We will try to answer these fundamental questions:
1) What is the Koranic DEEN, usually (but quite imperfectly) translated 'religion'?
2) What is the Koranic 'Islam'? What does it mean within the Koranic context? Is it written that often?
3) Who are the Koranic 'Muslims'? Are they called to follow hadiths or the previous scriptures?
4) What is the Koranic 'Shariah'? For it is mentioned 4 times...
The Deen mentioned in the Koran resembles to the Vedic concept of Rta (Rita) and Dharma, and the old Egyptian concept of Ma'at!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maat" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Vedic Rta (Rita)Maat, Ma'at, Māt or Mayet, thought to have been pronounced [muʔ.ʕat], was the Ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice. Maat was also personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, and the actions of both mortals and the deities, who set the order of the universe from chaos at the moment of creation....
The significance of Maat developed to the point that it embraced all aspects of existence, including the basic equilibrium of the universe, the relationship between constituent parts, the cycle of the seasons, heavenly movements, religious observations and fair dealings, honesty and truthfulness in social interactions. The Ancient Egyptians had a deep conviction of an underlying holiness and unity within the universe. Cosmic harmony was achieved by correct public and ritual life. Any disturbance in cosmic harmony could have consequences for the individual as well as the state.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E1%B9%9At%C3%A1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
So the Koranic Din means the inside/out Cosmic Order, as performed by the stars and the trees.... emphasized in surah 57.1-3: All that is in the heavens and the earth glorifieth Allah; and He is the Mighty, the Wise. ---His is the Sovereignty of the heavens and the earth; He quickeneth and He giveth death; and He is Able to do all things. ---He is the First and the Last, and the Outward and the Inward; and He is Knower of all things.In the Vedic religion, Ṛta (Sanskrit ऋतं ṛtaṃ "that which is properly joined; order, rule; truth") is the principle of natural order which regulates and coordinates the operation of the universe and everything within it. In the hymns of the Vedas, Ṛta is described as that which is ultimately responsible for the proper functioning of the natural, moral and sacrificial orders....
Ṛta and Dharma
Already in the earliest Vedic texts, Ṛta as an ethical principle is linked with the notion of cosmic retribution. A central concept of the Ṛgveda is that created beings fulfil their true natures when they follow the path set for them by the ordinances of Ṛta, and failing to follow those ordinances was thought to be responsible for the appearance of various forms of calamity and suffering. Committing one's actions to the governance of Ṛta, referred to as its "Dharma", was therefore understood as imperative in ensuring one's own well-being.
In this vein, the individual who follows the ordinances of nature can be described as one who acts according to the "Dharma of Ṛta". Dharma, then, was originally conceived of as a "finite or particularized manifestation of Ṛta inasmuch as it represents that aspect of the universal Order which specifically concerns the mundane natural, religious, social and moral spheres as expressed in ritualistic regulations, public laws, moral principles and laws of nature".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deen_%28Arabic_term%29" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
The Mazhad or school of laws instituted man-made regulations on behalf of God, hijacking and bypassing the Koranic injunctions not to do so.How the term Dīn came to be used in Islamic Arabia is uncertain, but its use in modern Persian may derive etymologically from the Zoroastrian concept, Daena, which represents "insight" and "revelation", and from this "conscience" and "religion". Here, Daena is the Eternal Law, which was revealed to humanity through the Mathra-Spenta ("Holy Words"). Alternatively, the Hebrew term "דין", transliterated as "dīn", means either "law" or "judgement" (so written in Q.1.4).... The term is often translated in parts of the Qur'an as "religion". However, in the Qur'an itself, the act of submission to God is always referred to as Dמn, rather than as Muzdhab (Urdu Mazhab), which is the Arabic word for "religion."
So, again, we must turn to the Hindu concepts of Dharma and Rta to understand its far reaching implications.
How come this got into Islam is a mystery to me but even Allah has all the characteristic of the Vedic Varuna!
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism/ve ... asp#varuna" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
How Varuna came to be portrayed as Allah totally escapes me for the time being... But the link is there for us to see!In Varuna we see the earliest signs of an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God, the precursor of the Upamishadic Brahman. Varuna is the ruler of the worlds, the ordainer and enforcer of law and upholder of the world order....
Varuna is the knower of all and controller of all. He is supreme God capable of controlling and dispensing justice.... If two people talking together, beware that Varuna is there watching every thing that is going on.... Varuna is the protector, ''the Holy One, helper of all mankind, the law maker whose holy laws remain unweakened.'' Together with Mitra, he controls the world order, Rta and when people transgress the moral order and commit sin, he knows and punishes them. But if they repent and seek forgiveness, he forgives them too.
Even the relation between Allah and ar-Rahman (the Beneficent) is but a duplicate of the Varuna/Mitra co-existence!
