Question: "What is Islam, and what do Muslims believe?"
Answer: Islam is a religious system begun in the seventh century by Muhammad. Muslims follow the teachings of the Qur’an and strive to keep the Five Pillars.
The History of Islam
In the seventh century, Muhammad claimed the angel Gabriel visited him. During these angelic visitations, which continued for about 23 years until Muhammad's death, the angel purportedly revealed to Muhammad the words of Allah (the Arabic word for “God” used by Muslims). These dictated revelations compose the Qur'an, Islam's holy book. Islam means “submission,” deriving from a root word that means “peace.” The word Muslim means “one who submits to Allah.”
The Doctrine of Islam
Muslims summarize their doctrine in six articles of faith:
Belief in one Allah: Muslims believe Allah is one, eternal, creator, and sovereign.
Belief in the angels
Belief in the prophets: The prophets include the biblical prophets but end with Muhammad as Allah’s final prophet.
Belief in the revelations of Allah: Muslims accept certain portions of the Bible, such as the Torah and the Gospels. They believe the Qur'an is the preexistent, perfect word of Allah.
Belief in the last day of judgment and the hereafter: Everyone will be resurrected for judgment into either paradise or hell.
Belief in predestination: Muslims believe Allah has decreed everything that will happen. Muslims testify to Allah’s sovereignty with their frequent phrase, inshallah, meaning, “if God wills.”
The Five Pillars of Islam
These five tenets compose the framework of obedience for Muslims:
The testimony of faith (shahada): “la ilaha illa allah. Muhammad rasul Allah.” This means, “There is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” A person can convert to Islam by stating this creed. The shahada shows that a Muslim believes in Allah alone as deity and believes that Muhammad reveals Allah.
Prayer (salat): Five ritual prayers must be performed every day.
Giving (zakat): This almsgiving is a certain percentage given once a year.
Fasting (sawm): Muslims fast during Ramadan in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. They must not eat or drink from dawn until sunset.
Pilgrimage (hajj): If physically and financially possible, a Muslim must make the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia at least once. The hajj is performed in the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar.
A Muslim's entrance into paradise hinges on obedience to these Five Pillars. Still, Allah may reject them. Even Muhammad was not sure whether Allah would admit him to paradise (Surah 46:9; Hadith 5.266).
Islam what does it mean?
ISLAM What does it mean?• The word Islam is an Arabic word meaning peace, submission and obedience.• In the religious context the word Islam means total submission to the Will of God and obedience to His Law.
Islam is not a new religion.It is, in essence, the same message and guidance which Allah revealed to all previous prophets and messengers. They all were submitted to God andhave called their people to worship and serve the same God, the Creator and the Sustainer of the universe.
One God – One Religion"The same religion has He establishedfor you as that which He enjoined onNoah - that which We have sent byinspiration to thee - and that whichWe enjoined on Abraham, Moses, andJesus: Namely, that ye should remainsteadfast in religion, and make nodivisions therein: …" (42:13)
Not a messenger did Wesend before thee withoutthis inspiration sent byUs to him: that there isno god but I; thereforeworship and serve Me. Qur’an (21:25)
“And this was the legacy thatAbraham left to his sons, and sodid Jacob; "Oh my sons! Allahhath chosen the Faith for you;then die not except in the stateof submission (i.e. Islam)” Qur’an (2:132)
According to the Gospel Jesus (pbuh) called his people to surrender to the will of God (which Islam stands for), he taught them that only those who submit will inherit paradise and he pointed out that he himself submitted to the will of God:1. “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. [Luke, (11:2) / Matthew (6:9-10)]2. "None of those who call me "Lord will enter the kingdom of God, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven" (Matthew 7:21)3. "I can not do anything of myself. I judge as I hear and my judgment is honest because I am not seeking my own will but the will of Him who sent me." (John 5:30) Thus Jesus, like the prophets before him and the one who came after him, taught the religion of ISLAM: Submission to the will of the one true God.
