Some basic facts about islam
-
“Islam” means “peace through the submission to
God”. -
“Muslim” means “anyone or anything that submits
itself to the will of
God”. -
Islam is not a cult. Its followers number over
1.85 billion worldwide.
Along with Judaism and Christianity, it is
considered to be one of the three
Abrahamic traditions. -
There are five pillars of practice in Islam.
These practices must be
undertaken with the best of effort in order to be
considered a true Muslim:
A) Shahadah - declaration of faith in the oneness of
God and that Muhammad
is the last prophet of God. B) Formal prayer five
times a day. C) Fasting
during the daylight hours in the month of Ramadan.
D) Poor-due “tax” -
2.5%of one’s savings given to the needy at the end
of each year. E)
Pilgrimage
to Mecca at least once, if physically and
financially able. -
There are six articles of faith in Islam. These
are the basic beliefs
that one must have in order to be considered a true
Muslim. They are belief
in: A) the One God. B) all the prophets of God. C)
the original scriptures
revealed to Prophets Moses, David, Jesus, and
Muhammad. D) the angels. E)
the Day of Judgment and the Hereafter. F) the divine
decree (or destiny). -
Islam is a complete way of life that governs
all facets of life: moral,
spiritual, social, political, economical,
intellectual, etc. -
Islam is one of the fastest growing religions
in the world. To become
Muslim, a person of any race or culture must say a
simple statement, the
shahadah, that bears witness to the belief in the
One God and that Prophet
Muhammad was the last prophet of God. -
“Allah” is an Arabic word that means “God”.
Muslims also believe that
“Allah” is the personal name of God. -
Allah is not the God of Muslims only. He is the
God of all people and
all creation. Just because people refer to God using
different terms does
not mean that they are different gods. Spanish
people refer to God as “Dios”
and French people refer to God as “Dieu”, yet they
are all the same God.
Interestingly, most Arab Jews and Arab Christians
refer to God as “Allah”.
And the word Allah in Arabic appears on the walls of
many Arab churches. -
The Islamic concept of God is that He is
loving, merciful, and
compassionate. But Islam also teaches that He is
just and swift in
punishment. Nevertheless, Allah once said to Prophet
Muhammad, “My mercy
prevails over my wrath.” Islam teaches a balance
between fear and hope,
protecting one from both complacency and despair. -
Muslims believe that God has revealed 99 of
His names (or attributes)
in the Holy Qur’an. It is through these names that
one can come to know the
Creator. A few of these names are: the All-Merciful,
the All-Knower, the
Protector, the Provider, the Near, the First, the
Last, the Hidden, and the
Source of Peace. -
Muslims believe in and acknowledge all the
prophets of old, from Adam
to Jesus. Muslims believe that they brought the
message of peace and
submission (islam) to different peoples at different
times. Muslims also
believe that these prophets were “muslims” because
they submitted their
wills to God. -
Muslims neither worship Muhammad nor pray
through him. Muslims solely
worship the unseen and Omniscient Creator, Allah. -
Muslims accept the original unaltered Torah
(the Gospel of Moses) and
the original Bible (the Gospel of Jesus) since they
were revealed by God.
However, none of those original scriptures are in
existence today, in their
entirety. Therefore, Muslims follow the subsequent,
final, and preserved
revelation of God, the Holy Qur’an. -
The Holy Qur’an was not authored by Muhammad.
It was authored by God,
revealed to Muhammad, and written into physical form
by his companions. -
The Holy Qur’an has no flaws or
contradictions. The original Arabic
scriptures have never been changed or tampered with. -
Actual seventh century Qur’ans, complete and
intact, are on display in
museums in Turkey and many other places around the
world. -
If all Qur’ans in the world today were burned
and destroyed, the
original Arabic would still remain. This is because
millions of Muslims,
called Hafiz (or “preservers”) have memorized the
text letter for letter
from beginning to end, every word and syllable.
