What is Islam?-1 ABOUT THE WORDS "ISLAM" AND "MUSLIM"
The name of this religion is Islam, the root of which is S-L-M, whichmeans peace. The word "Salam," derived from the same root, may alsomean greeting one another with peace.
One of the beautiful names of God is that He is Peace. But Islam meansmore than that: it means submission to the One God, and it meansliving in peace with the Creator — peace within one’s self, peacewith other people, and peace with the environment.
Thus, Islam is a total system of living. A Muslim is supposed to livein peace and harmony with all these segments. It follows that a Muslimis any person, anywhere in the world, whose obedience, allegiance, andloyalty are to God, the Lord of the Universe.IS "MUSLIM" THE SAME AS ARAB?
The followers of Islam are called Muslims. Muslims are not to beconfused with Arabs.
Muslims may be Arabs, Turks, Persians, Indians, Pakistanis,Malaysians, Indonesians, Europeans, Africans, Americans, Chinese, orother nationalities.
An Arab could be a Muslim, a Christian, a Jew or an atheist. Anyperson who adopts the Arabic language is called an Arab.
The language of the Qur’an (the Holy Book of Islam) is Arabic. Muslimsall over the world try to learn or improve their Arabic, so that theymay be able to read the Qur’an and understand its meaning. They prayin the language of the Qur’an, Arabic. Islamic supplications to Godcould be (and are) delivered in any language.
There are one billion Muslims in the world; there are about 200million Arabs. Among those two hundred million Arabs, approximatelyten percent are not Muslims. Thus Arab Muslims constitute only abouttwenty percent of the Muslim population of the world.-
ALLAH THE ONE AND THE ONLY GOD
"Allah" was the Arabic word for God long before the birth of Muhammad,peace be upon him.
Muslims believe that Allah is the name of the One and Only God. He isthe Creator of all human beings. He is the God for the Christians, theJews, the Muslims, the Buddhists, the Hindus, the atheists, and allothers. Muslims worship God, whose name is Allah. They put their trustin Him and they seek His help and His guidance.
MUHAMMAD
Muhammad was chosen by God to deliver His Message of Peace, namelyIslam. He was born in 570 C.E. (Common Era) in Makkah, Arabia. He wasentrusted with the Message of Islam when he was at the age of fortyyears. The revelation that he received is called the Qur’an, while themessage is called Islam.
Muhammad is the very last Prophet of God to mankind. He is the finalMessenger of God. His message was and is still to the Christians, theJews and the rest of mankind. He was sent to those religious people toinform them about the true mission of Jesus, Moses, Jacob, Isaac, andAbraham.
Muhammad is considered to be the summation and the culmination of allthe prophets and messengers that came before him. He purified theprevious messages from adulteration and completed the Message of Godfor all humanity. He was entrusted with the power of explaining,interpreting and living the teaching of the Qur’an.
ISLAM AND NON-MUSLIMS
Muslims are required to respect all those who are faithful and Godconscious people, namely those who received messages. Christians andJews are called People of the Book. Muslims are asked to call upon thePeople of the Book for common terms, namely, to worship One God, andto work together for the solutions of the many problems in thesociety.
Christians and Jews lived peacefully with Muslims throughout centuriesin the Middle East and other Asian and African countries. The secondCaliph, Umar, chose not to pray in the church in Jerusalem, so as notto give later Muslims an excuse to take it over. Christians entrustedthe Muslims, and as such the key of the Church in Jerusalem is stillin the hands of the Muslims.
When Jews fled from Spain during the Inquisition, they were welcomedby the Muslims. They settled in the heart of the Islamic Caliphate.They enjoyed positions of power and authority. Throughout the Muslimworld, churches, synagogues and missionary schools were built withinthe Muslim neighborhoods. These places were protected by Muslimsduring bad times and good, and have continued to receive thisprotection during the contemporary crises in the Middle East
Thank You .
