Islam
IslamAn Overview of Islam
What is Islam?
Islam is the fastest growing and second most popular religion in the world. It is one of the three major world religions, along with Judaism and Christianity that profess monotheism, or the belief in a single God. For a fifth of the world’s population, Islam is both a religion and a complete way of life. Islam teaches Muslims the way to conduct their private, social, political, economic, moral, and spiritual affairs. Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority has nothing to do with extremely grave events that have come to be associated with their faith.
What does ‘Islam’ mean?
The Arabic word ‘Islam’ simply means ’submission’, and derives from a word meaning ‘peace’. In a religious context it means complete submission to the will of God. ‘Allah’ is the Arabic name for God which refers to the same God worshipped by Jews and Christians. Other religions have been named after their founder or after the community in which the religion prospered. For example, Christianity is named after Christ, Buddhism after Buddha, and Judaism after the tribe of Judah. But, Islam has not been named after Muhammad. Thus, ‘Mohammedanism’ is a misnomer because...
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