Expanded ?? I do not mean to offend, but what is the true meaning of the Muslim faith. If you can?

Question

explain this to someone who is truly interested, without having to read all the books and attend the meetings. The last time I asked this question, a few individuals got upset. Why can't this be explained without lighting someones fuse?

Answer 1

This is a very BIG question which I think you realise and if not, let me tell you that it's a VERY BIG question :-)

There are more than one meanings, about more than one things. Lets see what we can find out about this...

ONE of the meanings is obviously to get closer to God, or Allah as Muslims call God (Jesus called God Elaha, the Jewish name for God is Elohim - interesting similarity).

In order to fulfil the first meaning, you need guidance and that's where the faith comes in with the Quran and the Prophets. I say ProphetS because Muslims believe in all the Prophets, including those of Judaism and Christianity (Muslims see Jesus as a mighty Prophet, not divine, but a human being, albeit a great and lovely human being). The Quran gives guidance on how to lead your life with the aim of being close to your Creator, in this life as well as in the next.

Another point is to achieve peace within and without by submitting your will to God. Everything in the universe follows the rules of God, automatically or by instinct; volcanoes, the wind, animals etc, all follow God's will without question or choice. Only human beings can make a conscious choice to submit. As they do, they will attain peace in the same way as the rest of existence. That is one of the goals at least.

Incidentally, the name 'Islam' comes from the root word salam which means peace. Islam is often explained as "Submission to God". And by submitting you'll hopefully achieve what is described above, peace inside of yourself and peace towards everything outside of yourself.

It is also about establishing a direct link to God, between yourself and God, without anything in between. Muslims don't have any priesthood or anything that sort of comes between the connection between a human being and God. They pray 5 times a day to continually develop and invest in this direct connection with God.

It is about becoming aware of reality and accepting it consciously, becoming one with what we may refer to as nature, or the rest of creation, and in that sense one with the purpose that God has for human beings.

Another meaning is to worship God and God alone. In Islam, God is never depicted by way of idols or pictures etc, in their view this is to deman the spiritual being that is God. This is understandable as if you draw or depict God in any fashion, that depiction will inevitably be limited and as God is understood to be unlimited in Islam, it doesn't make sense to depict God in any fashion to keep this, in the Muslim view, pure understanding of God. Instead, God is described by different names, different character traits, such as, The Loving One, The Compassionate, The Avenger, The Merciful etc, etc. When you think that what you are worshipping is actually the Creator of love, truth, mercy and compassion etc, those are the principles that you end up trying to live by.

I hope this sheds some light on this very BIG question. Thanks for asking by the way.

Answer 2

Islam is alot like Christianity. It's a monotheistic religion that derives from the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. Alot of the key characters we find in Christianity and Judaism are present in Islamic beliefs. The story goes that God revealed his direct word for humanity to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. Gabriel is well-known to Christians and Jews as the chief messenger of God. Muslims hold that Islam is the same belief as that of all the messengers sent by God to humanity since Adam, with the Qur'an, the text used by all sects of the Muslim faith, codifying the final revelation of God. Islamic texts depict Judaism and Christianity as prophetic successor traditions to the teachings of Abraham. Muslims believe though that Christians and Jews have distorted the teachings of God into their own perspective. It's no problem to see that Christians, Jews, and Muslims believe in the same God and follow similar practices. The problem is how we worship this same God in detail, and how we tend to use violence to get our points across. Many ignorant people tend to say the Qur' an teaches violence against people who don't worship God the same way Muhammad taught, and that's not so. The Qur' an is as peaceful in teaching as the Christian Bible or the Jewish Toran. All this anger built up amonst the three major religions of the world go back a thousand years to the first Crusades. It's all about land, and what holy cities belong to whom. The most famous being Jerusalem. In fact, Christians began this fight when The Roman Catholic Church, in a way, black mailed the kings of Europe to fight the Muslims. We invaded Muslim territory and built their rage ever since. Not to mention how The U.K. and The United Staes, in 1967, helped the Jews fight by supplying them with military supplies to fight the local Arab states to take Jerusalem and the land that makes up Israel today. So, you can see how the anger has built up amonst the Arab states, to where some tyrannical leaders there feed off the people's desperation for justice against it's invaders. In return though, terrorism, war, or anytype of violence is not needed. It's been violent for a thousand years. Just because we bomb and shoot people, will it stop, no. It won't unless we stop the war, and come together for permanent peace.

Answer 3

What exactly is Islam?

The followers of Christianity are called Christians because they worship Christ.

But even though Belief in Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) forms an important part in "faith" but yet no muslim worships him.

Thats the reason we are not called "Mohammedans".
Instead we are called "Muslims"

The word Muslim means to submit ourselves. Infact A muslim is a person who submits his will to ALmighty GOD ALLAH.

And to follow GOD's commandments, GOD chooses messengers who guide mankind towards GOD's teachings.
Just like Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Them All) is a Prophet, sent by GOD to guide mankind. THe difference is that. He is the Final prophet sent for the whole mankind.

Islam is not just rites and rituals, instead Islam is "The Way of Life" Islam also means PEACE. Therefore you can attain PEACE and Salvation only by submitting your will to GOD.

Discover more...
www.irf.net
www.harunyahya.com

Answer 4

No offense taken. I'm Muslim and I would be happy to answer your question. In a nutshell, Islam means "submission" to God. But more than that, Islam is a way of life. There are 5 pillars (or essential things) in Islam that every Muslim must do: Say Shahada (declaration that there is no diety of worship except Allah and Muhammad (peace be upon him) is his messenger), Give Charity, Pray 5 times a day, Make Hajj (if physically, mentally, and financially able to), and Fast. If all human beings were to follow this, no one would feel lost. It is a religion of peace, modesty, generosity, and kindness. I would love to elaborate on this if you are more interested. Inshallah (God willing), this helped!

Answer 5

I'm not exactly sure what you're asking. Are you asking what it takes to be called a Muslim, what you need to do, what your practices should be? If that's what you're asking, follow the five pillars.

There's more of course - several things you shouldn't do (the major ones off the top of my head - don't fornicate, eat pork, lie, etc.) and several things you should.

The best answer would obviously come from our Book itself, the Quran. Check out www.islamicity.com

Answer 6

Also, since the Quran is the exact word of Muhammud it is never meant to be translated because A: somethings get lost in the translation, and b: Individual interpretation of the Quran is very important

Answer 7

It is not all that different from Christianity. Jesus is a prophet, not a god. He was not resurrected. It even says to ask Christians and Jews for help if you have a question about the scriptures. (the ones before you) It also says to kill them and not to talk to them and to befriend them, so it depends on who and how it is interpreted.

I really don't think anyone can answer that as it is different to so many people.

Answer 8

Look up the author of this 'religion' AND A BIOGRAPHY OF SAME....NO OTHER ANSWER IS POSSIBLE SINCE THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT 'GROUPS' THAT BELIEVE ONLY VERSIONS OF this RELIGION.....and are even now at war in the middle-east over same......

Answer 9

Good Question. Good luck getting an answer.

Answer 10

Here you go:

http://www.cqpress.com/context/articles/epr_islam.html