The word `shalom' and the Syriac `shlama', as well as the Arabic `salam' and `Islam', are of one and the same Semitic root, `shalam', and mean the same thing - a matter admitted by all the scholars of the Semitic languages. Semitic is a subgroup of the Afro-Asiatic language group that includes Arabic, Hebrew, Amharic, and Aramaic.
The verb `shalam' signifies `to submit, resign oneself to' and then `to make peace' and consequently `to be safe, sound, and tranquil'. No religious system in the world has ever been qualified with a better and more comprehensible, dignified, and sublime name than that of Islam. The true religion of the True God cannot be named after the name of any of His servants, and much less after the name of a people or a country. It is indeed this sanctity and the invulnerability of the word `Islam' that strikes its enemies with awe, fear and reverence. It is the name and title of a religion that teaches and commands absolute submission and designation of will and self to the Supreme Being, and then to obtain peace and tranquility in mind and at home, no matter what tribulations or passing misfortunes may threaten us.
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