Islam is a Moderate Religion

Islam is a moderate religion which follows a middle course between exaggeration and negligence, extremism and total rejection of religion. This moderation pervades all acts of worship and rituals.

It is for this reason that Allah ﷻ commands the prophet ﷺ, his companions and the believers at large to observe moderation, which can be realised by doing two things:

The Qur’an says, “Keep to the right course as you have been commanded, and also those who turn with you to Allah, and do not exceed the bounds. He sees what you do.” (Soorat Hood, 11:112)

This means: Be steadfast in following the truth, to the best of your ability, without overstepping the limits through exaggeration and extremism.

Once, while teaching his companions one of the rites of pilgrimage, the prophet ﷺ warned them against going to extremes, pointing out that doing so was the reason behind the destruction of past nations: “Beware of extremism in religion, for the only thing that destroyed those before you was extremism in religion.” (Sunan Ibn Maajah: 3029)

That is why he also noted, “Take upon yourself only those actions for which you have the strength to carry out consistently.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhaaree: 1100)

On another occasion, he revealed the spirit of the message with which he was sent, namely, not to burden people beyond their capacity but to teach them with wisdom and make things easy for them: “Allah did not send me to be harsh or cause harm, but He sent me to teach [people] and make things easy [for them].” (Saheeh Muslim: 1478)