Explaining The Religion of Islam

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Islam is currently the worlds 2nd largest and fastest growing religion with nearly one-fifth (approximately 1.2 billion) of the world’s population believed to be Muslim (About.Com, 2008, Online http://islam.about.com/od/muslimcountries/a/population.htm). Islam is a monotheistic religion which means it believes in the one God. It is Abrahamic or one of the ‘Religions of the Book’, this means that, similar to in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible and the Jewish Torah, stories such as that of the Creation story in Genesis and the stories of Abraham (abc.net 2009, Online http://www.abc.net.au/religion/stories/s790151.htm ). This essay includes a brief summary of the general beliefs of Islam, the Islamic take on social justice, a summary of Islam in Australia, the similarities and differences to Christianity and the efforts for interfaith dialogue between Christianity and Islam.

Islam means submission to Allah (God). Islam is said to have been revealed to the Prophet Muhammad who lived from 570 CE to 632 CE in Mecca in which is in modern-day Saudi Arabia. It is believed that, through the Archangel Gabriel, Allah dictated the Qur’an to Muhammad. The Qur’an is the core source of Islamic beliefs and is their sacred text; it is believed to be the exact words of God. Muslims believe in the same God as the Jewish and Christian God, but unlike in Christianity, it is believed that God is a unique being with no other parts, sons etc (About.Com, 2008, Online). They believe in the same prophets such as Adam, Abraham and Moses. They believe that Muhammad was the last and greatest of all God’s prophets.

In Islam, there are 5 key elements of faith; these are called the Pillars of Islam. These 5 pillars are:

Faith: The Shahada is the Mu...

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...ue prophet of God who’s message had been distorted. They do not believe in his crucifixion or resurrection but that Judas Iscariot died in his place, they do believe that he ascended into heaven. Another key difference is the way of worship, Muslims worship in Mosques while Christians worship in Churches. In Islam there is no set interpretation of their Holy Text, the Qur’an, it is up to individual authorities to interpret it, unlike the Christian churches where it has been interpreted by a ruling body (ie in Catholicism the Pope and Vatican) (ReligionFacts, 2009, Online). Other key differences are the Islamic worship of Muhammed as the last and greatest of prophets. While Christianity has a highly structured hierarchy including the Pope, Bishops and Priests, Islam has no sole leader, they have religious leaders called Imans who are relatively equal in authority.

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