I'm tired of hearing bits and pieces of what you believe. I really want to understand. I also know nothing about the Koran or anything really. I don't want to accidently offend any of my friends and it would be helpful if I knew where they are coming from. (I'm christian)
2006-12-29 08:26:49 · 17 answers · asked by Lauryn 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Islam is a religion that accepts Allah as God. Allah sent prophets to Earth to teach us how to live and enter heaven. Mohamed was his finial prophet and the most perfect human being ever. Jesus was also a prophet and born of the virgin Mary. Mary is the only women in the Quaran to get a whole chapter to herself. Muslims believe Jesus word has not been fully or properly translated through the bible and some of his meaning is lost. He was not God and did not die on the cross. He will return as in Revelation and destroy the anti-Christ who Muslims call the Dajall.
The holy book the Quaran is believed to be God's finial message to the Earth and will stand true until judgment day.
there are 5 pillars of Islam: the first and most important is that there is no God but Allah,i,e there is only one God. This distinguish Islam from the polytheistic religions and Islam refers to Christianity and Judaism as "people of the book" as they too are monotheistic and believe in only one God. The second pillar is that Muslims should give thanks through prayer 5 times per day, third all Muslims must give between 2.5% and 10% of their income to the poor. Almsgiving is very important in Islam. Fourth is is fasting on the run up to holy days and lastly if in good health all Muslims must make a pilgrimage to Mecca once in their life.
As-Salāmu `Alaykum
2006-12-29 08:41:21 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Islam means "submission to God" and Muslim means "one who submits".
Islam is a Monotheistic faith. There is only one God unlike Hinduism, and God is not divided into or made up of multiple parts, as in Christianity. Muslims call God Allah, which is just "God" in Arabic. "Al" means "the" and "lah" means deity/god. The Islamic concept of Monotheism is called "Tawhid".
The Qur'an/Quran/Koran is one of Islam's holy scriptures. The others are earlier books such as the Torah and the Gospel, but it is believed by Muslims that these earlier texts have been corrupted over time through translation and additions and subtractions to the texts. The Qur'an is divided into 114 Surahs, or chapters. It contains doctrine, such as Tawhid and Phrophethood, guidance on how to live life and laws of inheritance, war, marriage and divorce.
The Qur'an allows Muslims to take up arms to defend themselves, but Muslim's cannot attack innocents.
Prophets are very important to Islam. There have been many prophets, many of whom we do not know. However, some we do because they are mentioned in the Qur'an. These include, but are not limited to, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them all). Prophets are people who deliver God's message to mankind. Muhammad is believed to be the last of Prophets.
Islam is also based on Sunnah and Hadith along with the Qur'an. Sunnah is the Prophet Muhammad's example to us on how to live and worship. The Hadith are recoreded sayings of the Prophet and others from his time regarding Islam that also show us how to live.
Muslims believe in an afterlife. This afterlife includes the concepts of heaven and hell. Allah is the only one to decide where one goes in the afterlife.
Islam has five pillars to the faith.
1. Shahada: the statement of faith "There is no god but God and Muhammad is his messenger"
2. Salat: prayer
3. Zakat: obligatory charity
4. Sawn: fasting during Ramadan
5. Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca
Shariah is Islamic law. Shariah is based on the Quran, Sunnah and Hadith. It contains laws about marriage, divorce, inheritance, theft, war, prohibition of pork, alcohol and drugs, etc.
The mosque is known in Arabic as the "masjid". It is a place of worship and prayer. An Imam, or leader, guides the prayer service. Often people fo to the masjid on Fridays for the noon prayer and sermon. This is known as Jummah.
Islam has a few sects. The largest is Sunni Islam. The second largest is Shia Islam. The difference between the two is that Shias believe that Muslims should follow the family of Muhammad. There are twelve Imams from Muhammad's family that Shias follow. The first is Ali, the last being the Mahdi. The Mahdi is thought to be alive and hidden. It is believed he will come along with Jesus at the end of time. Another sect is Sufism. Sufism overlaps both Sunni and Shia traditions. It is a mystical interpretation of Islam.
I hope I helped.
2006-12-29 08:59:31 · answer #2 · answered by Michael M 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Muslims believe that there is only one God. The Arabic word for God is Allah. Muslim belief that Muhammad (pbuh) is the LAST Prophet and Messenger. And Jesus ('alaihis salaam) was a PROPHET, he was NOT son of God. The earlier texts sent by GOD were neglected and corrupted by the Jevs and Christians and have been replaced by God's final and perfect revelation, which is the Qur'an.
The first meaning of "Islam" is the verb from the root "aslama" (a verb), meaning to: "surrender; submit; obey; sincerity and in peace." Islam is way of life as perscribed by the Creator for His Creation. Islam is for ALL creation, for the whole universe
All Muslims believe that God is one alone:
* There is only one God.
* God has no children, no parents, and no partners.
* God was not created by a being.
* There are no equal, superior, or lesser Gods.
You have to believe that there is only one God, Allah, who created the entire universe, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is his final messenger on earth. If you recite this, with total sincerity, in front of two witnesses, you have become a Muslim. It really is as simple as that.
Muslims call this recitation the Shahadah, and refer to it as the first Pillar of Islam.
Muslims have six main beliefs.
* Belief in Allah as the one and only God
* Belief in angels
* Belief in the holy books
* Belief in the Prophets...
o e.g. Adam, Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Dawud
(David), Isa (Jesus).
o Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the final prophet.
* Belief in the Day of Judgement...
o The day when the life of every human being will be
assessed to decide whether they go to heaven or hell.
