Gods physical appearance
• God is neither male or female
• Hoowa Allah negates all gender from Gods name

Chapter 3 (Looking at Life the Islamic Way) Summary

I have kept the questions in mind while creating this summarization of the chapter :)

Summary:

• Islam first looks inward as opposed to other religions
• We are all (for the most part) born good but have natural weakness because of our physical nature
• All humans have a desire for pleasure and extreme dislike for pain
• God will judge our conduct throughout life after our physical death on The Day of Judgement, and will be either punished or rewarded
• Three levels of self development: Animal self (Basic instincts and desires), Accusing Self (Higher order questioning our purpose), Restful Self (Focus on Transcending worldliness)
• We are all born sinless
• No child is born with sin, BUT if that childs every craving is fulfilled, and they never learn self-control then the child becomes impatient and unruly
• The aim of the fitrah is to over-ride this and make us want to seek God
• Shaytan= Evil jinn who seeks to corrupt and ruin us so that we will eventually forget God
• God won't allow anyone to change the Qua'ran
• In Islam there is a clear distinction between good and evil
• There are many "major sins" in Islam. For example, Commiting idolatry
• There are many "good deeds" in Islam. For example, Honoring parents
• When you commit a sin , it will be held against you on Judgement Day. The ONLY way to remove this sin is to follow the four-step process of repentance called tawba
• In Tawba you must:

- Feel bad about commiting the sin

- Repent the action to God by saying, "My Lord forgive me."

- Make up for the sin if at all possible

-Resolve never to commit the sin again

• You can save or curse yourself everyday by your belief or lackof, and your actions
• Our sins, if not repented will be held against us on Judgement Day
• The more good you do, the more rewards God bestows upon you
• We each have our own individual record where all of our good and bad deeds are recorded
• Either be sent to Heaven or Hell
• If we wish to enter Heaven but can't for some reason or another, our soul must be repaired before it can enter into Gods presence in the akhirah (next life) in order to be with God and recieve benefits for what true beliefs he/she had and any good done throughout their time on earth