The Meaning of Deen and Maz'hab

The Arabic term Deen or Maz'hab stands for the word "Religion"
in English. Religion is Human recognition of superhuman controlling power and especially of a personal God entitled to obedience, effect of such recognition on conduct and mental attitude." (OED)
Man by nature is conscious of an Absolute Authority, a Super Power of the highest order, and the way he thinks and behaves in his desire to reach or to please that Power, that is religion.
Islam, as a religion, stands for the divinely prescribed code for disciplining the human Ego or self in its practical life on earth, to enable man to raise himself from the abyss of material degradation towards the sublime heights of eternal heavenly bliss. Such bliss is in store for those who successfully conquer the lust for material possessions and physical power and restrain carnal desires.
Islam is a divinely formulated and perfectly regulated formula. Expressed in a few words, it is:
Say thou (Oh, our Apostle Muhammad!), My Prayer, my Sacrifice, my Life and my Death (are all, only) for God, the Lord of the worlds. (6:163)
It is worth imagining, if man ponders over the complete implications of this heavenly guidance in its fullness and acts upon it, how glorious life on earth would Be; there would be no need for man to aspire to Paradise, For the earth itself would become a replica of Heaven. This is the spirit and aim of Islam, the Islam-Original called Shiaism .