Vionie Beaunissant

Professor Jonathan Frueh

Intro to Religion
3/9/19

The Religion of Islam

Many claimed that it is a part of humans to look up to and worship someone or something

they believe is a higher being. And that makes sense as it would explain why different religions

exist. But in this paper, we will focus on Islam and everything that pertains to it such as its

origin, its famous people, its core beliefs and ect..

According to Islam is a reintroduction of the monotheistic faith of the prophet Abraham;

but its development began in the "Arabian Peninsula" (Brodd 471.) in the seventh century and

spread through the middle East. The most famous prophet of Islam is Muhammad. Muhammad

was born 570 in the Common Era but his journey as the last prophet of Islam did not until he

received the teaching of God from the "Jinn Jibril” (Brodd 473.) (name that the Angel Gabriel is

given in Arabic) in an isolated cave near Mecca. Over a period of twenty-three years, the

teachings of Allah were revealed to Muhammad, and eventually those teachings- who originally

were recitations- were collected and put together and put into a book called the Qur’an. And

those recitations dictate the lives of Muslims till this day. After the Qur’an the second most

important source of Islamic teaching is the Sunnah, (B which refers to the tradition prophet

Muhammad’s way of life. The latter is recorded in a scripture called the “hadith.”(Brodd 480.)

Islam is an Arabic word that means “submission or submit” (Frueh 2.). Which means that

those who practice the Religion-Muslims- are the “[ones] who [have] surrendered, submitted,
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and/ or adhered to the will of Allah” (Frueh 2.) And they do so by abiding to the sacred texts

which is the Word of Allah. Islam have core beliefs that are synonymously called Islam’s 6

Articles of Faith. The first Article is the belief that Allah is the only true God and that Allah is

unknowable and predetermines everything. The second Article of Faith is that the Qur’an is

God’s word given to Muhammad in 610 CE through the angel Gabriel and that it is believed to

be free of corruption unlike other religious books. Muslims also believe that all prophets such as:

Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus and Mohammad existed and that they all taught Islam. However,

they also believed that Muhammad that is the “Seal of the Prophets” (Frueh 7.) which means he

was the last prophet. And those beliefs summarize the third Article of Faith. The fourth Article of

Faith is that angels exist and that they are two of them on a person shoulders and that they record

good and bad deeds respectively. The fifth Article of Faith is that during the Day of Judgment

Jesus will return and start the last days and destroy crosses. Muslims also believe that they will

be judged by a great scale that weights good and bad deeds if you enter heaven or not. The sixth

and last Article of Faith is that God not only knows everything but also foreordains everything

that happens in the world and in one’s life.

Like all other religious followers, Muslims have worship practices that closely relate to

the teachings of their religion. The basis of these practices form “The Five Pillars of Islam.” The

first pillar is the Shahadah which is the declaration of faith. It is the condensing of the essence of

the Muslim faith in a short statement that is “simple” and “straight forward” (Clark 139) It is

usually stated as so, “There is no other God but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God”

(Clark 140). To become a Muslim, one must say the Shahadah with extreme sincerity in front of

a witness and afterwards will begin their journey to learn the Qur’an, the Sunnah and other

aspects of faith. The Shahadah affirms that being a Muslim is not a private affair between the

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believer and God. Instead, a Muslim must bear his submission to God and witness to others. The

Shahadah is spoken in many different occasions. For example, it could be whispered in the ear of

a new born, it could be chanted at one’s funeral as their body is being carried, and it is said at the

end of each of the five daily prayers. Which brings up the second pillar, the Salat. Which are the

mandatory daily prayers. The specific number of prayers are not established in the Qur’an but

rather in the hadith. Those prayers are performed at specific times of the day, they cannot be

done all at once to “check them off the list.” The first prayer should be done at dawn every

morning. The next prayer is performed around noon. The remaining prayers are done in the late

afternoon, at sunset and in the evening. The salat are not individual prayers giving thanks to God

or asking for help like Christian prayers. They are rather formalized prayers that required

specific verses from the Qur’an to be recited accompanied with special body movement. Before

starting the prayers, a Muslim must enter a state of purity. Such a state is reached through wudu,

which involves cleansing one’s hands, head, face and feet. Na during prayer one’s body must be

covered. Throughout the prayers, the believer must be facing Mecca where the Ka’ba is located.

Prayers can be performed anywhere but most Muslims like to pray in mosques, which is a place

designated for prayer. “The five daily prayers are announced through the words of the adhan.”

“And it is delivered by a person called a muezzin, who calls the faithful to prayer” (Brodd 483.).

The third pillar is the Zakat which refers to almsgiving. The rules about Zakat are very specific,

and the amount of zakat is determined as a percentage “(about 2.5 percent)” of the certain types

of properties cash including. It is similar that tithes that Christians have to pay. The wealth from

which the zakat is obtained is considered pure and clean. The payments expressed a Muslim’s

commitment to improve his or her community. Every adult must pay zakat. But those exempted

from it are adults who are mentally ill or unstable, and their property is below a minimum. The

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Zakat is used to help the poor and the sick, spread the Islamic faith, ransom captives, aid

travelers, free Muslim slaves, help debtors, and defend Islam. The fourth pillar of Islam is Sawm,

which is the mandatory fast during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic

calendar. Ramadan is a sacred month to Muslims because it was during Ramadan that the Qur'an

was revealed to Mohammad. During Ramadan, all Muslims are required to fast from dust to

dawn. They must not eat nor drink or have sexual relations. They must also try to avoid negative

thoughts and arguing during the hours of the fast. All adults and teenagers are expected to fast.

