Introducing Islam
Friday, 16 May 2008 01:06 Bliss
I. ISLAM AND MUSLIMS
The name of this religion is Islam, the root of which is Silm and Salam
which means peace.
Salam may also mean greeting one another with peace. One of the beautiful
names of God is that
He is the Peace. It means more than that: submission to the One God, and
to live in peace with
the Creator, within one’s self, with other people and with the
environment. Thus, Islam is a
total system of living. A Muslim is supposed to live in peace and harmony
with all these
segments; hence, a Muslim is any person anywhere in the world whose
obedience, allegiance, and
loyalty are to God, the Lord of the Universe.
II. MUSLIMS AND ARABS
The followers of Islam are called Muslims. Muslims are not to be confused
with Arabs. Muslims
may be Arabs, Turks, Persians, Indians, Pakistanis, Malaysians,
Indonesians, Europeans,
Africans, Americans, Chinese, or other nationalities. An Arab could be a
Muslim, a Christian, a
Jew or an atheist. Any person who adopts the Arabic language is called an
Arab. However, the
language of the Qur’an (the Holy Book of Islam) is Arabic. Muslims all
over the world try to
learn Arabic so that they may be able to read the Qur’an and understand
its meaning. They pray
in the language of the Qur’an, namely Arabic. Supplications to God could
be in any language.
While there are one billion Muslims in the world there are about 200
million Arabs. Among them,
approximately ten percent are not Muslims. Thus Arab Muslims constitute
only about twenty
percent of the Muslim population of the world.
III. ALLAH THE ONE AND THE ONLY GOD
Allah is the name of the One and Only God. Allah has ninety-nine beautiful
names, such as: The
Gracious, The Merciful, The Beneficent, The Creator, The All-Knowing, The
All-Wise, The Lord of
the Universe, The First, The Last, and others.
He is the Creator of all human beings. He is the God for the Christians,
the Jews, the Muslims,
the Buddhists, the Hindus, the atheists, and others. Muslims wor****p God
whose name is Allah.
They put their trust in Him and they seek His help and His guidance.
IV. MUHAMMAD
Muhammad was chosen by God to deliver His Message of Peace, namely Islam.
He was born in 570
C.E. (Common Era) in Makkah, Arabia. He was entrusted with the Message of
Islam when he was at
the age of forty years. The revelation that he received is called the
Qur’an, while the message
is called Islam.
Muhammad is the very last Prophet of God to mankind. He is the final
Messenger of God. His
message was and is still to the Christians, the Jews and the rest of
mankind. He was sent to
those religious people to inform them about the true mission of Jesus,
Moses, Jacob, Isaac, and
Abraham.
Muhammad is considered to be the summation and the culmination of all the
prophets and
messengers that came before him. He purified the previous messages from
adulteration and
completed the Message of God for all humanity. He was entrusted with the
power of explaining,
interpreting and living the teaching of the Qur’an.
V. SOURCE OF ISLAM
The legal sources of Islam are the Qur’an and the Hadith. The Qur’an is
the exact word of God;
its authenticity, originality and totality are intact. The Hadith is the
re****t of the sayings,
deeds and approvals of the Prophet Muhammad. The Prophet’s sayings and
deeds are called Sunnah.
The Seerah is the writings of followers of Muhammad about the life of the
Prophet. Hence, it is
the life history of the Prophet Muhammad which provides examples of daily
living for Muslims.
VI. SOME ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES
A. Oneness of God:
He is One and the Only One. He is not two in one or three in one. This
means that Islam rejects
the idea of trinity or such a unity of God which implies more than one God
in one.
B. Oneness of mankind:
People are created equal in front of the Law of God. There is no
superiority for one race over
another. God made us of different colors, nationalities, languages and
beliefs so as to test
who is going to be better than others. No one can claim that he is better
than others. It is
only God Who knows who is better. It depends on piety and righteousness.
C. Oneness of Messengers and the Message:
Muslims believe that God sent different messengers throughout the history
of mankind. All came
with the same message and the same teachings. It was the people who
misunderstood and
misinterpreted them.
Muslims believe in Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ismail, Jacob, Moses, David,
Jesus, and Muhammad. The
Prophets of Christianity and Judaism are indeed the Prophets of Islam.
D. Angels and the Day of Judgment:
Muslims believe that there are unseen creatures such as angels created by
God in the universe
for special missions.
Muslims believe that there is a Day of Judgment when all people of the
world throughout the
history of mankind till the last day of life on earth, are to be brought
for accounting, reward
and punishment.
E. Innocence of Man at Birth:
Muslim believe that people are born free of sin. It is only after they
reach the age of puberty
and it is only after they commit sins that they are to be charged for
their mistakes. No one is
responsible for or can take the responsibility for the sins of others.
However, the door of
forgiveness through true repentance is always open.
