Bilal Philips - The True Religion of God

"As salamu alaykum wa Rahmat Allah wa Barakatuhu." When Muslims greet each other, the first thing they wish each other is salam. Salam is wished upon everyone in fact, Muslim or non-Muslim. Salam is often translated into "peace." But peace is really a connotation as opposed to a literal meaning of the word. Salam is wholeness and the absence of harm or injury. One of the names of Allah subhanahu wata is "as Salam" which can be translated as the perfect and beyond harm. Wishing salam on a person can thus mean both wishing them physical peace by virtue of wishing the person be free of harm to wishing them the spiritual peace of nearness to Allah subhanahu wata ala. So to all of you, as salamu alaykum. And to my Muslim brothers and sisters, I add, wa Rahmat Allah wa Barakatuhu. May you also be blessed with His Mercy, and receive His Bounty in this life and in the next. Allah subhanahu wata ala has made for Himself the standard of being "ar Rahman" -- a level of Mercy that is hard to comprehend, but basically means that no one can show as much of His creation as much Mercy as He can. But for those who reject Allah subhanahu wata ala, Mercy is limited to this life. So we do not wish them Mercy that Allah subhanahu wata ala would deny them. Instead we wish for those people, no matter how evil or hateful, guidance. For Allah subhanahu wata ala is "ar Raheem," the height of His Mercy is beyond comparison. So for those who become guided, who become Muslim, who submit to the reality of the one God, Allah, the same God of Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, He Forgives everything they ever did before that point. It is a Mercy that no human being could imagine. But it is a proof of the purpose of creation, to worship Him alone. Allah Ho Akbar -- Allah is Greater. So asalamu alaykum to all, and to all of us, may we always be blessed with and cleave to His guidance, for no one can lead astray whom He guides, and no one can guide whom He has left astray. (No Google Video description other than the video title.)