Islam

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Islam is a monotheistic Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. An adherent of Islam is known as a Muslim, meaning "one who submits (to God)".[1][2] There are approximately 1.61 billion Muslims,[3] making Islam the second-largest religion in the world, after Christianity.[4]

Muslims believe that God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad, God's final prophet, and regard the Qur'an and the Sunnah (words and deeds of Muhammad) as the fundamental sources of Islam.[5] They do not regard Muhammad as the founder of a new religion, but as the restorer of the original monotheistic faith of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. Islamic tradition holds that Jews and Christians distorted the texts God gave to these prophets by either altering the text, using a false interpretation, or both.[6]

Islam includes many religious practices. Adherents are generally required to observe the Five Pillars of Islam, which are five duties that unite Muslims into a community.[7] In addition to the Five Pillars, Islamic law (sharia) has developed a tradition of rulings that touch on virtually all aspects of life and society. This tradition encompasses everything from practical matters like dietary laws and banking to warfare.[8]

Almost all Muslims belong to one of two major denominations, the Sunni and Shi'a. The schism developed in the late 7th century following disagreements over the religious and political leadership of the Muslim community. Roughly 85 percent of Muslims are Sunni and 15 percent are Shi'a. Islam is the predominant religion throughout the Middle East, as well as in parts of Africa and Asia. Large communities are also found in China, the Balkan Peninsula in Eastern Europe and Russia. There are also large Muslim immigrant communities in wealthier and more developed parts of the world such as Western Europe. About 20 percent of Muslims live in Arab countries.[9]

"Mohammed, along with Buraq and Gabriel, visit Hell and see a demon punishing "shameless women" who had exposed their hair to strangers. For this crime of inciting lust in men, the women are strung up by their hair and burned for eternity. Persian, 15th century."
"Mohammed, along with Buraq and Gabriel, visit Hell and see a demon punishing "shameless women" who had exposed their hair to strangers. For this crime of inciting lust in men, the women are strung up by their hair and burned for eternity. Persian, 15th century."[10]

Muhammed was the founder of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as the last messenger and prophet of God (Allah), and is also regarded as a prophet by the Druze and as a Manifestation of God by the Baha'i Faith.[11] Muslims do not believe that he was the creator of a new religion, but the restorer of the original, uncorrupted monotheistic faith of Adam, Abraham and others. They see him as the last and the greatest in a series of prophets of Islam.[12]

Sources on Muhammad’s life concur that he was born ca. 570 CE in the city of Mecca in Arabia.[13] He was orphaned at a young age and was brought up by his uncle, later worked mostly as a merchant, and was married by age 26. At some point, discontented with life in Mecca, he retreated to a cave in the surrounding mountains for meditation and reflection. According to Islamic tradition, it was here at age 40, in the month of Ramadan, where he received his first revelation from God. Three years after this event, Muhammad started preaching these revelations publicly, proclaiming that "God is One", that complete "surrender" to Him (lit. islām)[14] is the only way (dīn),[15] acceptable to God, and that he was a prophet and messenger of God, in the same vein as Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and other prophets.[16][17][18]

Muhammad gained few followers early on, and was largely met with hostility from the tribes of Mecca; he was treated harshly and so were his followers. To escape persecution, Muhammad and his followers migrated to Yathrib (Medina)[19] in the year 622. This historic event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad managed to unite the conflicting tribes, and after eight years of fighting with the Meccan tribes, his followers, who by then had grown to ten thousand, conquered Mecca. In 632, on returning to Medina from his 'Farewell pilgrimage', Muhammad fell ill and died. By the time of his death, most of Arabia had converted to Islam.

The revelations (or Ayats, lit. Signs of God), which Muhammad reported receiving till his death, form the verses of the Qur'an,[20] regarded by Muslims as the “word of God”, around which the religion is based. Besides the Qur'an, Muhammad’s life (sira) and traditions (sunnah) are also upheld by Muslims.

[edit] Criticism

The Prophet married a child named Aisha when she was 6 years old and consumated his marriage with her when she was 9. At the time he was 54.[21] Muhammed also beheaded between six hundred and nine hundred men personally. [22]

Muhammed has been accused of developing his religion purely to conquer his enemies. Islam is a mixture of stolen material from Christianity and Judaism. Winston Churchill remarked of Islam; "How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property - either as a child, a wife, or a concubine - must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen; all know how to die; but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science - the science against which it had vainly struggled - the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome." [23]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Template:Cite encyclopedia
  2. ^ Lane's lexicon. Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  3. ^ This claim is made by Islamic population. Other sources give a range from 1 billion to 1.8 billion.[1]
  4. ^ Major Religions of the World—Ranked by Number of Adherents (HTML). Retrieved on 2007-07-03.
  5. ^ See:
  6. ^ See:
    • Accad (2003): According to Ibn Taymiya, although only some Muslims accept the textual veracity of the entire Bible, most Muslims will grant the veracity of most of it.
    • Esposito (1998), pp.6,12
    • Esposito (2002b), pp.4–5
    • F. E. Peters (2003), p.9
    • Template:Cite encyclopedia
    • Template:Cite encyclopedia
  7. ^ Esposito (2002b), p.17
  8. ^ See:
  9. ^ See:
    • Esposito (2002b), p.21
    • Esposito (2004), pp.2,43
  10. ^ http://www.zombietime.com/mohammed_image_archive/islamic_mo_full/
  11. ^ The Cambridge History of Islam (1977) writes that "It is appropriate to use the word 'God' rather than the transliteration 'Allah'. For one thing it cannot be denied that Islam is an offshoot of the Judaeo-Christians tradition, and for another the Christian Arabs of today have no other word for 'God' than 'Allah'." cf p.32.
  12. ^ See:
    • Esposito (1998), p.12
    • Esposito (2002b), pp.4–5
    • F. E. Peters (2003), p.9
  13. ^ Encyclopedia of World History (1998), p.452
  14. ^ The word "islām" derives from the triconsonantal Arabic root sīn-lām-mīm, which carries the basic meaning of safety and peace. The verbal noun "islām" is formed from the verb aslama, a derivation of this root which means to accept, surrender, or submit; thus, 'Islam' effectively means submission to and acceptance of God. See: Islam#Etymology and meaning
  15. ^ 'Islam' is always referred to in the Qur'an as a 'dīn', a word that means 'way' or 'path' in Arabic, but is usually translated in English as 'religion' for the sake of convenience
  16. ^ Esposito (1998), p.12; (1999) p.25; (2002) pp.4-5
  17. ^ "Muhammad", Encyclopedia of Islam Online
  18. ^ Peters (2003), p.9
  19. ^ After Muhhammad's migration to Yathrib, the city came to be known as Madina al-Nabi, lit. 'City of the Prophet'; hence, the name Medina
  20. ^ The term Qur'an was first used in the Qur'an itself. There are two different theories about this term and its formation that are discussed in Quran#Etymology cf. "Qur'an", Encyclopedia of Islam Online.
  21. ^ http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/sina/ayesha.htm
  22. ^ http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/58326
  23. ^ http://www.chuckbaldwinlive.com/read_churchill_islam.html

[edit] See also


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