What is Islam?
Islam is not a new religion, but the same truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world's population, Islam is both a religion and a complete way of life. Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the vast majority have nothing to do with the extremely grave events which have come to be associated with their faith in the media.
Who are the Muslims?
Over a billion people from a vast range of races, nationalities, and cultures across the globe — from the southern Philippines to Nigeria — are united by their common Islamic faith. Roughly 18% live in the Arab world; the world's largest Muslim community is in Indonesia; substantial parts of Asia and most of Africa are Muslim, with significant minorities across Europe and the Americas.
What do Muslims believe?
Muslims believe in One Unique, Incomparable God; in the Angels created by Him; in the prophets through whom His revelations were brought to mankind; in the Day of Judgment and individual accountability for actions; and in God's complete authority over human destiny and life after death.
Muslims believe in a chain of prophets starting with Adam and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the Baptist, and Jesus — peace be upon them all. God's final message to man, a reconfirmation of the eternal message and a summing-up of all that came before, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad through the Angel Gabriel.
How does someone become a Muslim?
Simply by saying: "There is no god apart from God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." By this declaration, the believer announces their faith in all of God's messengers and the scriptures they brought.
What does "Islam" mean?
The Arabic word Islam simply means "submission," and derives from a word meaning "peace." In a religious context it means complete submission to the will of God. "Mohammedanism" is a misnomer, because it wrongly suggests Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. "Allah" is simply the Arabic name for God — the same word used by Arab Muslims and Arab Christians alike.
Do Islam and Christianity share the same origins?
Yes. Together with Judaism, they trace back to the prophet and patriarch Abraham. Abraham established the settlement that today is the city of Makkah, and built the Ka'abah — the place of worship all Muslims turn toward when they pray.
Who is Muhammad?
Muhammad was born in Makkah in the year 570. Raised by his uncle after his father died before his birth and his mother shortly after, he became known for his truthfulness, generosity, and sincerity — sought after for his ability to arbitrate disputes. At the age of 40, while in meditative retreat in the Cave of Hira, he received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. That revelation, continuing for twenty-three years, is known as the Qur'an.
Despite fierce early persecution, within a century of the Prophet's death Islam had spread from Spain in the west to China in the east — carried in large part by the simplicity of its central message: faith in one God alone.
What is the Qur'an?
The Qur'an is a record of the exact words revealed by God through the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad. It was memorized by Muhammad, dictated to his companions, and written down by scribes who cross-checked it during his lifetime. Not one word of its 114 chapters has been changed over the centuries. It is the prime source of every Muslim's faith and practice — covering wisdom, doctrine, worship, and law, with the relationship between God and His creation as its central theme.
The Sunnah — the practice and example of the Prophet — is the second authority for Muslims. A Hadith is a reliably transmitted report of what the Prophet said, did, or approved.
"God has no mercy on one who has no mercy for others." — the Prophet Muhammad
"None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself." — the Prophet Muhammad
The Five Pillars of Islam
These form the framework of Muslim life: faith, prayer, concern for the needy, self-purification, and pilgrimage for those who are able.
- Faith (Shahada). "There is no god worthy of worship except God, and Muhammad is His messenger."
- Prayer (Salah). Five obligatory prayers a day — at dawn, noon, mid-afternoon, sunset, and nightfall — a direct link between the worshipper and God.
- Charity (Zakat). Wealth is held in trust; each year Muslims give roughly 2.5% of their capital to those in need.
- Fasting (Sawm). During the month of Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food, drink, and marital relations from first light until sundown, as an act of self-purification.
- Pilgrimage (Hajj). The journey to Makkah, obligatory once in a lifetime for those who are physically and financially able — a moment when pilgrims of every nation and class stand equal before God.
Does Islam tolerate other beliefs?
The Qur'an says: "God forbids you not, with regard to those who fight you not for your faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loveth those who are just." (60:8). History bears this out — when the caliph Omar entered Jerusalem in 634, Islam granted freedom of worship to every religious community in the city.
What do Muslims think about Jesus?
Muslims respect and revere Jesus, peace be upon him, as one of the greatest of God's messengers, and await his second coming. The Qur'an confirms his virgin birth — a full chapter is titled "Mary" — and describes Mary as the purest woman in all creation. Neither Muhammad nor Jesus came to change the basic doctrine of belief in One God; both came to confirm and renew it.
Why is family so important to Muslims?
The family is the foundation of Islamic society. Children are treasured, the elderly are honored rather than placed in care homes, and serving one's parents is considered a duty second only to prayer. The Prophet taught that "Paradise lies at the feet of mothers."
What about Muslim women?
Islam regards a woman — single or married — as an individual in her own right, with the right to own and dispose of her own property and earnings. A marriage dowry is given by the groom to the bride, for her own personal use, and she keeps her own family name rather than taking her husband's.
What does Islam say about war?
Like Christianity, Islam permits fighting in self-defense, in defense of religion, or by those forcibly expelled from their homes — under strict rules that prohibit harming civilians or destroying crops and livestock. "Fight in the cause of God against those who fight you, but do not transgress limits. God does not love transgressors" (2:190). The word Jihad literally means "struggle," and Muslims recognize a second, inner Jihad — the struggle against one's own ego, for the sake of inner peace.
Islam in the United States
It's almost impossible to generalize about American Muslims — converts, immigrants, factory workers, doctors — all contributing to the country's future, unified by a shared faith across a nationwide network of roughly a thousand mosques. Today there are about five million Muslims in America.
"O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God's sight is the greatest of you in piety." — Qur'an 49:13