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Islam (Arabic: الإسلام) is the last of the three major world religions whose basis is monotheism (along with Christianity and Judaism). Muslims believe that Islam was revealed by God to all his messengers including Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and finally Muhammad, the last prophet. Followers of Islam are known as Muslims. In some older English texts they are referred to as "Muhammadans" or "Mohammadans", but these terms are deprecated because they imply, incorrectly, that Muslims worship Muhammad, and because of this are offensive to many Muslims.

Muslims believe that Allah (the Arabic word for God) revealed the Qur'an to Muhammed via the angel Jibrail (Gabriel). In addition to Qur'an, Hadith - the sayings and practices of Muhammad, is the secondary source of Islamic beliefs and practices.

Since Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, is descended from the religious tradition of the biblical patriarch Abraham, it is classified as an Abrahamic religion. Unlike Judaism and Christianity, Islam has not undergone any period of major reform or reformation. The Western distinction between Church and State is in theory foreign to Islam. Islam includes instructions relating to all aspects of human activity, political, social, financial, legal, military, and interpersonal (see Sharia and Caliphate).

The meaning of the word Islam

Islam is an Arabic word meaning "submission (to God)" and is described as a "Deen" in Arabic, meaning "way of life" and/or "religion". It has an etymological relationship to other Arabic words, such as Salaam, meaning "peace". The Arabic word "Muslim" is related to the word Islam and means a "vassal" of God and "one who surrendered" or submits (to God). Muslims see homage to God as a sign of distinction; this term has no negative connotations. Homage means serving the will of God above and beyond one's own goals.

Beliefs

Islam has a number of beliefs that it teaches one to adhere to.

God

The cornerstone of Islamic faith is a strict belief in monotheism. God is considered one and without an equal. Every chapter of the Qur'an (except for two) begins with "In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful". God describes Himself in Sura al-Ikhlas, (chapter 112): "Say: He is God The One, God The Eternal. He never begot, nor was begotten. There is none comparable to Him." See the entry on the 99 names of Allah for Muslim views on God's attributes.

Prophets

Islam teaches that God may reveal His will to mankind though an angel; such recipients of revelation are known as prophets. Islam makes a distinction between "prophets" and "messengers". Although all messengers are prophets, not all prophets are messengers.

Notable prophets include Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, all belonging to a succession of men guided by God. Muhammad is viewed as the 'Last Messenger', bringing the final message of God to all mankind through the Qur'an. Messengers and prophets were sent to every nation and civilization, and every messenger was given a book for those people. These individuals were mortal humans; Islam demands that a believer accept all of the prophets, making no distinction between them. In the Qur'an, twenty five specific prophets are mentioned.

Islamic law

The study of scripture is strongly emphasized. The Qur'an is the foremost source of Islamic jurisprudence, and the second is the Sunnah (Life and way of the Prophet). One cannot practise Islam without consulting both texts. From the Sunnah, related but not the same, come the Ahadith (narrations of the Prophet). A hadith is a narration about the life of the Prophet or what he approved - as opposed to his life itself, which is the Sunnah.

See the separate article on Islamic Law and Sharia

The Day of Judgement

Other key beliefs include the Day of judgement, Heaven and Hell, the Angels, the Jinns (a species of invisible beings), the existence of magic (strictly forbidden to practice), the danger of evil eye (also forbidden), and the mercy, wisdom, and almighty strength of God.

Pre-Islamic Practices

Some Islamic behaviors are similar to pre-Islamic practices from the Arabian Peninsula - in particular, the hajj and three of its associated practices: circling the Kaaba, kissing the Black Stone, and the stoning of three pillars outside Mecca. And they also adopted the main Arabic pagan god's name Allah, which is now the Arabic name for the Abrahamic, Judeo-Christian god--which is one of the reasons that some people call the Islamic god a pagan moon-god.

