Significance of the name.
The name "Islam" was not invented, as in the case of other religions, by those who professed it. This name is, on the other hand, expressly given to this religion in the Holy Qur-án. It says: "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour on you, and chosen for you Islam as a religion" (5:3). And in another place: "Surely the true religion with Allah is Islam" (3:18). It is, moreover, a significant name; in fact, the word "Islam" indicates the very essence of the religious system known by that name. Its primary significance is the "making of peace," and the idea of "peace" is the dominant idea in Islam. A Muslim, according to the Holy Qur-án, is he who has made his peace with God and man, with the Creator as well as His creatures. Peace with God implies complete submission to His will Who is the source of all purity and goodness, and peace with man implies the doing of good to one’s fellow-man; and both these ideas are briefly but beautifully expressed in the Qur-án in the following words: "Yea, whoever submits himself entirely to Allah, and he is the doer of good to others, he has his reward from his Lord, and there is no fear for him, nor shall he grieve" (2:112). That, and that only, is salvation according to the Holy Qur-án. And as the Muslim is in perfect peace, he enjoys peace of mind and contentment. "Peace" is the greeting of one Muslim to another, and "Peace" shall also be the greeting of those in paradise: "And their greeting in it shall be Peace" (10:10). Nay, in the paradise which Islam depicts no word shall be heard except "Peace, Peace," as the Holy Qur-án says: "They shall not hear therein vain or sinful discourse except the word 'Peace, Peace'" (56:25, 26). The "Author of Peace" is also a name of Allah mentioned in the Holy Qur-án (59:23), and the goal to which Islam leads is the "Abode of Peace," as is said in 10:25: "And Allah invites to the Abode of Peace." Peace is, therefore, the essence of Islam, being the root from which it springs and the fruit which it yields; and Islam is thus pre-eminently the "Religion of Peace."
The distinctive characteristic of Islam.
The great characteristic of Islam is that it requires its followers to believe that all the great religions of the world that prevailed before it were revealed by God; and thus Islam, as I have shown its very name indicates, laid down the basis of peace and harmony among the religions of the world. According to the Holy Qur-án, all religions have Divine revelation as the common basis from which they start. The great mission of Islam was not, however, to preach this truth only, which, on account of the isolation from each other of the different nations of the earth, had not been preached before, but also to correct the errors which had crept into the prevailing religions on account of the length of time, to sift truth from error, to preach the truths which had not been preached before on account of the special circumstances of a society or the early stages of its development, and, most important of all, to gather together in one book the truths which were contained in any Divine revelation granted to any people for the guidance of man, and, last of all, to meet all the spiritual and moral requirements of an ever-advancing humanity, Thus, as a distinctive characteristic of its own, Islam claims to be the final and the most perfect expression of the will of God; as the Qur-án says: "This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favour on you, and chosen for you Islam as a religion" (5:3). What it has in common with all religions is that it is a revealed religion like them, while it is distinguished from them in being the final and perfect revelation of God. Hence the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and
