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ISLAM AND
MUSLIMS: |
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: |
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: |
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: |
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: |
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.
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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