I believe that belief in God is not some fantasy that one lives and that it requires no "leap of faith." I believe that signs of God's pesence are all around us. I believe the very simple notion that one atom can produce such devastating energy as we see in atomic reaction and yet billions of atoms can form a human being who needs a crutch to stand up.. This simple yet very complex creation of the atom alone is a testament to the brilliance, power and ingenuity of the one who made it. His infinite power and wisdom are amazing. The wonderful cycles that the human mind and body go through as one advances in age. The miracle of the human mind itself. All these tell me that there is one magnificent creator for this universe.
It all made sense in Islam. There weren't that many religions and idelogical clashes in Islam. Islam showed me history from God's perspective. It's not about the Pharaohs or the Romans or the Ottomans or the US. There has always been one battle going on on this planet. Between belief in God and following him and believing in others and following them.
The battle goes on every day within every man and woman and within every small society and every grat nation.. There are those who believe in one God (and call him Allah or Jehovah or Ra) and recognize his commandments and follow them for the sole purpose of pleasing God and there are those who believe in Man. And believe that they can best decide what God is or is not and can best decide which commandments of God to follow and which to forsake.
Islam puts this in perspective. If you read the Quran, you see that Adam was a prophet and called his people to worship God, then Noah, then Abraham, then Isaac and Ishmael, then Jacob, then Joseph and the cycle continues, then came Moses.
Jews were not wrong as some competing faith, Moses was not some Jewish Leader. No, Quran is clear, he too was a messenger of God, one of thousands sent through out time. He brought guidance from God, and the Torah at the time was the beacon of righteousness. And again man chose to follow his arrogance. To contrain the religion of God to people of a certain race, to disobey prpphet after prophet. Then came Jesus with clear miracles and signs from God. Another prophet to correct the path. And again, man corrupted Jesus' message, complicated things into three that are one and one that is three and sons and fathers.. And man taught for doctrine the commandments of man (as Jesus himself foretold). And finally, God sent forth Mohammad, with his greatest beacon ever, the Quran. The guiding light that is unchanged and uncorrupted in 1400 years. Any scholar of Islamic history of any worth would atest to that. There are copies now in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Yemen that are 1400 years old and are exactly the same as the one in my living room. And this has been God's biggest blessing to humanity.
These are my beliefs. The onness of God.. The many messengers trying to guide humanity to God.. The message of God in Holy Books that have been corrupted and finaly Quran the last of the Holy Books and the untainted one. All those messages calling for one thing.. Remember there will be a day of judgement.
This is man's greatest endeavors and his greatest strife. His "Jihad" (which means strife, and struggle, not Holy war) against his own self. The hardest thing for any human is to admit that he does not know best and the he is not the best and the coolest. And this is what Islam is all about.. Islam means to "submit" yourself to God. It is the only religion I know of that is not named after a man or a race or ar an event, but is actually named in its Holy Book by God and named after its Beliefs.