F. State and Religion:
Muslims believe that Islam is a total and a complete way of life. It
encomp***** all aspects of
life. As such, the teachings of Islam do not separate religion from
politics. As a matter of
fact, state and religion are under the obedience of Allah through the
teachings of Islam.
Hence, economic and social transactions, as well as educational and
political systems are also
part of the teachings of Islam.
VII. PRACTICES OF ISLAM
God instructed the Muslims to practice what they believe in. In Islam
there are five pillars,
namely:
Creed (Shahada): The verbal commitment and pledge that there is only One
God and that Muhammad
is the Messenger of God, is considered to be the Creed of Islam.
Prayers (Salat): The performance of the five daily prayers is required of
Muslims.
Fasting (Saum): Fasting is total abstinence from food, liquids and
intimate intercourse
(between married couples) from dawn to sunset during the entire month of
Ramadan.
Purifying Tax (Zakat): This is an annual payment of a certain percentage
of a Muslim’s property
which is distributed among the poor or other rightful beneficiaries.
Pilgrimage (Hajj): The performance of pilgrimage to Makkah is required
once in a life time if
means are available. Hajj is in part in memory of the trials and
tribulations of Prophet
Abraham, his wife Hagar and his eldest son Prophet Ishmael.
VIII. OTHER RELATED ASPECTS
A. Calendar: Islamic practices are based on the lunar calendar. However,
Muslims also use the
Gregorian calendar in their daily religious lives. Hence, the Islamic
calendar includes both
the common era and the migration (Higra) year of the Prophet of Islam from
Makkah to Madinah in
the year of 623 C.E.
B. Celebrations (Eid):
Muslims have two celebrations (Eid); namely, Eid of Sacrifice and Eid of
Fast-Breaking. The Eid
of Sacrifice is in remembrance of the sacrifice to be by Prophet Abraham
of his son. The Eid of
Fast-Breaking comes at the end of the month of fasting, Ramadan.
C. Diets:
Islam allows Muslims to eat everything which is good for the health. It
restricts certain items
such as ****k and its by-products, alcohol and any narcotic or addictive
drugs.
D. Place of Wor****p:
The place of wor****p is called Mosque or Masjid. There are three holy
places of wor****p for the
Muslims in the world. These are: Mosque of Kaaba in Makkah, Mosque of the
Prophet Muhammad in
Madinah, and Masjid Aqsa, adjacent to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.
A Muslim may pray any where in the world whether in a Mosque, a house, an
office, or outside.
The whole world is a place of wor****p. It is preferable that Muslims pray
in a congregation,
however, he/she may pray individually anywhere.
E. Holidays:
The holy day of the Muslims is Friday. It is considered to be sacred and
the Day of Judgment
will take place on Friday. Muslims join together shortly after noon on
Friday for the Friday
congregational prayer in a Mosque. A leader (Imam) gives a sermon (Khutba)
and leads the
congregational prayer.
F. Distribution of Muslims in North America:
There are approximately five million Muslims in North America and are
distributed in its major
cities such as New York, Detroit, Boston, Toledo, Chicago, Los Angeles,
San Francisco, Houston,
Cedar Rapids (Iowa), Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Vancouver,
Windsor, Winnipeg,
Calgary, and others.
G. Contributions in North America:
Muslims are established in North America. The Sears Tower and the John
Hancock buildings in
Chicago were designed by a Muslim chief architect, originally from
Bangladesh. Muslims have
established academic institutions, community centers and organizations,
schools and places of
wor****p. They live in peace and harmony among themselves and among other
groups of people in
the society. The rate of crime among Muslims is very minimal. Muslims in
North America are
highly educated and they have added to the success of American scientific
and technological fields.
The Muslims of the early period of the Islamic era were pioneers in
medicine, chemistry,
physics, geography, navigation, arts, poetry, mathematics, algebra,
logarithms, calculus, etc.
They contributed to the Renaissance of Europe and world civilization.
IX. NON-MUSLIMS
Muslims are required to respect all those who are faithful and God
conscious people, namely
those who received messages. Christians and Jews are called People of the
Book. Muslims are
asked to call upon the People of the Book for common terms, namely, to
wor****p One God, and to
work together for the solutions of the many problems in the society.
Christians and Jews lived peacefully with Muslims throughout centuries in
the Middle East and
other Asian and African countries. The second Caliph Umar, did not pray in
the church in
Jerusalem so as not to give the Muslims an excuse to take it over.
Christians entrusted the
Muslims, and as such the key of the Church in Jerusalem is still in the
hands of the Muslims.
Jews fled from Spain during the Inquisition, and they were welcomed by the
Muslims. They
settled in the heart of the Islamic Caliphate. They enjoyed positions of
power and authority.
Throughout the Muslim world, churches, synagogues and missionary schools
were built within the
Muslim neighborhoods. These places were protected by Muslims even during
the contem****ary
crises in the Middle East. Pakistan Daily (www.Daily.pk)
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com
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