2. Islam (it must be connected to the Islamic SLM, and to the Samaritan Aslama).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-L-M" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
So the translation of Din by 'religion' is shrinking its meaning. It doesn't truly means 'to surrender' which is a religionist's fallacy. It is best translated by ''Being at Peace with God's Universe'' ! Whatever and whomever conform to this being ''at Peace with God'' with humility (like Noah and Abraham) is thus in the straight path, even without upholding the Koran. One observes God's order naturally when he humbles himself and don't part away from arrogance.The word إسلام Islām is a verbal noun derived from s-l-m, meaning "submission" (i.e. entrusting one's wholeness to another), which may be interpreted as humility. "One who submits" is signified by the participle مسلم, Muslim (fem. مسلمة, muslimah).
The word is given a number of meanings in the Qur'an. In some verses (ayat), the quality of Islam as an internal conviction is stressed: "Whomsoever God desires to guide, He expands his breast to Islam." Other verses connect islām and dīn (usually translated as "religion"): "Today, I have perfected your religion (dīn) for you; I have completed My blessing upon you; I have approved Islam for your religion." Still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith.
As a verb, it should be understood as 'to aslama' so to surrender, but this is only partially correct, half true. If not a verb but a noun, then Al-Islam must be related to its Semitic root of SLM: Salam, Shlama (Syriac), Hebrew Shalom, Arabic Salema, Ethiopian Selam: peace be with you. Thus, the verb aslama cannot solely means to surrender. It carries the idea of surrendering in order to make peace, to come at peace with. Its origin is most obviously from the Samaritan book 'Memar Marqah': to be at peace with God, ie. to give up sectarian arrogance and all kinds of earthly vanities.
This 'religion' is not to abide to any earthy code of laws as portrayed in the hadiths' fallacy. That's the meaning behind the word Mazhab (school of laws to be obeyed) which are indeed religions, contrary to the Koranic injunctions (25.30-31): Allah suffices for a Guide and Helper! That's the Din of Abraham, the straight path and we shall see that this Din includes the Shariah to be followed. And Abraham didn't have a Koran to follow, yet was exemplary!
3) Who's a Koranic Muslim? Well, the stars, the trees and also Abraham who didn't have a Koran! Moses (46.12) and Jesus' disciples were Muslims (5.111), just like everything in the Cosmos. 55.1-9: ''The Beneficent Hath made known the Qur'an. He hath created man. He hath taught him utterance. The sun and the moon are made punctual. The stars and the trees adore. And the sky He hath uplifted; and He hath set the measure, That ye exceed not the measure, But observe the measure strictly, nor fall short thereof.''
http://www.answering-islam.org/Mna/muslim.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
22.78: And strive for Allah with the endeavour which is His right. He hath chosen you and hath not laid upon you in religion any hardship; the faith of your father Abraham (is yours). He hath named you Muslims of old time and in this (Scripture), that the messenger may be a witness against you, and that ye may be witnesses against mankind. So establish worship, pay the poor-due, and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protecting friend....Arabic muslimun is the stem IV participle of the triliteral S-L-M "to be whole, intact". A literal translation would be "one who wants or seeks wholeness", where "wholeness" translates islāmun. In a religious sense, Al-Islām translates to "faith, piety", and Muslim to "one who has (religious) faith or piety". According to the Quran, Abraham was ancestor of the Muslims by his covenant with God.
http://www.mohammedislam.info/muslim.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
In the Koranic language one who attacks Islam is bound to lose, a simpleton kafir, for it is like Don Quixote charging the windmills !One of the verses in the Qur'an makes a distinction between a mu'min, a believer, and a Muslim:
The Arabs of the desert say, "We believe." (tu/minu) Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" (aslamna) for the faith (al-imanu) hath not yet found its way into your hearts. But if ye obey [Allah] and His Apostle, he will not allow you to lose any of your actions: for [Allah] is Indulgent, Merciful ('The Koran 49:14, Rodwell).
According to the academician Carl Ernst, contemporary usage of the terms "Islam" and "Muslim" for the faith and its adherents is a modern innovation. As shown in the Quranic passage cited above, early Muslims distinguished between the Muslim, who has "submitted" and does the bare minimum required to be considered a part of the community, and the mu'min, the believer, who has given himself or herself to the faith heart and soul.
Ernst writes: "The Arabic term Islam itself was of relatively minor importance in classical theologies based on the Qur'an. If one looks at the works of theologians such as the famous al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the key term of religious identity is not Islam but iman (faith), and the one who possesses it is the mu'min (believer). Faith is one of the major topics of the Qur'an; it is mentioned hundreds of times in the sacred text. In comparison, Islam is a less common term of secondary importance; it only occurs eight times in the Qur'an. Since, however, the term Islam had a derivative meaning relating to the community of those who have submitted to Allah, it has taken on a new political significance, especially in recent history."
To be continued...