Revelation of the Qur'an

Muslims believe that the Qur'an was revealed to Muhammad when Allah (God) sent an angel to dictate a series of revelations to him; Muhammad then recited this to his companions, many of whom were said to have memorized it and written it down on available material. According to Islamic tradition, Muhammad was illiterate; the revelations to Muhammad were later gathered by his companions and followers in book form. Muhammad is considered to be the final prophet, sent to preach the same message as the prophets of Christianity (Jesus) and Judaism (Moses) (and possibly Zoroastrianism and other ancient religions).

According to Islam, all the prophets successfully taught their nation the same message of the oneness of God. In the past, however, the message of Islam became distorted by later generations and the revealed scripture corrupted, leaving reason for another messenger to be sent. As Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last of a long line of prophets, they have taken his message to be a sacred trust, and have taken great care to ensure the message was assembled and transmitted in a manner that did not betray that trust. Although Muslims make scrupulous efforts to protect and respect the Qur'an, they believe that it is not through their own endeavours, but by the mercy of God that the Qur'an is preserved intact and will never be altered.

Miscellaneous

Muslims believe that Muhammad was a truthful man, as were all prophets, and that prophets are helped by Allah to avoid wrong actions and to speak out against wrong committed by others. However, Muslims also believe that perfection is an attribute of God alone, and the Quran specifically records, in surat Abasa, a time when God rebuked Muhammad for turning away in annoyance from a blind man who came to ask him about Islam and interrupted him as he was attempting to persuade another person.

The Six Elements of Belief

There are several beliefs shared by all Muslims:

  • God (in Arabic, Allah)
  • Angels
  • Books (sent by God)
  • Messengers (sent by God)
  • Day of Judgment
  • Both good and evil (or more precisely, what people call good and evil) come from God. (Although in terms of Evil, it is more a product of people being misguided by the Devil.)

Religious authority

There is no official authority who decides whether a person is accepted to, or dismissed from, the community of believers. Islam is open to all, regardless of race, age, gender, or previous beliefs. It is enough to believe in the central beliefs of Islam. This is formally done by reciting the shahada, the statement of belief of Islam, without which a person cannot be classed a Muslim. As no one can split open another's heart to see what's inside, it is enough to believe and say that you are a Muslim, and behave in a manner befitting a Muslim to be accepted into the community of Islam.

The Five Pillars of Islam

The Five Pillars of Islam are five basic duties of muslims:

The Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist group claims, as did a few long-extinct early medieval Kharijite sects, that Jihad, meaning inner struggle against Satan (greater jihad) or external struggle (lesser jihad), is the "sixth pillar of Islam". Some Ismaili groups consider "Allegiance to the Imam" to be the so-called sixth pillar of Islam. For more information, see the article entitled Sixth pillar of Islam.

The Qur'an

The Qur'an, also spelled "Quran" or "Koran", is the holy book of Islam. Its title means "Recitation" or "Reading". It consists of 114 chapters or Surahs laid out roughly in order of size, the largest being near the front, the smallest near the back. It describes the origins of the Universe, Man, and their relationship to each other and their Creator. It sets out rules for society, morality, economics and many other topics. It is intended for recitation and memorization. The Qur'an is primarily taught from one generation to the next this way. Muslims regard the Qur'an as sacred and inviolable.

For Muslims, the Qur'an answers questions about daily needs, both spiritual and material. It discusses God and God's Names and attributes; believers and their virtues, and the fate of non-believers (kuffar); Mary, Jesus, and all the other prophets; and even scientific subjects. Muslims do not follow the laws of the Qur'an exclusively; they also follow the examples of the prophet, which is known as the Sunnah, and the understanding of the Qur'an contained in the teachings of the prophet known as the Ahadith. Muslims are taught that God sent down other books. Besides the Qur'an, the others are the book of Ibrahim (now lost) the Law of Moses (the Taurah), the Psalms of David (the Zabûr) and the Gospel of Jesus (the Injil). The Qur'an describes Christians and Jews as "the people of the Book" (ahl al Kitâb). An article on The Bible in Islam is found here.

