Saturday 22 March 2014

Ja'far Ibn Abi Talib's summary of Islam for the Negus

"... we were a people in a state of ignorance and immorality,
worshipping idols and eating the flesh of dead animals,
committing all sorts of abomination and shameful deeds,
breaking the ties of kinship,
treating guests badly
and the strong among us exploited the weak.

We remained in this state until God sent us a Prophet,
one of our own people
whose lineage, truthfulness and integrity were well known to us.

He called us to worship God alone
and to renounce the stones and the idols
which we and our ancestors used to worship besides God.

He commanded us to speak the truth,
to honour our promises,
to be kind to our relations,
to be helpful to our neighbours,
to cease all forbidden acts,
to abstain from bloodshed,
to avoid obscenities and false witness,
not to appropriate an orphan's property
nor slander chaste women.

He ordered us to worship God alone
and not to associate anything with Him,
to uphold Salah,
to give Zakah,
and fast in the month of Ramadan.

We believed in him
and what he brought to us from God
and we follow him in what he has asked us to do
and we keep away from what he forbade us from doing..."