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ISLAM AND MUSLIMS: |
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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. |
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MUSLIMS AND ARABS: |
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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. |
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ALLAH THE ONE AND THE ONLY GOD: |
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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. |
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PROPHET MUHAMMAD: |
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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 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. |
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SOURCE OF ISLAM: |
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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. |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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OTHER RELATED ASPECTS: |
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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