Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

RELIGIONS

ISLAM

:7th Century Place : Arabia

* Simple, powerful and appealing doctrine of the unity of God. * Islam means submission or acceptance of the will of God". * Does not permit the division of believers into worldly and religious men - laity and clergy. * India has the fourth largest Muslim population.

Origin

Propounder

: PROPHET MUHAMMAD : 1,014,372,000(18.2%) : All Continents (184 countries)

Global Following

Global Spread Predominant

La ilaha illatah Muhammadar rasulullah

: Asia/Africa

Nos. in (000)

Africa

Asia

Europe

South

North Oceania Eurasia

America

America

There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah

284,884

668,298

13,633

1,400

3,332

104 42,761

CHRONOLOGY * Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, born in Makkah (570 A.D.). * Full Name: Muhammad ibn Abdulla ibn Abd al-Muttalib ibn Hashim). brought up by his grandfather and uncle, Muhammad grew up, worked for a rich widow, Khadijah and married her later at her behest. * Makkah was a prosperous mercantile centre in the later 6th century, but there were many Arabian tribes, worshipping dif- ferent gods and tribal solidarity was breaking up. * About 610 A.D. reflecting on such matters, Muhammad had a vision of a majestic being later identified as Archangel Gabriel and heard a voice saying "You are the messenger of God", marking the beginning of his career as a messenger (or apostle) of God (Rasul Allah), or prophet (Nabi). * These messages, at intervals, continued till Muhammad's death in 632 A.D. * Quran (or Koran, the sacred scripture of Islam), contains the collection of the messages received by Muhammad. * Islam means (surrender to the will of God) And its adherents are called Muslims (those who have surrendered). * He did not claim divine origin for himself. He was a religious leader. Muhammad was called al-Amin(the trustworthy man). * The simplicity of his teachings brought the Arabs together leading to the establishment of an Empire. * Islam spread far and wide except Europe due to the Muslim defeat by Charles Martel at Tours in 732. * During the course of his teachings, Muhammad had to migrate from Makkah to Madina. This is the start of the Islamic Era which begins on the first day of the Arabic year in which the Hijra, emigration, took place - July 622 in the Gregoman Cal- endar. * Muhammad duely recognised Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus and other Biblical prophets and claimed himself to be their successor. * Muhammad is accepted as the last Prophet and the greatest. SCRIPTURES * Quran or Koran (the sacred scriptures of Islam) is the Holy Book which has guided, and continues to guide, the Muslims. Quran's revelations are contained in 114 suras(chapters). All but one begin with "In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate". * Hadith, the second most important source of the teachings of Islam - is the collection of sayings of Muhammad. * Kalimah (profession of faith). * Sunnah (the acts and sayings of the Prophet, in fulfillment, interpretation or elucidation of Quran).

SECTS * The death of the Prophet posed the problem of succession. * The Shias (one group) wanted a member from the Prophet's family as the successor. * The Sunnis (other group) wanted the successor to be elected. * The Sunnis were successful and this division exists to this day. * The Ismailis, the Nusayris, the Yazidis and the Druzes are the other sects originating from the Shia sect. The Bahai faith (19th C) - an independent religion outside Islam - broke away from the Druzes sect. * Other groups are: the Ahmadiyah founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmed in Qadian (Punjab, India) and the Black Muslims. The teaching of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed (1839-1908) combined elements of Islam, Christianity and Hinduism. He rejected the doc- trine that Muhammad was the last of the prophets and claimed to be the Mehdi and promised Messiah. He taught that Jesus died a natural death and was buried in Srinagar. In 1914 after the death of Mirza Ghulam Ahmed there was a schism. One group that was headed by a son of the founder disowned the prophetic claims of the founder, regarded him only as a reformer and established their centre in Lahore, Pakistan. The larger group which regarded Ghu- lam Ahmed as a prophet moved their headquarters to Rabwah in West Pakistan, after the partition of India in 1947. Outside Paki- stan, the main body is known as the Qadiani group after the birthplace of the founder and first centre of the sect. The Black Muslims were part of a separatist and social pro- test Islamic movement that arose among blacks in the U.S. after World War II. Their leader was Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm broke with Elijah Muhammad and adopted more orthodox Muslim views. He was assasinated in 1965. After the death of Elijah Muhammad in 1975 the group was renamed World Community of Islam in the West and abandoned its separatist aims. CODE OF CONDUCT * The Quran and the Hadith provide elaborate instructions to Muslims on how to conduct themselves in their day-to-day life. * God is one and unique; he has no partner and no equal. * God created two apparently parallel species of creatures, man and Jinn, the one from clay and the other from fire. Declares man to be the noblest of all creations. Human nature, however, is frail and faltering. * True faith (Irman) consists of belief in the immaculate divine unity of Islam and submission to the Divine will. * Genuine repentance has the effect of removing all sins and restoring a person to the state of sinlessness. * Islam speaks of life after death and of the day of Judgment when the dead will be resurrected and all men shall receive the reward or punishment for their actions.