“O ye who believe! bow down, prostrate yourselves, and adore your Lord; and do good; that ye may prosper.” (QURAN 22:77). Muslims performing“And he (Jesus) went a little further, and fell sujood (prostration) duringon his face, and prayed...” (MATTHEW 26:39). their prayer.“And Joshua fell on his face to the earth,and did worship...” (JOSHUA 5:14).“And they (Moses and Aaron) fell upon theirfaces...” (NUMBERS 20:6).“And Abraham fell on his face…”(GENESIS 17:3).
“Say ye: "We believe in Allah, and therevelation given to us, and to Abraham,Ismail, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, andthat given to Moses and Jesus, and thatgiven to (all) prophets from their Lord:We make no difference between one andanother of them: And we bow to Allah(in Islam).“ )Qur’an (2:136
Animate and inanimate creatures (biologicallyand physically) are regarded as muslims in thesense that all, willingly or unwillingly, aresubject to the Divine laws which are devised byGod in nature and cannot escape from them.The rock that falls by the force of gravity ismuslim; so are the sun, the moon, the stars,the mountains, the oceans, the trees, theanimals, so too is humankind as a whole.All submit to the will of their creator.
Fitrah = Innate Nature (Sinless and)submitted to the will of God i.e. Muslim Abu Hurayrah reported that he heard the Prophet saying:“Every child is born in a state of Fitrah, then his parents make him a Jew or a Christian.It is like the way you help animals give birth. Do you find among their offspring a branded one until you brand them yourselves? Collected by Al Bukhari
Do they seek for other than theReligion of Allah? while allcreatures in the heavens and onearth have, willing or unwilling,bowed to His Will (Accepted Islam),and to Him shall they all be broughtback. Qur’an (3:83)
Who can be better in religionthan one who submits his whole self to Allah, does good, and follows the way of Abraham the true in Faith? Qur’an (4:125)
How strange that in every special case one praises ones own way! If Islam means: "surrender into Gods will"its in Islam that we all live and die. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Medieval Islam was a religion of remarkable tolerance for its time, allowing Jews and Christians the right to practice their inherited beliefs, and setting an example which was not,unfortunately, copied for many centuries in the West…Islam is part of our past and our present,in all fields of human endeavour.It has helped to create modern Europe.It is part of our own inheritance, not a thing apart." Quote by Prince Charles, Prince of Whales More Quotes, Click Here
“I am not a Muslim in the usual sense, though I hope I am a "Muslim" as "one surrendered to God", but I believe that embeddedin the Qur’an and other expressions of theIslamic vision are vast stores of divine truthfrom which I and other occidentals have stillmuch to learn, and Islam is certainly a strongcontender for the supplying of the basicframework of the one religion of the future”W. Montgomery Watt, Islam and Christianity Today, London, 1983, p.IX: Professor (Emeritus) of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh More about the Author
"Sense of justice is one of the mostwonderful ideals of Islam, because asI read in the Quran I find thosedynamic principles of life, not mysticbut practical ethics for the dailyconduct of life suited to the wholeworld." Lectures on "The Ideals of Islam", see Speeches and Sarojini Naidu, Writings of Sarojini Naidu, Madras, 1918, p. 167: Famous Indian Feminist and Poet
Now the least you could do as thinking andconcerned human being is to stop for a momentand ask yourself: Could these statements soundingso extraordinary and revolutionary be really true?Islam teaches that God has given man the facultyof reason and therefore expects man to reason forhimself. To reflect to question and to reflect.Don’t let others judge for you, be independent,objective, open minded and discover the truth andthe beauty of Islam by yourself.Islam blames those who follow blindly the steps oftheir forefathers as it is stated in the following verse:
When it is said to them:"Follow what Allah hath revealed:"They say: "Nay! we shall follow the ways of our fathers." What! even though their fathers Were void of wisdom and guidance? Qur’an (2:170) May your intellectual journey towards the TRUTH be a pleasant one. This Presentation was edited by Gh.Farid
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