Islam (611- ) is the main religion in north Africa, south-west Asia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. Its believers, called Muslims, make up one fifth of mankind, second only to Christianity.
Muslims believe in the same God as the Jews and Christians, but where the Jews follow Moses and the Christians follow Jesus Christ, Muslims follow Muhammad, an Arab prophet from Mecca who lived in the 600s. Their holy book is the Koran.
The two main branches of Islam are Sunni and Shia. Nine Muslims in ten are Sunnis. Shia Islam is common in Iran and nearby countries.
Muslims do not believe that Muhammad was divine, but simply the last prophet of God before Judgement Day.
Moses and Jesus were holy prophets too, but their message, as it appears in Jewish and Christian scripture, was not faithfully recorded. Jesus, for example, was made into the Son of God by his followers when he was merely a prophet, a man.
Muslims have the same general view of the world as Christians and Jews: God created the word, Adam was the a first man, God warns us to change our ways by sending prophets, he lays down what we must do in his Holy Book and, on the last day, Judgement Day, he will judge us all: the good will go to heaven to be with God, the evil will go to hell to be with Satan. They believe in angels and honour Mary.
Where Christians put great stock in right belief, believing the right thing, and so have a history torn apart by heresies, Muslims, like Jews, put more stock in right practice, doing the right thing.
To be a good Muslim you must do five things:
- Believe that “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of God.” Allah is Arabic for “the God” (al-Lah).
- Give one part in 40 of your income and wealth to the poor and to teach Islam.
- Pray five times a day. The prayer is in Arabic, but you can add your own personal prayers in your own language. You pray facing Mecca, the holy city, at sunrise, noon, the middle of the afternoon, sunset and nightfall.
- Fast during the ninth month, Ramadan. This means no food, no drink and no sex when the sun is up. If you are sick, travelling or will soon give birth, you can put it off to another month when you are able.
- Make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in your life if you can. Go in the twelfth month. There are certain events to take part in when you get there. Everyone wears simple, white clothes. Two million do it every year.
If you do these five things then you can, for example, believe that Muhammad is Plato for the masses and still be a Muslim in good standing. That is how important these five things are.
– Abagond, 2006.
See also:
your an idiot, you have to beleive: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the Prophet of God.”
not plato
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the plato statement way stupid………
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Merry Christmas!
The Quran has a recurring phrase describing the saved as “those who believe and do this” and “those who believe and do that”. So the faith v. works issue never really heated up in the muslim world – the Quran is clear that they are inextricably linked. You’ll note that the first of the five things a muslim has to do is believe. In the same way that you could fill books on the details of the practice of the five daily prayers or the hajj, there is also plenty more to be said about correct faith in the Oneness of God and the Prophethood of Muhammad that, traditionally, sunni muslims learn as a sort of catechism as children. So that last phrase about Plato is flip and vague in a way the rest of your post is not. Perhaps you’re saying that historically muslims have not persecuted theological differences as long as a certain amount of uniformity in external practice is maintained? There’d be some truth to that. But is sounds kind of like you’re saying that belief in correct doctrine with respect to the person of the Prophet is not important to the various schools within Islam – I’d have to disagree with that.
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Looks like some of the masses responded… 😉
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I have to disagree with you on one point. I believe Jews follow Jehovah, or God, not Moses. Moses was one of the prophets.
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Also, Christians, well, at least my sect of Christianity, believes in faith and works. I know that some follow one or the other.
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Incorrect to say that Christians, in general stress belief over practice, although SOME Protestants niece in salvation by faith alone. But these Christians believe tha God them provides them with the strength to practice virtue.
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Just like the Muslims and the Jews, Christians have to go by what they are taught in their Holy books about who God is. If Muslims are taught by way of the Q’uaran, that Muhammad was the last prophet of Allah, then why is it that if the Christian Holy Book, the Bible, teaches that Jesus is not only the Son of God, but also God incarnate, why is it that it was Jesus’ followers who concocted the idea that He was God, rather than simply a prophet? Why does it seem it seem like Christians are the main ones who have to defend whom they believe whereas the other world’s religions are taken at face value? Why is it also that the Bible has to wrong, but the Q’uaran is not? Christianity is more than about belief and good works. It tells of how we as flawed people can still have a deep abiding relationship with God without being stuck in a never ending cycle of trying to do “good” but getting ensnared by wrong intentions and not having any assurance that what you do will count for anything. The Bible tells us that doing good works isn’t enough to get right with God because all of our “good works” end up amounting to nothing, but if we, by faith believe in Jesus’ sacrifice for our inability to be good enough, by our works, then we can gain the righteousness we are all striving to attain, through our good deeds. Tell me, what’s so wrong about believing in that?
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Wanted to add one thing or two,
We muslims Beleive Jesus was not Killed as widespread, but he was rised in the sky by our lord as clearly mentioned in the Quran, and will come back in the future, and his coming is from the 10 last signs of the end of this world, He will confirm the message that came with Mohamed-peace be upon him- and a lot of christians will then revert to Islam because of that ( Islam by the way is submiting to Allah = monothism), so He is the last prophet to die – peace be upon Him.
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Actually, the Qur’an makes it clear that only God knows which of us is best in faith and who may be punished. So no, believing Mohamed is Plato or doing certain things as long as the five things you’ve listed are followed does not mean we could still be in good standing as Muslims.
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Preach it justgrace, you are right. Abagond, you are mistaken in your statement allah is the same God as the Jews and the Christians. Muslims make that claim, neither Jewish or Christians confirm it. The truth is allah is not the same God, totally different in personality. You would have to research it to understand. I suggest you do the research, amazing truth awaits.
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