Also, chapters from the
Qur’an are precisely recited from memory by every
Muslim in each of the five
daily prayers. -
Muslims do not believe in the concept of
“vicarious atonement” but
rather believe in the law of personal
responsibility. Islam teaches that
each person is responsible for his or her own
actions. On the Day of
Judgment Muslims believe that every person will be
resurrected and will have
to answer to God for their every word, thought, and
deed. Consequently, a
practicing Muslim is always striving to be
righteous. -
Islam was not spread by the sword. It was
spread by the word (Islamic
teachings) and the example of its followers. Islam
teaches that there is no
compulsion in religion (the Holy Qur’an 2:256 and
10:99). -
Terrorism, unjustified violence and the
killing of innocent people are
absolutely forbidden in Islam. Islam is a way of
life that is meant to bring
peace to a society, whether its people are Muslim or
not. The extreme
actions of those who claim to be Muslim may be,
among other things, a result
of their ignorance or uncontrolled anger. Tyrant
rulers and those who commit
acts of terrorism in the name of Islam are simply
not following Islam. These
people are individuals with their own views and
political agendas. Fanatical
Muslims are no more representative of the true
Islamic teachings than
Timothy McVeigh or David Koresh are of Christianity.
Extremism and
fanaticism is a problem that is common to all
religious groups. Anyone who
thinks that all Muslims are terrorists should
remember that the famous boxer
Muhammad Ali, perhaps the most celebrated person of
our era, is a practicing
Muslim. -
The word “jihad” does not mean “holy war”.
Instead, it means the inner
struggle that one endures in trying to submit their
will to the will of God.
Some Muslims may say they are going for “jihad” when
fighting in a war to
defend themselves or their fellow Muslims, but they
only say this because
they are conceding that it will be a tremendous
struggle. But there are many
other forms of jihad which are more relevant to the
everyday life of a
Muslim such as the struggles against laziness,
arrogance, stinginess, or the
struggle against a tyrant ruler or against the
temptation of Satan, or
against one’s own ego, etc. -
Women are not oppressed in Islam. Any Muslim
man that oppresses a
woman is not following Islam. Among the many
teachings of Prophet Muhammad
that protected the rights and dignity of women is
his saying, “…the best
among you are those who treat their wives well.”
(Tirmidhi) -
Islam grants women numerous rights in the home
and in society. Among
them are the right to earn money, to financial
support, to an education, to
an inheritance, to being treated kindly, to vote, to
a dowry, to keep their
maiden name, to worship in a mosque, etc., etc. -
Muslim women wear the head-covering (hijab) in
fulfillment of God’s
decree to dress modestly. From a practical
standpoint, it serves to identify
one as attempting to follow God in daily life and,
therefore, protects women
from unwanted advances from men. This type of modest
dress has been worn by
righteous women throughout history. Prominent
examples are traditional
Catholic Nuns, Mother Teresa and the Virgin Mary,
mother of Jesus. -
Arranged marriages are allowed in Islam but
are not required. Whereas
“forced” marriages, usually stemming from cultural
practice, are forbidden.
Divorce is permissible, however, reconciliation is
what is most encouraged.
But if there are irreconcilable differences then
Islam permits a fair and
just divorce. -
Islam and the “Nation of Islam” are two
different religions. Islam is
a religion for all races and enjoins the worship of
the one unseen God who,
orthodox Muslims believe, never took human form. The
“Nation”, on the other
hand, is a movement geared towards non-whites and
teaches that God appeared
in the form of Fard Muhammad in 1930 and that Elijah
Muhammad (a man who
died in 1975) was a prophet of God. These beliefs
clearly contradict the
basic Islamic theology outlined in the Qur’an. The
followers of “the Nation”
adhere to some Islamic principles that are mixed
with many other teachings
that are alien to Islam. To better understand the
difference between the
two, read about Malcolm X, his pilgrimage to Mecca
and his subsequent
comments to the media. Islam teaches equality
amongst all the races (Holy
Qur’an 49:13). -
All Muslims are not Arab. Islam is a universal
religion and way of
life which includes followers from all races of
people. There are Muslims in
and from virtually every country in the world. Arabs
only constitute about
20% of Muslims worldwide. Indonesia has the largest
concentration of Muslims
with over 120 million. -
In the five daily prayers, Muslims face the
Kaaba in Mecca, Arabia. It
is a cube-shaped stone structure that was originally
built by Prophet Adam
and later rebuilt by Prophet Abraham. Muslims
believe that the Kaaba was the
first house of worship on Earth dedicated to the
worship of one god. Muslims
do not worship the Kaaba. It serves as a central
focal point for Muslims
around the world, unifying them in worship and
symbolizing their common
belief, spiritual focus and direction.
Interestingly, the inside of the
Kaaba is empty. -
The hajj is a simultaneous pilgrimage to the
Kaaba made by millions of
Muslims each year. It is performed to commemorate
the struggles of Abraham,
Ismail and Hagar in submitting their wills to God.
I removed the “>” to make it easier to read. - Sadiyah***