The Arabic word commonly translated as "religion" is deen. "Religion" is a fairly good translation, but as many will point out, there is a problem in the modern idea of religion that diminishes the value of the word for this translation. (This is a linguistic argument, not a point to make against modernity.) Religion has come to mean different things because of secular cultural pressure, a common influence in definitions: Religion may mean certain hollow rites that people do during certain seasons of the year; or peculiar acts taken over by culture or family pressure, although they once were connected to devotion; or charming involvement with some vague tradition, with shades of transcending meaning or none at all, stuff that add color to how we live. The relationship of religion binding with the unseen and the Hereafter has become almost vestigial. That really creates a translation problem for deen (although "religion" is still hard to replace, if not impossible). "Religion" means literally to "reconnect" or "form a bond," namely, to bind one's will with God ("lig" as in "ligature," to tie together something, and "ligament," the connective tissue that binds bone to bone). "Religion" has lost its sense of a way of life, for if you connect with God, it becomes a relationship that takes over.

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