* Belief in Predestination...
o That Allah has already decided what will happen.
o Muslims believe that this doesn't stop human beings
making free choices.
Please get an english translation of Holy Quran. Read it.
www.themodernreligion.com
2006-12-29 08:44:22 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Simply Islam is the submission to Allah which means the God as in al in arabic often means "the". The God as in Creator of the World.
Islam is not related to suicide.
Islam is related to democracy, which in the Middle East you do not see.
Islam is not related to subjection of any kind as you always see on the news.
True Islam is not related to terroism and or terrorist acts.
True Islam does not rely on fear.
True Islam relies on spirituality to its inner and deeper cores.
2006-12-29 09:22:56 · answer #4 · answered by Laela (Layla) 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In the name of God, Most Gracious Most Merciful
Before I proceed with my answer, I would like to strongly recommend that you watch this documentary made by PBS entitled Islam - Empire of Faith. Kindly visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyNeULY4E1I
Islam is the last Abrahamic religion. Its central Prophet is Muhammad (peace be upon him). Its holy book, al-Quran/Koran is a book of God, containing 100% words of God, undistorted for 1400 years up until now, and until the end of time (as God has vowed to preserve its authenticity).
Meanings of the holy Quran must not be taken or understood literally as it can be extremely misleading. Muslims have the authentic books of the Prophet's Sunnah (prophetic traditions) and the works of prominent Imams, i.e. Muslim scholars of Islam who are religious successors of the Prophet to guide us in understanding the holy Quran and the Sunnah as they are supposed to be understood.
Muslims believe that God did send prophets and messengers to every nations since Adam (peace be upon him), most notably the 25 Messengers of God (peace be upon them all) which every single Muslim must know by heart. Muslims also recognise Jesus Christ the son of Mary (peace be upon him) as the Messiah while Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) as the best of creation is believed to be the seal of prophets.
Alongside with that, Muslims also believe in previous revelations/books of God, most notably the Gospel of Jesus, Torah of Moses, Psalms of David, Scrolls of Abraham, and so on.
Muslims believe in the existence of supernatural beings; for instances, angels being the loyal obedient servants or God and devils (Satan) being the disobedient ones.
Muslims also believe in the life of the Hereafter, the Day of Judgment, the second coming of Jesus, and Predestination.
E-mail me for any enquiries. God-willing, I'll help you the best I can.
God knows best.
Peace and Love.
2006-12-29 09:47:42 · answer #5 · answered by mil's 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why don't you just ask them? Most of the Muslim people I know are happy to tell others about it. It's just not a religion that constantly tries to recruit others like some Christian religions do. If you're old enough, it might benefit you to take a Comparative Religion class at college. It's very interesting to know where everyone is coming from.
2006-12-29 08:31:09 · answer #6 · answered by Wannabeadoc06 3 · 2⤊ 3⤋
Islam is the religion which was given to Adam, the first man and the first prophet of Allah, and it was the religion of all the prophets sent by Allah to mankind. The name of God's religion lslam was not decided upon by later generations of man. It was chosen by Allah Himself and clearly mentioned in His final revelation to man. In the final book of divine revelation, the Qur'aan, Allah states the following:
"This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion". (Soorah Al-Maa'idah 5:3)
"Abraham was not a Jew nor Christian; but an upright Muslim." (Soorah Aal'imraan 3:67)
The Prophet (PBUH) reported that Allah said, "I created my servants in the right religion but devils made them go astray". The Prophet (PBUH) also said, "Each child is born in a state of "Fitrah", then his parents make him a Jew, Christian or a Zoroastrian, the way an animal gives birth to a normal offspring. Have you noticed any that were born mutilated?" (Collected by Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim).
And we follow the last Holy book Qur'an and the last messenger of God Prophet Muhammad(pbuh).
Peace and blessings
2006-12-29 08:30:46 · answer #7 · answered by Zifikos 5 · 3⤊ 1⤋
I am a Muslim and i have a lot of friends who are true Christians.I can tell you that basically just like yourself we believe in one God.
We believe and love Jesus(As) as a prophet of God.
For us Muhammad(pbuh) is the last beloved messenger of Allah/God.
Islam is a Abrahamic religion like Judaism and Christianity,with understanding and love we can all get along.
There are English versions of our holy book the Quran if you would like to read up on it. x
2006-12-29 08:32:15 · answer #8 · answered by Sherzade 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
You can learn about Islam at reputable sites such as:
http://www.islamonline.net/English/index.shtml
http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/index2.php?vPart=40&startno=1&thelang=E
http://www.islam101.com/
Also I found this video to be very informative and clears many misconceptions non-Muslims have:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d387IGQRJ9I
2006-12-29 08:39:15 · answer #9 · answered by A fan 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Koran basically says quite often "kill the infidel"
I think, as with any religion, it's the damned fanatics that give it a bad name. Basically, the religious police they have.
This religion has been known to castrate their women, taking the clit, vulva, and sewing them up so that they will stay a virgin till married, and if hubby goes out of town..she's resewn up. Look it up on the internet, it's female circumcision. It happens often in this religion. Women are also treated like cattle and, before America got over to Iraq, women were beaten for showing just a little skin or not covering their face properly.
Women, if they have even been suspected of having sex before marriage, men can kill them because if the girl lives she causes the family to loose face (embarrisment). You can read about this too from news areas online.
This is not as peaceful a religion as some will try to tell you it is. It has it fanatics that over do it.
2006-12-29 08:29:24 · answer #10 · answered by Voice 4 · 2⤊ 7⤋