The teachings of Islam concern many of the same personages as those of Judaism and Christianity. However, Muslims frequently refer to them using Arabic names which can make it appear they are talking about different people: e.g. Allah for God, Iblis for Satan, Ibrahim for Abraham, etc. A belief in a day of judgment and an afterlife (Akhirah) are also part of Islamic theology.

The Qur'an is the word of God, sacred and immutable. Muslims do not touch the book unless in a state of ablution, known as "wudu." Muslims will typically keep it on a high shelf in their room, as a show of respect for the Qur'an, and some carry small versions with them for comfort or security. Only the original Arabic version of it is regarded as the Qur'an; translations are seen as poor shadows of the original's meaning. Critics and some Muslim scholars have stated that at one time there were verses in the Qur'an inspired by Satan, which Muhammad removed after the angel Jibreel revealed their source. These are referred to as The Satanic Verses. The heterodox Rashad Khalifa has claimed the two verses 9:128-129 to be later interpolations, on the grounds that they do not fit the mathematical rules that he postulates for the sums of letters in the Quran.

The Qur'an describes two forms of Jihad ("struggle"). One form, the "Greater Jihad", is described as a struggle with oneself for mastery of the soul, another form, the "Lesser Jihad", is described as a holy war that Muslims are obligated to wage against those who are enemies of Islam. There are differing opinions as to what forms of conflict are considered Jihad. Jihad may only be waged to defend Islam. However, some groups hold that this applies not only to the physical defense of Muslims, but to the reclamation of land once belonging to Muslims, or even the protection of Islam itself against corrupting influences. The idea of Jihad as a violent war has become more popular in the latter half of the 20th century, especially within the Wahabbi movement and in the Islamist movement. According to most forms of Islam, if a person dies in the middle of Jihad, he is sent directly to heaven without punishment for any sins.

The People of the Book

Although it is commonly held that this group includes the Jews, Christians and Muslims, it is equally evident that Muslims are the only extant group to legitimately hold this title. According to Islam, all nations were given a Messenger and guidance from Allah. Eventually, due to their abandonment of adherence to strict monotheism, the followers of Moses earned God's Anger (by supposedly worshipping a calf and Ezra) and the followers of Jesus Christ went astray (by supposedly worshipping Jesus Christ). It is popularly held by the vast majority of Muslims that the Holy Tawrah (revelation given to Moses) and the Holy Injeel (revelation given to Jesus Christ) are no longer extant and that the present day Bible and Torah share little or no resemblance to the divine copy. According to Islam, Muhammad was sent during a time of spiritual darkness and once the Qur'an was finally established, all past revelations became abrogated, making the Last Testament not only for the Arab nation but for all mankind until the Day of Judgement.

Islam in relation to Judaism and Christianity

According to Islam, the leaders of both Judaism and Christianity deliberately altered the true word of God, and thus led all of their believers down a false path. In the Qur'an, Allah (God) charges the Jewish people with "falsehood" (Sura 3:71), distortion (4:46), and of being "corrupters of Scripture."

Some parts of the Qur'an attribute differences between Muslims and non-Muslims to tahref-ma'any, a "corruption of the meaning" of the words. In this view, the Jewish Bible and Christian New Testament are true, but the Jews and Christians misunderstood the meaning of their own Scripture, and thus need the Qur'an to clearly understand the will of God. However, other parts of the Qur'an make clear that many Jews and Christians used deliberately altered versions of their scripture, and had altered the word of God. This belief was developed further in medieval Islamic polemics, and is a mainstream part of both Sunni and Shi'ite Islam today. This is known as the doctrine of tahref-lafzy, "the corruption of the text".

Historical origin of Islam

This is discussed in the articles on the History of Islam, and the Life of Prophet Muhammad.

Muslims are of many different races and (political and ethnic) nationalities. The majority of Muslims are in the countries of South Asia, South-East Asia, Central Asia, northern Africa and the Middle East (much of northern African being thought of as being a part of the Middle East).