But of course, they are some who are exempted from it such as: travelers, pregnant or nursing

women and women who are menstruating, children, those who are mentally ill and the very

elderly. The end of Ramadan is marked by a feast called Id al-Filtr. The fast is important in both

a personal and community levels. The last Pillar is the hajj which is the holy Pilgrimage to

Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The hajj is required for any Muslim who is physically and financially

able to make it, but the only need to make the pilgrimage once in their lifetime. Muslims who

have return from the hajj often use the tittle hajj (for men) or hajja (for women) before their

name to indicate that they have made the journey. The hajj must be undertaken at a particular

time of the year, which is the second week of the month Dhu al-Hajj- the final month of the

Islamic calendar. When making the trip, Muslims must leave behind all indication of their social

and economic status. Pilgrims must wear special clothing called “ihram”- which are simple

pieces of white cloth- while women can wear what they choose. The most important focus of the

hajj is the structure known as the Ka’ba. “The Ka’ba is a cubical building about thirty feet, and

Muslims believe it was originally built and dedicated to Allah by Abraham and his son Ishmael”

(Brodd 487-488.) The hajj ends with the most important holiday of the year, the feast of

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Sacrifice. Those five pillars are activities that devout Muslims must perform to demonstrate their

faith.

Muslims like any other religious followers have their own beliefs on the origin of

humanity, its purpose, the source of evil and where a person goes when they die. According to

professor Sulayman Nyang the story of Adam and Eve is similar in the Tanakh and in the

Christian Bible as well as the Muslim Qur'an. According to the Quranic narrative, reported in the

“Baqara” (Nyang 2), man came into being after Allah consulted with his angels about his

selection for the position of khalifa (viceregency) of Allah on earth. Although the angels and

Iblis (Satan) warned Him about man’s possible future of violence and mischief, Allah dismissed

their objection by saying that He knows that they do not know about human possibilities.

According to BBC the purpose of all creation, including humans, is to love, worship and serve

God. And that Idea aligns with what it means to be a Muslim- which is to submit to the will of

Allah. Muslims believe that the origin of evil comes down to Iblis refusing to bow down to

Adam when ordered by Allah. For his disobedience Iblis was cast out of Heaven by Allah, and

he vowed that in revenge he would spend eternity trying to tempt humans to do evil. Islam

teaches that a knowledge of right and wrong is intrinsic to human nature. Muslims teachings say

that individuals should know without being told which actions are evil and will contribute to the

suffering of others, and which action are good. This inner sense of right or wrong is called fitrah.

Since as previously stated the actions of individuals determine where they will spend their

eternity. Islam teaches that there is life after death and this is known as Akhirah. Muslims believe

that when they die, they will stay in their graves until Yawm al-din, the Day of Judgement. On

that day they will rise from their graves and be brought before Allah and judged on how they

lived their earthly lives. This is known as the resurrection of the body. Those who have

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performed more good deeds than bad deeds will enter Jannah, or Paradise. Jannah is a place

described as a “garden of everlasting bliss” and a “home of peace” (Life after Death.). In the

Jannah there will be no sickness, pain or sadness. It is similar to the concept of Heaven in

Christianity. But those who have done more bad, than good will enter Jahannan or Hell. This is a

place of physical and spiritual suffering. And that is similar to the Hell described in the Bible.

Everything has pros and cons, including religions even, one such as Islam. Islam offers a

sense of calmness and well-being once one realizes that they have discovered one of life’s most

basic truths. Islam also provides liberation for a person from slavery to manmade systems and

lifestyles. Submission to the will of God gives one a very high degree of freedom by freeing the

mind from superstitions and filling it with the truth and knowledge. Islam also offers one the

chance to truly experience God’s love as well as happiness, tranquility and inner peace. On the

other hand, Islam is that it develops a superiority complex within the people that practices it.

Since every religion believe that they are superior to on each other, it would explain why they

would think that they are more righteous than others, and in some cases act like it. A

disadvantage to Islam is that it restrains some freedom for women, when it comes to the way

they are told to act, dress and what is expected of them. Every religion is not perfect, but they

offer something that many can benefit from.

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Brodd, Jeffrey, et al. Invitation to World Religions. Second ed., Oxford University Press, 2018.

“Human Nature and the Purpose of Existence.” Patheos, Patheos,

www.patheos.com/library/islam/beliefs/human-nature-and-the-purpose-of-existence.

Stacey, A. (2011). The Benefits of Converting to Islam (part 3 of3), The Benefits of Converting
to Islam (part 2 of 3), The Benefits of Converting to Islam(part 1 of 3). [online]
Islamreligion.com. Available at: https://www.islamreligion.com/articles/4514/viewall/benefits-
of-converting-to-islam/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2019].

Unknown. “Life after Death - Revision 3 - GCSE Religious Studies - BBC Bitesize.” BBC News,
BBC, www.bbc.com/bitesize/guides/z6mhgk7/revision/3.

Jonathan Frueh. “Islam.” Hillsborough Community College. 27 February 2019. Lecture.

Clark, Malcom. “Islam for Dummies”. Illinois: For Dummies, 2003.