Islam is an Abrahamic religion. It believes inone God.Muhammad founded it. Muslims follow theQuran and thehadith (the teachings of Muhammad).[1] There are approximately 2 billion Muslims worldwide.[2] A person who believes in Islam is called aMuslim. Islam means submission of one's will to the will ofGod.
Most teachings and beliefs of Islam are written out in theQuran (the words from God) (also spelled Qur'an), the central holy scripture of Islam. Alongside the Qur'an, Muslims also believe in the previous revelations of God, such as theTawrat (Torah), theInjeel (Gospel), Muslims believe that the Quran was revealed toMuhammad by the angelGabriel. The Quran is regarded as the word ofGod (orAllah), while Muhammad is regarded as the lastprophet andmessenger of God. Other beliefs and rules about what Muslims should do may come fromhadiths.[3]
Muslims believe that there were many other prophets before Muhammad since the dawn of humanity, beginning with the ProphetAdam and including the ProphetNoah (Nuh), the ProphetAbraham (Ibrahim), the ProphetMoses (Musa), the ProphetDavid (Dawuud), and the ProphetJesus (Isa). They believe that all these prophets were given messages by God to their communities, butSatan (referred to as 'Shaytan شيطان' in Arabic) made the past communities deviate from them. Muslims believe that the content of the Quran (written in Arabic) is protected by Allah as mentioned in the Quran and is the final message of God for all of mankind until the Day of Judgement.
With about 1.75billion followers (24% of the world's population), Islam is the second-largest religion in the world. Islam is also the fastest-growing religion in the world.
After Muhammad died, the Arab Muslim leadership was assumed byAbu Bakr. He was followed byUmar,Uthman ibn Affan,Ali, andMu'awiya I, who established theUmayyad Caliphate. Under these caliphs, Islam became one of the most important religions in the world. Under Umar, more than two thirds of theEastern Roman Empire was conquered by the Arab Muslims. The Arab Islamic empire reached its largest geographical extent under the Umayyad Caliphate.[5]
Men praying in amosque.The Qur'an is the holy book to Muslims. They believe it holds the revealed word of GodA young man reciting the Qur'an in the United States. Muslims regularly recite the Qur'an in the five daily prayers.
According to the Qur’an, Muslims believe in God, his angels, his books, his messengers, the Last Day, and Fate. In accordance with a Qur’anic verse: “We have created everything with predestination As much is good and bad". And in hadith the Messenger Muhammad when he said that faith is: “to believe in God, his angels, his books, his messengers, and the Last Day, and believe in the destiny of good and bad.” Muslims believe that God is the one God who created the universe with everything in it. TheQur’an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through Gabriel. They believe that he is the final messenger of all messengers that are sent before him. The Prophets are human beings, whom God chose to be his messengers. Muslims believe that the prophets are not gods, but merely human beings with some miracles to prove their prophethood. They are the ones who receive divine revelation.
The Quran mentions the names of many prophets, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and others. According to the Qur’an, all of the prophets were Muslims who preached Islam, but with different laws. Islam is defined in the Qur’an as “the instinct of God upon which people have broken in.” "Therefore set your face to the religion purely, the upright creation upon which He originated people. There is no change in the creation of Allah. This is the valuable religion, although most people do not know} (The Romans -Ar-Rum Surah, versus 30). Muslims also believe that Hanifism is the basis of Abraham's religion. And they see that the difference between the Abrahamic religions is in the Sharia (Law) only and not in the creed and that the Sharia of Islam abrogates what preceded it from the Sharia. this means that Islamic religion consists of Belief and Sharia.
As for belief, it is the set of principles that aMuslim must believe in, and it is fixed and does not differ according to the different prophets. As for Sharia (Law), it is the name for practical rulings that differ according to the different messengers.
According to Islamic tradition, there are five basic things that Muslims should do. They are called "The Five Pillars of Islam":
Shahadah: The Testimony (faith in English) is the core of the Muslim belief that there is no God but Allah himself, and that Muhammad is his last messenger.
Salat: The mandatory prayer that is performed five times every day at prescribed times. When Muslims pray, they face the Kaaba, a large cubic structure located at theholy city ofMecca.Salat isnamaz inPersian,Urdu andTurkish. Shia Muslims pray the afternoon and evening prayers right after each other.[6]
Zakat: Muslims who have money must give1/40th of the amount which they've had for one year ascharity to help people who do not have money or need help.
Sawm (also spelled asSiyam orSawm):Fasting duringRamadan, the ninth month of the Islamic year. Muslims do not eat or drink from sunrise till sunset for onelunar month. After Ramadan, there is a holiday calledEid al-Fitr (which means "festival of end-fast" in English). On Eid al-Fitr, Muslims usually go to themosque in the morning after sunrise for a special Salaah.
Hajj (Pilgrimage in English): During the month of Zulhejja, the 12th month of the Islamic Calendar is thepilgrimage season where many Muslims go toMecca, the holiest city of Islam. However, if a Muslim is financially unable to perform the Hajj, it is not necessary for them to do so. Those who possess great financial capacity were the most obligated to perform the Hajj.
Note:The Five Pillars of Islam is a term in the view of Sunni Islam that gathered out of the hadith. There is another termUsool ul-Din (Religion Principles in English) in Shia Islam. That contains five beliefs: Tawheed, Adl, Nabuwwah, Imamah, Maad.
In Islamic belief, the Quran is the holy book of Islam and contains what Muslims claim Allah (God) conveyed to the Prophet Muhammad through the archangelJibraeel (Gabriel), who had been tasked since the times of Adam to convey the words of God as guidance to mankind. The Quran is the central point of reference and is a link which connects humanity with God.
