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Islam

Founder / Major Figures

Major Beliefs

The Arabic word "Islam" means the submission or surrender of one's will to the one true God worthy of worship. Anyone who adheres to this ideal is called a Muslim.

Muslims believe that Islam is the one true religion given to Adam and to all the prophets after him.

Muslims believe in one God, creator of all things, unique in life, power, mercy and justice. The revelation of God came to an Arabian trader named Muhammad. He passed the message on to others and headed a community of those who gave up the worship of idols and spirits. The revelations that Muhammad received were believed to have come directly from God.

Muslims place themselves directly in the line of those who worship one God, so they feel kinship with Jews and Christians. They believe that Muhammad came to complete or seal the line of prophets whom God sent into the world as guidance for humankind. The prophetic line began with the first man, Adam, and included many of those named in the Jewish and Christian scriptures, such as Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Muslims believe God gave scriptures to Moses and to Jesus and that in their true interpretation they agree with the message of the Koran.

Muslims also hold that the final goal for life lies beyond the brief span of years spent on earth. After death there will be a new life. The same God who created the world will also call forth in resurrection all who have died. Then perfect justice will be administered. Righteous living will be rewarded and wickedness punished.

Jesus occupies a high place of honor in Islam. He is held as one of the prophets of God and no calling of humankind is considered higher than that of prophet. According to Islam, Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary, lived a sinless life of sacrificial service to his people, and when he was threatened by his enemies, God delivered him from a shameful death and exalted him to Paradise. Many Muslims also believe that Jesus will return to earth at the end of the age. Jesus in Islam is not the same as Jesus Christ for the Christians. Muslims do not accept the Christian title, "Son of God" for Jesus and they do not view Jesus' death on a cross as redemptive as Christians do.

Scripture / Sacred Writings

The revelations that Muhammad received were believed to have come directly from God. Eventually they were put together in a book called the Qu'ran or Koran, which was written in the Arabic language.

Besides the holy scripture of the Koran, Muslims hold as authoritative a large collection of reports telling about the prophet Muhammad's interpretations of the Koran, his actions in everyday life and his attitudes. These reports are called hadith.

Worship and Spiritual Practice

Muslim faith and practice is grounded in the Five Pillars of Islam:

  1. Iman (Faith): "There is none worthy of worship except God and Muhammad is the messenger of God". The only purpose of life is to serve and obey God.
  2. Salah (Prayer): Obligatory prayers are performed five times a day. Since there are no priests in Islam, prayer is the direct link between the worshiper and God.
  3. Zakah (Financial Obligation): Since everything belongs to God, wealth is held in trust by humankind. Muslims are enjoined to set aside a portion of what they have (a fortieth of one's capital annually) for those in need. They may also give as much as they like in secret.
  4. Sawn (Fasting): All Muslims fast from dawn to dusk during the month of Ramadan. Fasting allows the faithful to focus on the presence of God.
  5. Hajj (Pilgrimage): Those who are physically and financially able to do so, are called on to make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lifetimes, during the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar. Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, is connected not only with the life of the prophet Muhammad, but also, and even more importantly for the pilgrimage, with Abraham, the spiritual father of Muslims.

Islam sets forth the duties for human life in a clear way. Life has serious purpose as a response in faith to the creative and sustaining power of Allah. A Muslim's life is one of social responsibility.

Muslim, Jewish, and Christian children learn about each other's faith at an Interfaith CampEvery Friday at noon Muslims gather for communal prayer. Although the prayers can be held in any kind of room or hall, special buildings, or mosques, are often built or adapted for worship.

The prayer room is bare of furniture, the floor covered with carpets. Worshippers leave their shoes at the door and gather facing in the direction of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, where Islam began, the men in one group and the women in another. They stand in rows close together to carry our the ritual acts of prayer, its gestures, prostrations, recitations and periods of silence.

Worshippers follow the leadership of a person called the imam. They may also listen to chanting of the Qu'ran and to the preaching of a sermon while seated on the floor.

The ritual prayer of Islam is mostly in the form of praise to Allah, although petition does have a place. It is performed at five fixed times each day, although communal worship is required only once a week.

History

Muslims believe that the prophet Muhammad, born in Makkah [Mecca] in present day Saudi Arabia in 570 CE, is the supreme model for humanity. An Arab and a descendant of Abraham, he received the divine revelations of Allah contained in the Muslim scriptures, the Holy Qu'ran, over a period of twenty-three years.

Calendar

Muslims use a lunar calendar. Each month begins when the new moon is sighted.

Every year begins eleven days later than the previous year, so over the course of one's lifetime Ramadan, for example, would occur in every season.

Jamal, a Muslim boyTwo main festivals highlight the calendar of Islam. One, known as Eid ul Fitr, comes at the end of the yearly month-long fast (Ramadan) and is chiefly a time of thanksgiving.

The other time is called the Festival of Sacrifice which takes place at the same time as the pilgrimage to Mecca. Muslims worldwide commemorate on that occasion the supreme act of faith by Abraham when he offered to sacrifice his son in obedience to God and was rewarded by his son's deliverance.

Administration and Secular Life

Muslims, of multiple ethnic origins, number well over one billion people in the world. Nearly one person in five across the earth belongs to the religion of Islam.

In spite of the immense geographical scope of Islam, covering the whole world, and in spite of the fact that there is no central authority (person or council) for the faith, Islamic practice remains astonishingly uniform across the earth. This uniformity has to do with observance of the five "pillars" and traditional beliefs and practices handed down from the prophet Muhammad.

Beyond the Five Pillars, Islamic life takes on the characteristics of the culture in which Muslims live. Many social attitudes and customs of dress, food, and behavior differ by geographical area. Some American Muslims retain the ways of the lands from which they came; others, in increasing numbers, have adopted American ways while staying faithful to the principles and practices of their faith.

Muslims in America have councils and associations to coordinate and facilitate activities, and they seek the wisdom of leaders to interpret aspects of their religious law.

A lively Islamic press in the United States keeps its readers abreast of current social, political and economic trends and suggests how they should react to them in the light of their faith. Again and again Islamic writers in newspapers and magazines have deplored the senseless violence of Sept. 11, 2001, sympathized with victims and survivors, and expressed solidarity with their fellow Americans. Also, and here they join many Christians and others, they call for justice in international relations.