ISLAM AS RELIGION

Introduction To Islam

Islam (Arabic: الإسلام, Al-Islam (Submission)) is a religion that believes in one God (Allah). All of its teachings and beliefs are written out in the Quran (also spelled Qur'an or Koran), the holy scripture of Islam. Believers of Islam are called Muslims. They believe that the Quran was spoken to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel, and that it is the word of Allah. They view Muhammad as a prophet. Other beliefs and rules about what Muslims should do come from reports of what Muhammad taught, or hadith.

What is Islam

Muslims believe that there were many other prophets before Muhammad since dawn of humanity, beginning with the Prophet Adam and including the Prophet Noah (Nuh), the Prophet Abraham (Ibrahim), the Prophet Moses (Musa), and the Prophet Jesus (Isa). They believe that all these prophets were given messages by God of the oneness of God to their communities at different times in history of mankind, but Satan made the past communities deviate from the message of oneness and other social codes. 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 judgment.

Life Style of Islam

The Qur'an is the holy book to Muslims. They believe it holds the revealed word of Allah

The Five Pillars of Islam

According to Islamic Tradition, there are five basic things that Muslims should do. They are called "The Five Pillars of Islam":

Tawheed: 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.

Salaat: Muslims pray five times per day, at special times of the day. When they pray, they face Kaaba, a large cubic structure located at the holy city of Mecca. Salat is namaz in Persian, Turkish and Urdu. Shia Muslims can pray the afternoon and evening prayers right after each other.

Zakaat: Muslims who have money must give 1/40th of their money (charity in English) to help people who do not have money or need help.

Sawm or Siyam: Fasting during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic year. Muslims do not eat or drink from dawn till sunset for one lunar month. After Ramadan, there is a holiday called Eid al-Fitr (which means "festival of end-fast" in English). On Eid al-Fitr, Muslims usually go to the mosque in the morning for a special religious service, and then have a party with families and friends.

Hajj (Pilgrimage in English): During the month of Zulkaedah, the 12th month of the Islamic Calendar is the pilgrimage season where many Muslims go to Mecca, the holiest city of Islam. However, should a Muslim is financially unable to perform the Hajj, he or she is unnecessary to do so, as those who possess great financial capacity were the most obligated to perform the Hajj.

QUR'AN

The Al-Qur'an is the holy book of Islam and contained to words of Allah and is conveyed to the Prophet Muhammad by the archangel Jibraeel, who had been tasked since Adam as the conveyor of the words of God as guidance to mankind. The Holy 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 covers the entire aspect of humanity, down to the most minute detail. From the creation and conception of human child to the details of the Earth and beyond. In the aspect of human life it contains stories and tales of old civilizations and past prophets and their life chronicles. The Quran also contains the Syaria' law or hudud, and emphasizes the equal rights man and women alike with mothers given special status where it is sinful to even glare to them.

The Qur'an has a total of 30 juzuks. In each juzuk, contains many surahs or verses, with 114 surahs which begins with Surah al-Fatehah(The Beginning) and ended with Surah an-Naas(Humanity). It is considered a compulsory for every man and women who identify themselves as Muslims to memorize and understand each of the contents of the Quran. A Hafeez is a Muslim who have commit the Quran to memory and can accurately recite every word in the Quran without flipping a single page an apply them to daily life.

Other important teachings in Islam are the Sunnah (which tell about Mohammad's life) and the Hadith (which are collections of dialogs of conversation that Muslims believe Muhammad said).

The Qur'an is considered in Islam as a manual to all of humanity and its teachings are to be implemented and shared by its readers.

PLACE OF WORSHIP

Muslims pray in a mosque.

PRAYER

The Muslim is called to prayer or solah five times a day. This call to prayer is called Adhan. The muezzin, a man chosen to make the call to prayer, uses a loudspeaker, 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.

PEACE BE UPON HIM

 

According to Islamic teachings, Muslims must say "Peace be upon him" (PBUH or pbuh) whenever they hear Prophet's name. In this way, they show respect to Muhammad and other Prophets.

ISLAM IN THE WORLD

Countries where more than half the people are Muslim

In 2009, a study was done in 232 countries and territories. This study found that 23% of the global population or 1.57 billion people are Muslims. Of those, between 75% and 90% are Sunni and between ten and twenty five percent are Shi'a. A small part belong to other Islamic sects. In about fifty countries, more than half of the people are Muslim.Arabs account for around twenty percent of all Muslims worldwide. Islam has three holy sites; Jerusalem, Mecca and Medina.

Most Muslims live in Asia and Africa. Around 62% of the world's Muslims live in Asia, with over 683 million followers in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh. In the Middle East, non-Arab countries such as Turkey and Iran are the largest Muslim-majority countries; in Africa, Egypt and Nigeria have the biggest Muslim communities.

Most estimates indicate that the People's Republic of China has about 20 to 30 million Muslims (1.5% to 2% of the population).However, data provided by the San Diego State University's International Population Center to U.S. News & World Report suggests that China has 65.3 million Muslims. Islam is the second largest religion after Christianity in many European countries, and is slowly catching up to that status in the Americas.

Women in Islam

Women have a great and honored place in Islam, Quran has a chapter titled "Women" and another chapter titled "Mariam" which is a testament to the importance of women in Quran.