Who is islam

This brochure introduces the central themes of Islam and its core components — with a special focus on our purpose in life and the all-encompassing nature of Islam. A Muslim is someone who adopts the Islamic way of life by believing in the Oneness of God and the prophethood of Muhammad, peace be upon him pbuh.

Today, Islam is one of the fastest growing religions and is practiced by more than 1. The most essential principle in Islam is the purely monotheistic belief in one God. God is the Creator of everything in the universe and is unique from His creation.

Muslims are encouraged to develop a direct and personal relationship with God without any intermediaries. Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians also refer to God as Allah. Read more: Who is Allah? He begot no one nor was He begotten. No one is comparable to Him. Islam is the culmination of the universal message of God taught by all of His prophets.

Muslims believe that a prophet was chosen for every nation at some point in their history, enjoining them to worship God alone and delivering guidance on how to live peacefully with others. However, after the prophets delivered the divine guidance to their people, their message was lost, abandoned, or changed over time, with only parts of the original message intact.

God then sent another prophet to rectify their beliefs. In order to restore the original call of all prophets, God sent Muhammad pbuh as the final prophet to all of humanity in the 7 th century C. In C. For the next 23 years, he continued to receive revelations until the message was completed.

Muhammad pbuh called people towards the belief in one God and encouraged them to be just and merciful to one another. Learn more about Muhammad. Muslims also believe that God sent revealed books as guidance to humanity through His prophets. It confirms truths from the previous scriptures and maintains the same core message of worshiping God and living righteously.

God has ensured that the Quran is protected from corruption, safeguarding it for all of humanity to benefit from until the end of time. It is the only holy book that has been meticulously preserved in its original text. Click here to find out more about the Quran. Worship in Islam is a comprehensive concept that urges people to be conscious of God throughout their daily lives and provides a framework to help people live a balanced and virtuous life.

This way of life promotes strong moral character, good relations with people, and just and harmonious societies. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products.

List of Partners vendors. Share Flipboard Email. Islam Expert. Huda is an educator, school administrator, and author who has more than two decades of experience researching and writing about Islam online. Updated October 13, Cite this Article Format. Allah God in Islam. Such roles do not preclude women from having careers and earning income or men from helping to raise a family. Rather, they provide a general framework for Muslim society, designed to reinforce the concept of a nuclear family unit.

Minimal mixing of the sexes in Muslim societies should not be construed to imply inequality or confinement. Rather, such measures are designed to protect individuals from unsolicited attention, inappropriate sexual attraction, adultery and possibly other forms of violence such as rape. Such rights were unheard of in the seventh century, yet were implemented to varying degrees in Muslim civilization throughout the last fourteen hundred years.

It is also important to recognize that only in the last two centuries have such rights been available to women in Western societies. Prevailing cultural factors must also be taken into account. Do Muslims believe in laws beside the religious law Shariah? Muslims living as minorities in countries such as the United States abide by the civil laws of the land. Interestingly, in England, Muslims have established a religious parliament that works with the British government to enable implementation of Muslim personal laws, which deal with matters of marriage, divorce, inheritance, and other issues.

According to Islam, human beings are the noblest creations of God, endowed with consciousness and freedom of choice. Thus, Islam is balanced in its concern for salvation in the Hereafter as well as peace and justice in the present world. Islam places great emphasis on social justice for all people. Muslims consider it an obligation to oppose all who exploit, oppress, discriminate, and deal unjustly with people. Be ye staunch in justice, witnesses for Allah, even though it be against yourselves or your parents or your kindred, whether the case be of a rich man or a poor man, for Allah is nearer unto both than ye are.

So follow not passion lest ye lapse from truth and if ye lapse or fall away, then lo! Allah is ever Informed of what ye do" Quran - Muslims understand the goal of Islam to be the spiritual upliftment of the individual and productive development of society. The ultimate consequence of rejecting God, His guidance and teachings is an unjust society. What is Jihad? Jihad as a military action is justified in two cases: struggle to defend oneself, or others, from aggression and struggle for freedom of religion and justice.

Say: Warfare therein is a great transgression , but to turn men from the way of Allah, and to disbelieve in Him and in the Inviolable Place of Worship, and to expel his people thence, is a greater with Allah; for persecution is worse than killing.

And they will not cease from fighting against you till they have made you renegades from your religion, if they can. And whoso becometh a renegade and dieth in his disbelief: such are they whose works have fallen both in the world and the Hereafter. Such are rightful owners of the Fire: they will abide therein" Quran - and therefore must be thwarted.

Systematic, forced conversion to Islam is a historical myth. Muslims defeated hostile forces and gained control of new lands where Islamic rule was established, yet non-Muslim inhabitants were not forced to become Muslims. In the course of time, many non-Muslims did find the message of Islam appealing and converted to Islam, resulting ultimately in the transformation of society at all levels.

Instead, war can be just or unjust, but never holy. What about all the terrorists? Contrary to popular misconception, Islam does not condone terrorism. Prophet Muhammad and his companions prohibited the killing of civilians and non-combatants in the course of warfare. Struggle against injustice is a key, distinctive concept in Islam. Through the ages, the concept of righteous struggle has inspired Muslim peoples and movements to stand up against oppression and tyranny, as in the case of the wars of independence against colonialism.

While some Muslim extremists may perpetrate acts of terrorism, this does not diminish the legitimacy of righteous struggle against oppression and injustice experienced by Muslims in many parts of the world. Indeed, such terrorists violate the teachings of Islam.