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. read
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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.
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.
Allah is the Creator of all human beings.
Allah is the God for the Christians, the Jews, the Muslims,
the Buddhists, the Hindus, the atheists, and others. Muslims
worship God whose name is Allah. They put their trust in
Allah and they seek help from Allah. read
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PROPHET MUHAMMAD (P.B.U.H) :
Muhammad (P.B.U.H) 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. read
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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 report 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.
SOME ISLAMIC PRINCIPLES:
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Oneness of God: Allah is One and the Only
One. Allah 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.
-
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
-
State and Religion: Muslims believe that Islam
is a total and a complete way of life. It encompasses
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.
OTHER RELATED ASPECTS:
-
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.
-
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.
-
Diets: Islam allows Muslims to eat everything
which is good for the health. It restricts certain
items such as pork and its by-products, alcohol and
any narcotic or addictive drugs.
-
Place of Worship: The place of worship is
called Mosque or Masjid. There are three holy places
of worship 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 worship. It is preferable that
Muslims pray in a congregation, however, he/she may
pray individually anywhere.
-
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.
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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.
-
Contributions in North America: Muslims are
not established in North America. 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 worship.
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.
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