The Qur'an contains many passages and chapters which cover the entire aspect of humanity, down to the most minute detail. From the creation and conception of human children, to the details of the Earth, and beyond. In the aspect of human life, it contains stories and tales of old civilizations, past prophets, and their life chronicles. The Quran contains the Sharia law or hudud, and emphasizes the equal rights of man and women alike, with mothers given special status, where it is sinful to even glare at them.
The Qur'an has a total of 30 Juzuks. In each Juz, there are many Surahs orverses, with 114 Surahatun which begin with Surah al-Fatiha (The Beginning) and ended with Surah an-Naas (Humanity). A Hafiz is a Muslim who has memorised the Quran and can accurately say every word in the Quran without flipping a single page and apply them to daily life.
Other important teachings in Islam are previous revelations of God, such as theTawrat (Torah), theZabur (Psalms), theInjeel (Gospel), theScrolls of Abraham, and theScrolls of Moses, as well as theSunnah (which tell about Muhammad's life) and theHadith (which are collections of dialogues of conversation that Muslims believe Muhammad said).
The Qur'an is considered in Islam as a manual for all of humanity and its teachings are to be implemented and shared by its readers.
Muslims pray in a mosque, such as this located atJerusalem.
Muslims pray in a place of worship called the mosque. A mosque is called amasjid in Arabic. Most mosques were mostly seen having at least a singledome, and some have one or moretowers called Minarat, where the Muezzin gives the Adhan, the Call for Muslim Prayer which is 13 or 15 sentences. But many mosques were built without either domes or towers.
Muslims take their shoes off before entering the masjid to pray. Prayer is one of the most important things that a Muslim does.
The Muslim is called toprayer orsalah 5 times a day. This call to prayer is called Adhan. The muezzin, a man chosen to make the call to prayer, uses aloudspeaker, which carries his voice to the people nearby. The call to prayer is often done out loud, in public, in Muslim countries. Being called to solah is a normal part of daily life for most people in Muslim countries.
A prayer mat
Muslims pray on amat, which is called aprayer mat orprayer rug in English. Common Arabic names[7] for the prayer mat includesajjāda andnamaz.
When it is time to pray, Muslims madeWudu, then face the direction ofQibla - the direction they are supposed to pray in, towards the Kabah. They then roll out their prayer mat, and perform their prayers to God.
According to Islamic teachings, Muslims must say "صَلَّى اللّٰهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ" shortened as "ﷺ" whenever they hear or say the Prophet's ﷺ name or ﷺ being a common noun.
Countries where more than half the people are Muslim
In 2009, a study was done in 193+1+=(195)+37 countries and territories.[8] This study found that 23% of the global population or 1.57billion people are Muslims. Of those, between 75% and 90% areSunni[9][10] and between ten and twenty five percent areShi'a.[8][9][11] A small part belong to other Islamic sects. In about fifty countries, more than half of the people are Muslim.[12]Arabs account for around twenty percent of all Muslims worldwide. Islam has three holy sites:Jerusalem,Mecca andMedina.
In theMiddle East: The non-Arab countries such as:Turkey, andIran are the largest Muslim-majority countries. InAfrica:Egypt andNigeria have the biggest Muslim communities.[16]
Like with other religions, over time different movements have developed in Islam. These movements are based on different interpretations of the scriptures. The following sections list the most common movements.
TheMuwahidin orMuwahid Muslims are a Muslim restoration movement that accepts mainstream Islam, but prefer to orient themselves towards a primacy of God's commands on issues pertaining tosharia law.Muwahidists believe that modern Islam has been mixed with many cultural traditions and they want to change that.
TheShi'ites believe that just as only God can appoint aprophet, he can appoint a second leader after the prophet. Shi'a Muslims believe that God choseAli as the leader afterMuhammad. About 10-20% of Muslims are Shi'a which means that there are about 120 million world wide. Shi'a Muslims form the majority of Muslims inIran,Azerbaijan,Bahrain,Iraq, andLebanon. The largest adhab inYemen is Zaydi Shia. Shias commonly gather forDay of Ashura inKarbala. They accept fourhadiths.
Sunnism considers Abu Bakr to be the successor of Muhammad. Sunnis make up roughly 75% of Muslims.[10][24] Sunnis believe that leaders of Islam should be chosen by the people of the Muslim world. After Abu Bakr died, Omar took his place, then Uthman, and thenAli. All of them were companions of Muhammad and lived inMedina. Sunni beliefs are typically based on theQur'an and theKutub al-Sittah (six hadiths). Sunnis are sometimes called Bukharists.
TheSufi are a branchSunnism that focuses more on the spiritual andmystic elements of Islam. Sufis usually conclude their prayers with dhikr recitations.
Ahmadiyyas are Muslims who follow Mirza Ghulam Ahmed whom they consider to be the mahdi. They are divided into two subgroups; the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement. However, they are not recognised as Muslims by most of the Muslim community.[25]
TheQuraniyoon accept the "Quran alone" as generally reject the authority of the hadiths. Such Muslims, also known asQuranists andAhle Quran, believe that the Quran is the only source of guidance. They say the hadiths are not endorsed by the Quran, and some call them an innovative bid'ah.
Ibadis are Muslims who originated from the Kharijites. Ibadis today have reformed beliefs from originalKharijites.
Novak, David (February 1999). "The Mind of Maimonides".First Things.
Sahas, Daniel J. (1997).John of Damascus on Islam: The Heresy of the Ishmaelites. Brill Academic Publishers.ISBN978-90-04-03495-2.
Seibert, Robert F. (1994). "Review: Islam and the West: The Making of an Image (Norman Daniel)".Review of Religious Research.36 (1).doi:10.2307/3511655.ISSN2211-4866.JSTOR3511655.
