UNDERSTANDING ISLAM

1. UNDERSTANDING ISLAM

2. Overcoming stereotypes! Gorge Orwell: Why I write? • To see things as they are, • To find out true facts, • Store them up for the use of posterity Building our future on truth and understanding

3. In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful

4. ISLAM Historical Context

5. Animism 1500BC 1440 660 600 563 610 30AD Islam Buddhism Judaism Taoism Shinto Hinduism Christianity

6. World Religions

7. Muslim population (1.3 Billion) • 30% of Muslims live in the Indian subcontinent, • 20 % in Sub-Saharan Africa, • 18% in the Arab world, • 17% in Southeast Asia, • 10% in the Soviet Union and China. • Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan comprise 10% of the non-Arab Middle East. • There are 6 million Muslims in USA.

8. What is Islam? • Islam is not a new religion. • It is the religion brought by all of the prophets of God for humankind. • Islam was the religion of Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all). • Islam is the complete acceptance of and obedience to the teachings of God, which He revealed to His last Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). One who follows Islaam is called a Muslim.

9. What does 'Islam' mean? • The Arabic word 'Islam' simply means 'submission', and derives from a word meaning 'peace'. • "Islam" literally means "peace through the submission to God". • It means complete submission to the will of God. • "Muslim" literally means "anyone or anything that submits itself to the will of God". • 'Mohammedanism' is a misnomer because it suggests that Muslims worship Muhammad (PBUH) rather than God.

10. Allah=God • Allah in Arabic implies the one and only true God, the beginning and the end of everything, neither born nor giving birth. • He is merciful, the Beneficent, the Lord, the All-Knowing, the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, the Magnificent, the Wise, and the Loving,

11. Do Muslims worship a different deity? NO! • Muslims do not worship a different God. Allah is simply the Arabic word for God. • Allah is exactly the same word that the Jews, in Hebrew, use for God (eloh), the word that Jesus Christ used in Aramaic when he prayed to God. • God has an identical name in Judaism, Christianity, and Islaam; Allaah is the same God worshipped by Muslims, Christians and Jews.

12. What do Muslims believe? • Muslims believe in One and Unique God; • in the Angels • in the prophets • in the Day of Judgment • in God's complete authority over human destiny • and in life after death.

13. Original Sin • “...Islam teaches that people are born innocent and remain so until each makes him or herself guilty by a guilty deed. • Islam does not believe in ‘original sin’; and its scripture interprets Adam’s disobedience as his own personal misdeed—a misdeed for which he repented and which God forgave.” I.Faruqi

14. Who is Muhammad? • He was born in Mecca in 570, CE. • He became known for his truthfulness, generosity and sincerity. • Muhammad received first revelation through the angel Gabriel on the summit of the 'Mountain of Light' near Mecca. • He died in 632, at age of 63 in Medina.

15. Muhammed, The Prophet • Before becoming the Prophet, Muhammad led a relatively modest life. • He was raised in a Bedoin tribe by his grandfather after both his parents died. • Muhammad worked as both a shepherd and a caravan manager before he married the caravan owner.

16. Muhammad at Mecca • Muhammad preached to people in Mecca and gained a small group of followers, including his wife. • Muhammad and his followers were subjected to violent reaction toward his new faith. • migration to Medina in 622 C.E., which known as the Hijra and marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.

17. Muhammad at Medina • In Medina, he flourished as a Prophet, and gained a mass following. • Eight years after he had fled, Muhammad was welcomed back to Mecca and the city underwent a mass conversion to Islam. • Muhammad died in 632 C.E, leaving behind the foundations for a religion that would one day parallel in power both Christianity and Judaism.

18. “The mighty spirit of Muhammad” • When he appeared Arabia was a desert -- a nothing. (spiritually and materially) • Out of nothing a new world was fashioned by the mighty spirit of Muhammad -- a new life, a new culture, a new civilization, a new kingdom which extended from Morocco to Indies and influenced the thought and life of three continents -- Asia, Africa and Europe. Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao

19. Muhammad as a Leader • "Mohammad is the most successful of all Prophets and religious personalities". The Encyclopedia Britannica • "If greatness of purpose, smallness of means, and astonishing results are the three criteria of a human genius, who could dare compare any great man in history with Muhammad?LaMartaine, French Poet

20. central teachings • the goodness, omnipotence and unity of God, • the need for generosity and justice among humans and a fear of Judgment Day. • He overcame opposition to be recognized as both lawgiver and prophet.

21. What is the Qur’an? • The Qur’an is a record of the exact words revealed by God through the Angel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad during a period of 23 years. • It was memorized by the Prophet Muhammad and then dictated to his Companions, and written down by scribes. • Not one word of its 114 chapters (Suras) has been changed over the centuries. • No one throughout the history of Islam has challenged the accuracy of the Qur'an.

