In the Middle East around the seventh century, a new religion was founded. This religion, Islam, according to Patheos.com, has since then earned a very prestigious place in the world as it accounts for over 1,500,000 followers (Islam Origins, Islam History, Islam Beliefs). It is the second largest monotheistic religion in the world, right after Christianity. The Prophet Muhammad is said to be the creator of this practice after claiming that Allah, the creator of the world, had spoken to him. There is no other Prophet, and, therefore, teachings of Muhammad the Prophet, whom acquired his teachings from revelations he received from Allah. Islam later fragmented into two branches called the Sunnis and the Shias. Each has their own beliefs on how Allah would want for them to carry out their lives. These branches are divided mainly by geographical factors.
Islam is a monotheistic religion and has been world’s fastest spreading religion. The religion Islam is originated in the seventeenth century by an Arabian prophet called Muhammad in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Seventeenth century was period of slavery and cold war. Islam is an Arabic word which means submission and it basically means submission to god and realizing his power. The followers of Islam is called Muslims. The meaning of Muslim is to surrender and it basically means surrender themselves to Prophet Muhammad and by obeying his instruction they can surrender to Allah. The scared text of Islam is Quran. Major Islamic branches include Shiite Islam (Shia) and Sunni Islam. They belief that to achieve heaven they need to fulfill five pillars of Islam which include creed (shahadha), prayer (salah), almsgiving (Zakat), fasting (sawm) and pilgrimage (hajj). The various aspects of Islam can be further discussed through Muhammad life, Quran, hijrah, core beliefs of Muslim, contributions of Islam, and by discussing how it is related to western civilization.
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion alongside Judaism and Christianity. It is currently the second largest religion in the world today. Its beliefs come from the Qur'an which literally means "the recitation" which is believed to be a literal transcription of the word of God. Its main prophet is named Muhammad who began Islam by speaking with the angel Gabriel in a cave during his meditation and then acting as an instrument of God to help write the Qur’an. Muhammad then spread Islam to the scattered tribes of Arabia by becoming the leader of Yathrib and using his wonderful leadership abilities to then grow his influence over virtually all of Arabia. Muhammad is known by Muslims to be the seal of the profits because no profits after Muhammad should be considered legitimate. Muhammad also left behind the Hadith or “tradition” which is a collection of writings compiled of reports of Muhammad’s actions as leader of Yathrib. These reports are used as a more specific code of ethics in day to day life and from these reports the 5 Pillars of Islam are derived (Smith 160). Although Islam shares many similarities to Judaism and Christianity it is often viewed in the US with hate derived from preconceived notions following the attack on September 11th 2001. This paper seeks to provide an overview of Islam’s history as well as its two major sects and 5 main pillars to remove preconceived notions and provide a glance into the minds of the Islamic people.
Justin Szpindor
Term Paper
April 14, 2014
The Power of Islam
The Islamic religion was crucial in the development of later Muslim based societies because of the 5 pillars of Islam, the main beliefs. The five pillars of Islam are Shahada: Faith, Salat: Prayer, Sawm: Fasting, Zakat: almsgiving, and Hajj: pilgrimage to Mecca which outline the duties necessary to be worthy in the eyes of Allah. In Shahada, Muslims believe in a total declaration of their faith to the only god Allah.
Islam is the religion for about a fifth of the world’s population and is continually growing in numbers. The people who believe in Islam, are called Muslims. It is a religion full of peace, mercy, and forgiveness (Basic facts about). Islam was founded in the 7th century AD by the prophet Muhammad. Muhammad was 40 years old when the angel, Gabriel, revealed God’s message to him. He received this message for the next twenty-three years. Muhammad memorized the message and revealed it to his companions, who wrote it down word for word. This became knows as “The Quran”, a record of what was exactly said to Muhammad by Go through Gabriel during the twenty-three years (Bulletin).
The Core Tenets of Islam
The religion of Islam dates back to the 7th century CE and the life of its founder, Muhammad of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia. Islam is an Arabic word meaning: making something safe and secure, making something sound and whole, entering into peace and tranquility, and surrendering to something other than oneself. A follower of Islam is called a Muslim. In the religion of Islam, it requires the belief in certain core tenets, which include the articles of faith and the five pillars of worship.
The Five Doctrinal Tenets of Islam
Islam is, debatably, the fastest growing religion in the world today. At a level of 1.2 billion, they represent approximately 22% of the world's population. Moslems make up the second largest religion in the world, surpassed only to Christianity at 33%. This is according to the 1999 World Almanac and Book of Facts (724).
Islam is one of the oldest religions in history dating back to about 600 AD. It began when a man named Muhammad heard a voice from the heavens instructing him to proclaim the word of god. Currently there are over 800 million followers of the Muslim religion. The main text of the religion is the Quran which is said to be the word of God, or Allah as called in Muslim. Within the Quran, The five pillars of Islam are proclaimed along with many other concepts very unique to the Muslim religion. Prayer is a very important aspect of Islam as well. Islam has a long history of invention, heritage, and world imperialism that must be understood to completely identify with the concepts of the religion and culture.
The worship of Allah is principal in a Muslim’s mind at all time. There are also five formal acts of worship which help strengthen a the faith and obedience of a Muslim. They are frequently called the “Five Pillars of Islam”. The Five Pillars of Islam are the framework and guidelines of the Muslim life. They are the testimony of faith, prayer, supporting the needy, fasting during the month of Ramadan, and the once in a lifetime trip to Makkah for those who are able to do so. These Five Pillars are the thing Muslim’s do to please God and to keep themselves well and happy in this lifetime and for the future ones to come. It was Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, who was reported to have said, “Islam is based upon five pillars”.
The winds of apostasy, atheism, and religious ignorance have wreaked havoc around the world. Many a people have left their religions due to religious ignorance, confusion, or even a sense of disgust toward their religious beliefs has caused people to live god-less lives. Many a people have wreaked havoc around the world due to their religious ignorance causing thousands of people to be hurt, ruining the peace and serenity in many countries, and atlas defaming the name of a religion.