The Qur'An Shapes The Life Of An Everyday Muslim

"The Qur'an - does it shape the life of an everyday Muslim?"

Unlike many other religions Islam makes very little distinction between the spiritual and the secular parts of life. Islam means submission to the way of God and this can be seen in the way in which the vast majority of Muslims lead their daily lives through close adherence to the Qur'an and the teachings of the Prophet.

Muslim society is ideological in that the followers of the faith are making a commitment to follow God and to accept the word of God as the truth, basing their concept of good and evil on these teachings. In this way the Qur'an becomes the source of law within Muslim society rather than the laws which are developed by man.

Muhammad was seen as a messenger of God who passed down the words of God which formed the Qur'an. The Qur'an differs in this respect from other religious texts in that it has not been authored or edited by others but presents the words that, it is claimed, are the actual words of God.

In this way Muhammad is seen by Muslims as a vehicle for Gods word and, whilst perhaps not seen as a divine being in his own right, to Muslim society Muhammad is an example of how the followers of the faith should live correctly. The physical details of his life that have been written down in Hadith works were often seen as exemplar behaviour to the extent that many would not eat foodstuffs that Muhammad had not been seen to eat,

This is perhaps an early example of the way in which the life of the Prophet had a direct effect on the lives of ordinary Muslims through a process of conditioning them to accept that to live correctly and in accordance with Gods will they would need to follow the example of Muhammad. This is one example of the controlling influence of Islam (Taw hid) and an indicator of how a follower of Islam has to live his or her life in conformance to many requirements that have been laid down for them.

It could, perhaps, be argued that the lives of Muslims have not so much been shaped by the Qur'an and the example of the Prophet but that their lifestyle and existence on earth has been planned for them through their need to show compliance with their faith, a faith which is more than just a religion and could virtually be seen as a way of life.