Islam is a Way of Life, and this Islamic Way of Life is: (1) the way of being human and thus civilized; and (2) applicable to all human beings. It is entirely wrong to view Islam - as most Westerners do - as some sort of 'foreign' religion, or some 'foreign' way of life lived by people in the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere.

For the truth about Islam is that it both embodies, and can make real, those things which make us human, and which thus distinguish us from animals.

Our human qualities are our ability to reason (and the fairness, honour, judgement and justice which arise from using our reason) and our ability to use our 'free' will to change ourselves for the better.

One of the beauties of Islam is that it is a practical way - the ideals, the principles, have to be lived; they have to be made real and made manifest in the everyday life of the individual. Another of the beauties of Islam is that the ideals, the principles, are attainable - for they already have been made real, and a civilized community created by putting them into practice. That is, practical, human, examples of these ideals and principles exist - and all it requires to make these ideals and principles real again in this world, is a sincere intention and a sincere striving on our part. These perfect examples, these ideals, existed in the community the Prophet Muhammad established in Medina.

A Muslim is a person who strives to live in an Islamic way by upholding, championing and striving to follow the ideals and principles of Islam - chief of which is an acceptance, based on reason, of our place in the cosmos and of our duties and responsibilities: to ourselves, to other human beings on this world,  to the other beings on this and other worlds, and to God, the Supreme Being. This acceptance is, in practice, a submission to the Will of God - that is, submission to the Will of Allah  as revealed in the noble Quran and through the perfect example of the Prophet Muhammad.

Islam seems or appears to be 'foreign' to many Westerners simply because the living example which Muslims strive to follow - Muhammad - lived in Arabia many centuries ago.
 

A Question of Identity

In the West (and increasingly in the world due to Western power and influence), this identity derives from one or more of the following:
(1) Our place of birth (and thus from what the West terms our 'nation' or nationality);
(2) Our language and 'culture' - or rather, the language and 'culture' of our parents;
(3) Our gender;
(4) Our social position and/or wealth;
(5) Our employment, trade or our role in the society in which we live;
(6) Our 'politics' or other beliefs.
 

Our identity is a means to try and understand ourselves, the world, the cosmos - and give some meaning, some perspective and some purpose to our lives. Thus, individuals come to consider themselves, for instance, as English, as American, as Pakistani, or as belonging to some nation, culture or 'race' which has a history, and achievements, to be proud of.

A Muslim, however, is the exception to all this. For a Muslim defines their personal identity in relation to Allah because they have fully submitted to the Will of Allah as revealed to us in the noble Quran and the perfect example of the Prophet Muhammad. And it is this relationship to our Creator which defines, establishes and which maintains our very humanity - for from Allah we derive our understanding and knowledge of what is right, what is wrong, how we came to be, who and what we are and thus what the purpose of our life here on this planet is.

In a very important sense, therefore, the Islamic Way of Life - defined through the noble Quran, the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and made manifest in the Shari'ah (Islamic law) - gives a Muslim their sense of identity. This identity is of being a Muslim, and only a Muslim.

For a Muslim, there is only the Islamic Way of Life - and the way of life of the kuffar, the Unbelievers: those who have not submitted to the Will of Allah, through either ignorance of it or through a conscious choice. The reality of Islam is that a Muslim is not an 'English' Muslim or a 'Pakistani' Muslim or an 'American' Muslim or an 'African' Muslim or whatever; they are just Muslims, with a Muslim identity and a Muslim way of life to uphold and be proud of.  For to be fully human - to strive to be and do good, to use our reason and our will, to seek to know and to acknowledge our Creator and Sustainer, the one true God, and to accept His guidance as given by His Prophets - is to be a Muslim.
 

Islam - The Global Culture of Humanity

All other cultures and ways of living are a denial, in whole or in part, of our humanity - in effect, an insolence, an 'overstepping of the bounds' of what is true, right and fair: a refusal to acknowledge our Creator and Sustainer, a refusal to accept that our Creator is One, and the Supreme Being, and refusal to be humble before this Supreme Being.

It is not Islam that is 'foreign' or 'strange' - it is the other cultures, the other ways life of this world. Islamic culture is our true identity, for it expresses our inner nature as human beings. And in an acceptance of this Islamic culture and identity - and only this Islamic culture and identity - lies true peace, for individuals and the world itself.