Islam (اسلام)
Islam is a religion followed by Muslims which means “voluntary submission to God”.
Islam is a monotheistic and Abrahamic
religion articulated by the Qur’an, a book considered by its adherents
to be the verbatim word of God (Allāh) and by the teachings and
normative example (called the Sunnah and composed of Hadith) of
Muhammad, considered by them to be the last prophet of Allah.
“An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim.”
Allah is one and
incomparable and the purpose of existence is to love and serve Allah.
Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of
a primordial faith that was revealed at many times and places before by
the messengers of Allah known as Prophets. They maintain that the
previous messages and revelations have been partially misinterpreted or
altered over time, but consider the Arabic Qur’an to be both the
unaltered and the final revelation of Allah.
Most Muslims are of two denominations,
Sunni (75–90%), or Shia (10–20%).
About 13% of Muslims live in
Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country, 25% in South Asia, 20%
in the Middle East, and 15% in Sub-saharan Africa. Sizable minorities
are also found in Europe, China, Russia, and the Americas. Converts and
immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world with
about 1.57 billion followers or 23% of earth’s population, Islam is the
second-largest religion and one of the fastest-growing religions in the
world.
Muslim (مسلم)
“Muslim” is an Arabic word meaning “one who submits to God”.
“A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to Allah.”
Muslims believe that God (Allāh) is
eternal, transcendent, absolutely one , and incomparable; that he is
self-sustaining, who begets not nor was begotten as stated in Quran in
chapter 112 in “Surah al-Ikhlas”, (the chapter of purity) –
* سورة الإخلاص *
* بِسْمِ اللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ *
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ١
اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ ٢
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ٣
وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ ٤
Translation
"Bismillaahir Rahmaanir Raheem
1. Qul huwal laahu ahad
2. Allah hus-samad
3. Lam yalid wa lam yoolad
4. Wa lam yakul-lahu kufuwan ahad"
1. Qul huwal laahu ahad
2. Allah hus-samad
3. Lam yalid wa lam yoolad
4. Wa lam yakul-lahu kufuwan ahad"
Meaning
1. Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
2. Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
3. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
4. And there is none like unto Him.
1. Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
2. Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
3. He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
4. And there is none like unto Him.
Muslims also believe that Islam is the
complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed
at many times and places before, including through the prophets Abraham,
Moses and Jesus. Muslims maintain that previous messages and
revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time, but
consider the Qur’an to be both unaltered and the final revelation from
Allah—Final Testament.
Most Muslims accept as a Muslim anyone who
has publicly pronounced the Shahadah (declaration of faith) which is
also known as Tauheed which states,
ﻵ ﺍِﻟَﻪَ ﺍِﻟّﺎ ﺍﻟﻠّﻪُ ﻣُﺤَﻤَّﺪٌ ﺭَﺳُﻮُﻝ ﺍﻟﻠّﻪِ
“La ilaha illa-llah, Muhammadu-rasulu-llah”
“I testify that there is no god except for the God,and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.”
They also believe that Muhammad is the
Seal of the Prophets and the final prophet. Their basic religious
practices consist of 5 times daily prayers (salat) , 1 month fasting
during Ramadan (Roza), almsgiving (zakat), and the pilgrimage to Mecca
(hajj) at least once in a lifetime.
Adherents of Islam constitute the world’s
second largest religious group. According to a 2010 study that was
released in January 2011, Islam has 1.6 billion adherents, making up
over 22% of the world population.
According to another study in 2015 Islam has 1.7 billion adherents. Most Muslims are either of two denominations:
Sunni (87-90%, roughly 1.5 billion people)
and Shia (10–13%, roughly 170 million people).
Islam is the dominant religion in the
Middle East , North Africa, the Horn of Africa, the Sahel, and some
parts of Asia. Large communities of Muslims are also found in China ,
the Balkans , India , and Russia . Other parts of the world host large
Muslim immigrant communities; in Western Europe, for instance, Islam is
the second largest religion after Christianity, where it represents 6%
of the total population or 24 million people.
Historically, Islam was divided into three
major religious denominations well known as Sunni, Khawarij and Shī‘ah .
In the modern era, Sunnis constitute more than 85% of the overall
Muslim population while the Shi’as are slightly more than 12%.
Today, many of the Shia sects are extinct .
The major surviving Imamah- Muslim Sects are Usulism (with nearly more
than 10%), Nizari Ismailism (with nearly more than 1%) and Alevism (with
slightly more than 0.5% but less than 1% ). The other existing groups
include Zaydi Shi’a of Yemen whose population is nearly more than 0.5%
of the world’s Muslim population, Musta’li Ismaili (with nearly 0.1%
whose Taiyabi adherents reside in Gujarat state in India and Karachi
city in Pakistan. There are also significant diaspora populations in
Europe, North America, the Far East and East Africa ), and Ibadis from
the Kharijites whose population has diminished to a level below 0.15% .
On the other hand, new Muslim sects like African American Muslims,
Ahmadi Muslims (with nearly around 1% ), non-denominational Muslims,
Quranist Muslims and Wahhabis (with nearly around 1-2% of the world’s
total Muslim population) were later independently developed.
