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Read about Quran (Arabic text)
Islam, a major world religion, of those who follow the
Prophet MUHAMMAD. The prophet, who lived in Arabia in the
early 7th century, Today, Islam has adherents not only in
the Middle East, other parts of Asia, Africa and, to a
certain extent, in Europe and in the United States.
Adherents of Islam are called Muslims. The Arabic word al-islam means the act of committing
oneself unreservedly to God, and a Muslim is a person who
makes this commitment to the one and only God (ALLAH). For
Muslims, therefore, the proper name of their religion
expresses the Koranic insistence that no one but God is to
be worshiped. Estimates of the world population of Muslims range from a
low of 750 million to a high of 1.2 billion,Islam dates back
to the restoration of the original religion of Abraham.
Islam is a timeless religion, not just because of the
"eternal truth" that it proclaims but also because it is
"every person's religion," the natural religion in which
every person is born. When applied to Islam, the word religion has a far more
comprehensive meaning than it commonly has in the West.
Islam encompasses personal faith and piety, the creed and
worship of the community of believers, a way of life, a code
of ethics, a culture, a system of laws, an understanding of
the function of the state--in short, guidelines and rules
for life in all its aspects and dimensions. The Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 in MECCA,
,ðabout 610 he received the first of a series of
revelations that convinced him that he had been chosen as
God's messenger. He began to preach the message entrusted to him-- that
there is but one God, to whom all humankind must commit
themselves. The polytheistic Meccans resented Muhammad's
attacks on their gods and finally he emigrated with a few
followers to MEDINA. This migration, which is called the
Hegira (Hijrah), took place in 622; Muslims adopted the
beginning of that year as the first year of their lunar
calendar. At Medina Muhammad won acceptance as a religious and
military leader. Within a few years he had established
control of the surrounding region, and in 630 he finally
conquered Mecca. There, the KAABA, a shrine that had for
some time housed the idols of the pagan Meccans, was
rededicated to the worship of Allah, and it became the
object of pilgrimage for all Muslims. By the time of his
death in 632, Muhammad had laid the foundation for a
community ruled by the laws of God. The Koran records that Muhammad was the Seal of the
Prophets, the last of a line of God's messengers that began
with Adam and included Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Jesus. He
left for the future guidance of the community the words of
God revealed to him and recorded in the Koran, and the
sunna, the collective name for his opinions and decisions as
recorded in the tradition literature (hadith). The extent to which faith and works go together is
evident from the traditional listing of the basic duties of
any Muslim, the "five pillars" of Islam: shahada, the
profession of faith in God and the apostleship of Muhammad;
salat, the ritual prayer, performed five times a day facing
Mecca; zakat, almsgiving; sawm (fasting), abstaining from
food and drink during the daylight hours of the month of
RAMADAN; and hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, incumbent on
every believer who is financially and physically able to
undertake it. Islam is definitely an inclusivistic religion in the
sense that it recognizes God's sending of messengers to all
peoples and his granting of "Scripture and Prophethood" to
Abraham and his descendants, the latter resulting in the
awareness of a very special link between Muslims, Jews, and
Christians as all Abraham's children. Old photo of Kaaba "The Message" tells of the
beginnings of the Moslem religion. A compelling drama about
an ancient and venerable culture.
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