The growth of Islam today

Islam is the largest religion after Christianity. According to sources such as the World Network of Religious Futurists[1], the U.S. Center for World Mission[2], and the controversial Samuel Huntington, Islam is growing faster numerically than any other religion; the largest factor in this is natural population growth. In the U.S. more people convert to Islam than any other faith. It began in the Hejaz region of present-day Saudi Arabia in about 610, and according to http://www.adherents.com it now comprises 1.3 billion believers, 23% of the world's population, with almost 2 million believers in the USA. Only 18% of Muslims live in the Arab world, a fifth are found in Sub-Saharan Africa, about 30% are found in Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and the world's largest Muslim community is in Indonesia. There are significant Islamic populations in China, Europe, the former Soviet Union, India and South America.


Denominations of Islam

There are a number of Islamic religious denominations, each of which has significant theological and legal differences from each other. The major branches are Sunni, Shi'a and Sufi Islam.

Sunni Islam comprises the majority of all Muslims (about 90%). It is broken into four schools of thought (madhhabs) which interpret specific pieces of Islam, such as which foods are halal (permissible) differently. They are named after their founders Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanafi, and Hanbali.

Shia Islam comprises most of the Muslims that are not counted among the Sunni. The Shia consist of one major school of thought known as the Jafaryia (referring to the founder) or the "Twelvers", and a few minor schools of thought, as the "Seveners" or the "Fivers" referring to the number of infallible leaders they recognise after the death of Muhammad. The term Shia is usually taken to be synonymous with the Jafaryia/Twelvers.

While some consider the Islamic mysticism called Sufism to constitute a separate branch, most Sufis can easily be considered Sunni or Shia. Sufism is the hardest to understand by non-practitioners because on first sight it seems that sufis are either of Shiah or Sunni denomination, but it is true that some sects of Sufism can be categorised as both Sunni and Shiah whilst others are not from either denomination. The distinction here is because the schools of thought (madhhabs) are regarding "legal" aspects of Islam, the "dos" and "don'ts", whereas Sufism deals more with perfecting the aspect of sincerity of faith, and fighting one's own ego. Other people may call themselves Sufis who may be perceived as having left Islam (or never followed Islam). There are also some very large groups or sects of Sufism that are not easily categorised as either Sunni or Shiah, such as the Bektashi or those that can be categorised as both at the same time, eg the Brelvi.

According to Shaikh al-Akbar Mahmood Shaltoot, Head of the al-Azhar University, the Ja'fari school of thought, which is also known as "al-Shia al- Imamiyyah al-Ithna Ashariyyah" (i.e., The Twelver Imami Shi'ites) is a school of thought that is religiously correct to follow in worship as are other Sunni schools of thought.

Another denomination which dates back to the early days of Islam are the Kharijites. Members of this group in the present day are more commonly known as Ibadi Muslims. A large number of Ibadi Muslims today live in Oman.

Another more recent group are the Wahhabis, though some classify them as the ultra-conservative branch of the Hanbali school of Sunni Islam. Wahhabism is a movement founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al Wahhab in the 18th century in what is present-day Saudi Arabia. One thing which distinguishes Wahhabi teachings from Sunni teachings is that Wahhabis consider several things prohibited which the four schools of Sunni Islam consider permitted.

See also: Imam -- Islamic philosophy -- Zaiddiyah

Religions based on Islam

The following groups call themselves Muslims, but are not considered Islamic by most Muslims:

The following religions might be said to have evolved from Islam, but consider themselves independent religions with distinct laws and institution:

Islam in the modern world

Although the dominant movement in Islam in recent times has been religious fundamentalism, there are a number of liberal movements within Islam in the West which seek alternative ways to reconcile the Islamic faith with the modern world.

Islamic traditions have several sources: the Qur'an, the hadiths, and interpretations of both by scholars. Over the centuries, there has been a tendency towards fundamentalism, with interpretations being regarded as immutable, even those that consist of folk religion not directly traceable to the prophet Muhammad.

Early shariah had a much more flexible character than is currently associated with Islamic jurisprudence, and many modern Muslim scholars believe that it should be renewed, and the classical jurists should lose their special status. This would require formulating a new fiqh suitable for the modern world, e.g. as proposed by advocates of the Islamization of knowledge, and would deal with the modern context.

