Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam]

Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam]

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Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam]

Islam and Muslims

The name of this religion is Islam, the root of which is Silm and
Salaam which means 'peace.' Salaam
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.

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 [more than] one billion Muslims in the world there
[may be nearly] 200 million Arabs.
Among them, approximately ten percent are not Muslim. Thus Arab

Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam] 1

 Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam]

Muslims constitute about 20

percent of the Muslim population of the world.

Allah, the One and 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.

He is the Creator of all human beings. He 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 Him and they seek His help and His guidance.

Muhammad

Muhammad 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 missions of
Jesus, [David, Moses], Jacob, Isaac,
and Abraham. [as prophets who had books revealed to them].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 [and the duty of] of
explaining,
interpreting and living the teaching of the Qur'an.

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
[tacit] approvals of the Prophet Muhammad. The Prophet's sayings and
deeds are called Sunnah. The

Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam] 2

 Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam]

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

1. Oneness of God: He is One and the Only One. He 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.

2. 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
colours, 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.

3. 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.

4. Angels and the Day of Judgement: 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

5. Day of Judgement 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.

6. 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

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 Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam]
repentance is always open.

7. 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.

Practices of Islam

God instructed the Muslims to practice what they believe in. In Islam
there are five pillars, namely:

1. Creed (Shahada): The verbal commitment and pledge that there is

only One God and that
Muhammad is the Messenger of God, is considered to be the Creed of
Islam.

2. Prayers (Salat): The performance of the five daily prayers is

required of Muslims.

3. Fasting (Sawm): Fasting is total abstinence from food, liquids and

intimate intercourse
(between married couples) from dawn to sunset during the entire
month of Ramadan.

4. Purifying Tax (Zakat): This is an annual payment of a certain

percentage of a Muslim's
property which is distributed among the poor or other rightful
beneficiaries.

5. Pilgrimage (Hajj): The performance of pilgrimage to Makkah is

required once in a life time if
means are available. Hajj is in part in memory of the trials and
tribulations of Prophet
Abraham, his wife Hagar and his eldest son Prophet Ishmael.

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 (Hijra) year of the Prophet of Islam
from Makkah to Madinah
in the year of 623 C.E.

Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam] 4

 Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam]
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 their
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 anywhere 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
Judgement 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.

Non−Muslims

Muslims are required to respect all those who are faithful and God
conscious people, namely those
who received messages. Christians and Jews are called People of the
Book. Muslims are asked to
call upon the People of the Book for common terms, namely, to worship
One God, and to work
together for the solutions of the many problems in the society.

Christians and Jews lived peacefully with Muslims throughout [the]

centuries in the Middle East and
other Asian and African countries. The second Caliph Umar, did not
pray in the church in Jerusalem
so as not to give the Muslims an excuse to take it over. Christians
entrusted the Muslims, and as
such the key of the Church in Jerusalem is still in the hands of the

Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam] 5

 Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam]
Muslims.

Jews fled from Spain during the Inquisition, and they were welcomed by
the Muslims. They settled
in the heart of the Islamic Caliphate. They enjoyed positions of power
and authority.

Throughout the Muslim world, churches, synagogues and missionary

schools were built within
Muslim neighbourhoods. These places were protected by Muslims even
during the contemporary
crises in the Middle East.

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Introducing Islam [a Beginners Guide to Islam] 6