Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), states the following: Allah Almighty says in the Quran: “O you who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly; and follow not the footsteps of the Evil One; for he is to you an avowed enemy.” (Al-Baqarah:208)
He Almighty also says, “Say: Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds; no partner has He: this am I commanded, and I am the first among those who submit to Him.” (Al-An`am: 163).
Faith in Allah has everything to do with every aspect of our lives. We cannot compartmentalize religion or life. Islam requires that we live our whole life, every aspect of life in obedience to Allah. We are not part-time servants of Allah. We belong to Allah. We are for Allah, by Allah and moving towards Allah. We are His servants every moment of our life and we must live our whole life in obedience to Him. Our work, school, athletics activity, family life, economics, politics everything must be according to Allah’s Rules. Whatever He Almighty has allowed is allowed for us, and whatever He Almighty has forbidden is forbidden. All His rules are for our own good and we must live by them.
Religion in Islam is everything and it should be the common denominator in all the activities of our daily life. Our worship is religion. Our business is part of our religion. Our family, our education, our entertainment, our day and our night, and everything is part of our religion.
There is no separation of religion and life in Islam. We must live our whole life according to our faith. We should work hard and give a good example of a servant of Allah. We should not be judgmental towards others. Rather we should be tolerant, logical, kind, and courteous towards all even with those who do not share our faith.
Our religion (Islam) is not against common sense rules and it recognizes that people of other religions and cultures also have a lot of good things and we can share with them those common values and cooperate with them.”