This movement does not aim to challenge the fundamentals of Islam; rather, it seeks to clear away misinterpretations and to free the way for the renewal of the previous status of the Islamic world as a center of modern thought and freedom. See Modern Islamic philosophy for more on this subject.

The claim that only liberalisation of the Islamic Shariah law can lead to distinguishing between tradition and Islam is countered by many Muslims by saying that 'fundamentalism' rejects the cultral inventions e.g. they will accept that men and women have God given rights and duties that no human can infringe on but it rejects riba (interest). Fundamentalism as referred to often means traditionalism which is a separate issue. A good example of a fundamentalist organisation is Hizb ut-Tahir.

Islam around the world

Views of other monotheistic religions

Islam assigns Jews and Christians (and certain other, smaller, religions) the status of 'People of the Book' on the basis of their monotheism, and their beliefs about God and the world. This status is based on several passages from the Qur'an that say how Christians, Jews, and Muslims share common scripture, morals, and prophets. Muslims believe that the 'People of the Book,' if they submit to being second class citizens, should be allowed to live in peace.

One verse of the Qur'an says "God forbids you not, with regards to those who fight you not for [your] faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loveth those who are just." (Qur'an, 60:8), which is interpreted as a clear admonition not to be disrespectful or unkind to non-Muslims. According to a hadith, Muhammad said to his people "The one who murders a dhimmi(non-Muslim under protection of the state) will not smell the fragrance of Paradise, even if its smell was forty years travelling distance" [Sahih Ahmed]. Where 'People of the Book' live in an Islamic nation under Sharia law, they become dhimmis. If they agree to paying a special tax called jizyah, they are given a number of rights, such as the right to freely practice their faith, be fully protected by government, and other necessities and luxuries. In an Islamic state, the giving of charity is mandatory by law for Muslims. The jizyah tax money goes to charity, as well as the construction of churches and synagogues for non-Muslims living in the state. As a benefit, non-Muslims are exempted from any draft for the state.

There are separate articles on the relationship between Islam and Judaism and the Judeo-Islamic tradition. A separate article, The Bible in Islam discusses the way that Muslims have traditionally understood the Bible. There are also articles on Islam and anti-Semitism and Projects working for peace among Israelis and Arabs.

Views of non-monotheistic religions

In contrasts to Islam's tolerance of Judaism and Christianity, Islam is far less forgiving to the existence of other religions such as that of the Hindus. Atheism, polytheism and other holistic views must be eradicated by persuading all people who hold these views to repent and become Muslims:

"In the name of the forgiving lord, that in all his mercy commanded his followers to kill all the infidels, unless they accept the religion of truth." (Source?)

This verse of course, can be interpreted literally, with infidels including all but those who hold 'religions of the book', or it can be interpreted moderately, to regard the word infidels as one signifying 'murderous criminals'. The choice of the interpretation is given to the religious leaders.

See also: History of Islam -- Timeline of Islam -- List of Islamic terms in Arabic -- -- Shariah -- Tawhid -- Qibla al-Qudsiyya -- Jihad -- Wahhabism -- Islamic rituals (births, weddings, burials...) -- Munkar and Nakir -- List of famous Muslims -- Life of Prophet Muhammad -- Islamic architecture -- Islamic art -- Taqiyya -- Eurabia

References

  • The Encyclopaedia of Islam
  • The Qur'an
  • H. A. R. Gibb, Islam, Oxford 1969
  • The Islamism Debate, Martin Kramer, University Press, 1997
  • Liberal Islam: A Sourcebook, Charles Kurzman, Oxford University Press, 1998
  • The Challenge of Fundamentalism: Political Islam and the New World Disorder, Bassam Tibi, Univ. of California Press, 1998
  • The Sword of the Prophet: The politically incorrect guide to Islam, Serge Trifkovic, Regina Orthodox Press, 2002 (ISBN 1928653111)

Sources

General

Aspects

Organisations

Newsgroups

Comparative religion

Critics

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