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What is
Islam?
Islam (1.2
billion adherents) is one of the major world religions that, along with
Christianity (1.9 billion adherents) and Judaism (14 million adherents),
teaches monotheism which is the doctrine that there is only one God in all
existence. Like Christianity and Judaism, Islam traces its roots
back to the patriarch Abraham (Gen. 12). The word "Islam"
means "surrender" or "submission"1
and it comes from the root word "salem" which means
"surrender." A Muslim (or Moslem - which means one who
surrenders to God) is an adherent of Islam, a religion with precise
theological doctrines about God, judgment, heaven, hell, angels, prophets,
salvation, etc. The Arabic word for god is "allah" which
has become a kind of name of God in Islam. Islam teaches that Allah
is the one and only deity in all existence (Qur'an 5:73; 112:1-4).
He is supreme, all knowing (40:20), ever-present, different from all of
creation (3:191), and in complete control of all things. According
to Islam, Allah created the universe in six days (2:29; 25:61-62) and all
that is in it continues to exist by his permission and will. Allah
is non-Trinitarian (5:73),
absolute, and eternal.
The Koran (or Qur’an,
which means "the reading" in Arabic) is the sacred book of Islam
and is broken up into 114 chapters called Suras which cover the subjects
of ethics, history, law, and theology. It is highly revered by
Muslims as the direct, literal word of God. The Qur'an (also spelled
Quran and Koran) was delivered by the angel Gabriel (also known as the
Holy Spirit) to Muhammad over a 23 year period
after Muhammad's initial encounter with Gabriel in a cave when he was 40
years old. Muslims consider Muhammad (full name of Muhammad Ibn
Abdullah) to be the final prophet of God to the world. Muhammad was
born in 570? AD in Mecca and died in 632 AD.
Second only to the Islamic belief in the
unity/oneness of God is the supremacy of Muhammad as Allah's
prophet. But, Islam acknowledges that several prophets preceded
Muhammad. The major ones are Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and
Jesus. These prophets gave revelations from God which were written
as scriptures; mainly, the Old and New Testaments. These predecessors to
Muhammad are considered great prophets who spoke for God to specific
people and whose message was meant for that time. Jesus, then, was
simply one of many prophets according to Islam. Therefore, they deny
the Christian doctrine of the deity of Jesus, the need for His atoning
sacrifice (4:157-158), the Trinity
(5:73), and much more. According to Islam, no sacrifice is needed to
be forgiven, only faith in Allah, sincere repentance, and obedience to
Islamic law (3:135; 7:8-9; 21:47;
49:14; 66:8-9). In fact, in
Islam, the greatest of sins, called shirk, is to attribute
"partners" to God. In other words, to say that God is a
Trinity of persons is an unforgivable sin to a Muslim.
In addition to the Qur'an is the Hadith.
It is another source of authority in Islam, though it is secondary to the
Qur'an. The Hadith are the sayings and deeds of Muhammad as recorded
by his companions. They are oral traditions and are considered
authoritative and instructive as commentaries and applications of Qur'anic
principles. The Hadith has additional principles not found in the
Qur'an. The Hadith are the inspired truths of God transmitted to us
in the style and words of Muhammad where the Koran is the exact words of
God which is supposed to be protected from corruption by Allah.
In Islam, all Muslims are united by the common
faith irrespective of class, location, race, or gender. Therefore, they
have a special bond of unity and equality. The primary
"truth" of Islam is found in the the first pillar of Islam known as the shahda: "There is no true God except Allah and
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."
Islamic theology also teaches that angels were
created from light, that jinn are another race of beings, created from
fire, who are invisible yet all around us, that there is an eternal
judgment to Paradise for the good and hell for the bad, that Jesus was
never crucified, that drinking alcohol is forbidden as is gambling, etc.
Within the first two centuries after its
inception in Arabia, Islam spread very quickly, often aided by sword
(jihad2), into North Africa, up through Europe
to Spain, and east to India. Presently, about 1 billion people are
Muslim world wide with adherents on every continent and nation. It
is the world's fastest growing religion and second in size only to
Christianity.
Like most ancient religions, there are sects.
Islam is no different. The major sects in Islam are the Sunnites and the
Shiites. The Sunnites are the largest group and comprise about 90% of all
Muslims. The Shiites, though smaller in number, are significant in Islamic
history and presently occupy the lands of Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria,
Saudi-Arabia, Yemen, and Persian Gulf states.
The most important place of worship for the
Muslim is the Mosque which is always pointed towards Mecca, the birthplace
of Muhammad which is located in Saudi Arabia. All Muslims must face
Mecca during their times of prayer because in Mecca is the Ka'aba, a cube
structure allegedly built by Abraham which contains a sacred stone.
When a Muslim is in Mecca, he or she faces the Ka'aba.
Many Muslims hope for shari'ah the
complete rule of Islamic law in the world. To this end, Muslims are
seeking more converts, attacking other religious systems both by the sword
and by word, moving into every nation, and seeking political power
wherever they can achieve it. Islam is a growing reality.
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1. ". . . The One (True) God; To Him do we
submit" (Qur'an 2:133).
2. Jihad means
"striving." Fighting against one's own sinful self.
Also, a physical fight for the truth of Islam, not allowing anyone to
steal the ability to worship. It also means "holy war."
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