22. The chapter 'Mary' in a Qur’anic manuscript written around 1400 year ago.

23. Qur’an: a memorandum for the faithful "It is a memorandum for the faithful, a reminder for daily doings, and a repository of revealed truth. It is a manual of definitions and guarantees, and at the same time a road map for the will. Finally, it is a collection of maxims to meditate on in private, deepening endlessly one's sense of divine glory.“ Huston Smith

24. Opening Chapter In the Name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful(1) • All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Universe, (2) • the Beneficent, the Merciful (3) • and Master of the Day of Judgment (4). • (Lord), You alone We do worship and from You alone we do seek assistance (5) • (Lord), guide us to the right path, (6) • the path of those to whom You have granted blessings, those who are neither subject to Your anger nor have gone astray (7)

25. This opening Chapter contains the essence of the Qur’an

26. First Revelation: The Mountain where Gabriel came to Muhammad (PBUH)

27. Macca: the city where Muhammad (PBUH) first lived.

28. Mecca at Night

29. Medina: the Prophet established both his political and  religious leadership here

30. The Hadith • A saying of the Prophet transmitted outside the Qur'an through a chain of known intermediaries • There are various collection of traditions: Bukhari, Mulsim, Abu Du’ad, Al-Tirmidhi, Al Nasa, Ibn Madja.

31. Beliefs and Practices of Islam In order for Muslims to submit themselves to God and reassert their faith in Islam, there are various practices and beliefs that each Muslim should follow. Islam isn't just a belief, it is a way of life. What Muslims believe, dictates how they should live for God. The following are generally accepted practices.

32. Six Pillars of Faith: • To believe in God. • To believe in Angels. • To believe in revealed books, the Qur’an, the New Testament, the Psalms of David, the Torah, and the Pages of Abraham. • To believe in messengers. • To believe in the last day. • To believe in God's determination of affairs, good or bad.

33. Five Pillars of Islam : these are obligations of every Muslim that uphold the structure of Islam. • Testimony (sahadah) : Faith or belief in the Oneness of God and the finality of the prophethood Muhammad; • salat : Five-times-daily prayers. Starting at just before sunrise, just after noon, mid-afternoon, just after sunset, and after nightfall; • zakat : Concern for almsgiving to the needy; • sawm : Self-purification through fasting. This usually done from before sunrise to sunset each day of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim calendar; and • hajj : The pilgrimage to Mecca for those who are able.

34. Prayer: Muslim Praying in congregation Muslims praying

35. Social Responsibilities • The teachings of Islam concerning social responsibilities are based on kindness and consideration of others • our first obligation is to our family • then to other relatives, neighbors, friends and acquaintances, orphans and widows, the needy of the community, our fellow Muslims, all our fellow human beings and animals.

36. Parents Your Sustainer has decreed that you worshipnone but Him, and that you be kind to parents. Whether one or both of them attain old age in your lifetime, do not say to them a word of contempt nor repel them, but address them in terms of honor. And, out of kindness, lower to them the wing of humility and say: My Sustainer! Bestow on them Your mercy, even as they cherished me in childhood." (17:23-24)

37. Relatives • "And render to the relatives their due rights, as (also) to those in need, and to the traveler; and do not squander your wealth in the manner of a spendthrift." (17:26) • “spend of your wealth-in spite of your love for it-for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves” (2:177)

38. the family The family is the foundation of Islamic society. The peace and security offered by a stable family unit is greatly valued, and seen as essential for the spiritual growth of its members. A harmonious social order is created by the existence of extended families; children are treasured, and rarely leave home until the time they marry.

39. Nations! • O mankind! We created you from a single [pair] of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other.1 • That is, “I created you as peoples, nations, and tribes, so that you should know one another and the relations between you in social life, and assist one another; not so that you should regard each other as strangers, refusing to acknowledge one another, and nurturing hostility and enmity.”

40. A Muslim Family

41. Neighbors The Prophet (PBUH) has said: • "He is not a believer who eats his fill when his neighbor beside him is hungry"; • "He does not believe whose neighbors are not safe from his injurious conduct."

42. Animals and Environment Islam regulates not only relations between man-man, man-state. it also regulates relations between man and the environment. • Hunting of birds and animals for the sake of game is not permitted. • Trees and plants which yield fruit is forbidden unless there is a very pressing need for it.

43. Planting Trees “If a Muslim plants a tree, that part of its produce consumed by men will be as almsgiving for him. Any fruit stolen from the tree will also be as almsgiving for him. That which the birds eat will also be as almsgiving for him. Any of its produce which people may eat thus diminishing it, will be as almsgiving for the Muslims who planted it”. The Prophet

44. Environmental Protection • Muslims should scrupulously avoid doing anything to upset or disturb others in any circumstances or in any place. • To pollute or dirty the city in which one lives, or the town or village and their surrounding countryside, waters, air, or views, and to scatter rubbish and refuse is both a sin and extremely discourteous.

45. Animals • The Prophet Muhammad said that animals and birds should not be ill-treated, but should be well looked after and kept clean, and employed in work suitable to their natures, and should not be loaded with burdens greater than they can bear. • He put a ban on hunting, forbidding the arbitrary hunting of animals for pleasure.

46. Jihad • Basic Arabic meaning of "jihad" is struggling or striving and applies to any effort exerted by anyone. • It does not mean holy war. • In its primary sense it is an inner thing, within self, to rid it from debased actions or inclinations, and exercise constancy and perseverance in achieving a higher moral standard. • Military action is therefore a subgroup of the Jihad and not its totality. • Muhammad emphasized to his companions when returning from a military campaign: "This day we have returned from the minor jihad (war) to the major jihad (self-control and betterment)."

47. Major Problems of 21st Century • Wars • Violence and Terror • Poverty • Illiteracy • Drug and Alcohol • AIDS