Islam religionThis is a featured page

Video :

Adhan (Islamic Call to Prayer)

I chose this video since this is an important practice in Islam. In a Muslim country, this would be heard five times a day in the city.
The purpose of Adhan is to call Muslims to Salah (prayer). Prophet Muhammad introduced the Adhan to signal that the time of Salah has arrived. The person who calls the Adhan is called the Mu'adhdhin (caller). While doing so, he faces the Qiblah or the direction towards the Ka'bah in Mecca.






Contemporary Presence : Movie


Submission (2004)


This is a very provocative movie about Islam. I remember reading about the assassination of its director in a newspaper a few years ago.
Submission is a 10-minute movie directed by Theo van Gogh. The movie tells the story of four fictional characters played by a single actress wearing a veil, but clad in a see-through chador, her naked body painted with verses from Quran. The characters are Muslim women who have been abused in various ways. The movie contains monologues of these women and highlights three verses of the Quran that authorize mistreatment of women, by showing them painted on women's bodies.







Islam is derived from the Arabic word "salam," which is often interpreted as "peace." It also means "Self-surrender to the will of God." The Arabic word muslim refers to a man, muslima to a woman. In either case the literal meaning is "one who submits to God's teachings and commandments, which leads to peace."

Islam is the youngest religion among other religions existing in this world. Islam was founded in 622 CE by Muhammad the Prophet. The religion started in Mecca, when the angel Jibril (Gabriel in English) read the first revelation to Muhammad. The Islam that was revealed to Muhammad is the continuation and culmination of all the preceding revealed religions


Islam religion - PhilWikiWiki

What does Islam teach?

Islam calls humanity to the service of the One, Omnipotent Creator, Who is known as "Allah, " (The Deity) in the Arabic language. It is exactly the same word that the Jews, in Hebrew, use for God (eloh), the word which Jesus Christ used in Aramaic when he prayed to God. Islam teaches that the objective of the Commandment of God is that peace should be established in the human societies of this world, in preparation for a further dimension of human existence in the world to come, the Afterlife.

Islam believes that each person is born pure. The Holy Quran tells us that God has given human beings a choice between good and evil and to seek God’s pleasure through faith, prayer and charity.

Muslims have two major sources from which they derive their religious teachings. "The Quran," the direct Revelation of God to Muhammad are the literal words of God in their original Arabic language. Muslims believe that it was dictated to Muhammad by the archangel Jibril over an interval of 23 years. The text was originally in oral and written form; it was later assembled together into a single book, the Qur'an.

The second source is the collected sayings and pronouncements of the Prophet which are complimentary to the Revelation. These are known as "the Hadith." They are regarded as the Sunnah (lived example) of Muhammad. However, the writings are not regarded as having the same status as the Holy Qur'an; the latter is considered to be God's word.


Islam religion - PhilWikiWiki
Muhammad

Muhammad was chosen by God to deliver His Message of Peace, namely Islam. He was born in 570 C.E. in Mecca, Arabia. He was entrusted with the Message of Islam when he was at the age of forty years. The revelation that he received is called the Qur'an, while the message is called Islam. Muhammad, a descendant of Abraham, is the last messenger from God till the Day of Resurrection. Muhammad is considered to be the summation and the culmination of all the prophets and messengers that came before him. He was entrusted with the power of explaining, interpreting and living the teaching of the Qur'an.

He developed the conviction that he had been ordained a Prophet and given the task of converting his countrymen from their pagan, polytheistic beliefs and what he regarded as moral decadence, idolatry, hedonism and materialism.





6 Fundamental Islamic Beliefs

1. A single, indivisible God
2. The angels
3. The divine scriptures, which include the Torah, the Psalms, the rest of the Bible, and the Qur'an
4. The Messengers of God, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus and Muhammad
5. The Day of Judgment when people will be judged on the basis of their deeds while on earth, and will either attain reward of Heaven or punishment in Hell. They do not believe that Jesus or any other individual can atone for another person's sin. Hell is where unbelievers and sinners spend eternity. Paradise is a place of physical and spiritual pleasure where the sinless go after death.
6. The supremacy of God's will



Islam religion - PhilWikiWiki

Islam’s 5 Pillars

1. Creed (Shahada): The verbal commitment and pledge that there is only One God and that Muhammad is the Messenger of God, is considered to be the Creed of Islam. "I bear witness that there is no god but God; I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Prophet. " Most Muslims repeat it at least daily.
2. Prayer (Salat), offered five times a day
Fajr (Morning Prayer) which is performed some time between the break of dawn and just before sunrise.
Zuhr (Noon Prayer) offered from just after midday to afternoon.
'Asr (Afternoon Prayer) offered from late afternoon until just before sunset
Maghrib (Sunset Prayer) offered between sunset and darkness
Isha (Night Prayer) offered at night time, often just before sleeping.
3. Fasting (Sawm), Fasting is total abstinence from food, liquids and intimate intercourse from dawn to sunset during the entire month of Ramadan.
4. Purification of wealth (Zakat). This is an annual payment of a certain percentage of a Muslim's property which is distributed among the poor or other rightful beneficiaries. It serves to remind Muslims that all beneficence comes from the bounty of God
5. Pilgrimage (Hajj), which all Muslims should perform at least once in a lifetime. They perform prescribed acts of worship at the Holy House of the Ka’ba in Mecca which, according to the Qur'an, was originally built by the prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael



Interesting Fact

For Muslims the term Jihad is applied to all forms of striving. In the West, "jihad" is generally translated as "holy war," a usage the media has popularized. According to Islamic teachings, it is unholy to instigate or start war; however, some wars are inevitable and justifiable. Some Muslim writers and translators of the Qur'an, the Hadith and other Islamic literature translate the term "jihad" as "holy war," due to the influence of centuries-old Western propaganda.



References:
http://www.islam101.com/index.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/isl_intr.htm
http://www.islam.com/



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