ABSTRACT
The word Islam means, in essence, ‘surrender’ or ‘submission’ and carries the idea of ‘being in peaceful submission’ to God {Allah). The words islam, muslim and salaam are derived from the common Arabic root, s-l-m , and yield the meanings, respectively, of willing active submission (to God); one who makes or practises such submission; and peace. This last term is especially used as a greeting. A Muslim is one who lives life in submission to the Will o f Allah. In Islamic thought, all human beings are bom innately ‘muslim’. This means that everyone is bom according to, and inherently in submission to, the Will o f God, the Creator; it is a fundamental feature of a created being. In the Bible-and of particular importance to Muslims-the wandering Near Eastern patriarch, Abraham {Ibrahim), who lived some two thousand years before Jesus {Isa), provides an originating model o f what it means to be in perfect submission to God, that is, to be muslim or in the state o f islam. For, in complete submission to God’s command, Abraham prepared his first born son for sacrifice. However, at the point where the sacrificial act was to be concluded, God intervened and declared Abraham’s submission to be well demonstrated. Abraham was then directed to a ram caught in a bush close to hand, which he offered as the sacrifice in the place o f his son. The biblical story is recorded in Genesis, Chapter 22, and names the son Isaac {Ishaq), from whom is descended the Hebrew tribes and thus the religion of Judaism.
