Introduction to World Religion and

Belief System
Quarter 1: Week 7 - Module 7

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 Target

Religions, or matters of faith, often

engender disagreements. These disagreements
keep communities and individuals apart, ending
friendships, creating divisiveness, and even
leading to violence. This is made more tragic by
the fact that if one took a closer look at the
various religions of the world, one would realize
they share many things in common,
including basic beliefs, morality, and
even some key doctrines.

And, so it is with the religions of

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam - three of the world's most popular faiths and three that have
engaged in centuries of bitterness, rivalry, and bloodshed while sharing many things in common.
They are considered 'people of the Book' - a designation coming from the Islamic tradition denoting
that the three religions share a common heritage and ultimately worship a common God.

To the outsider giving a cursory glance, they do seem different - even dramatically so in their
orientation and creeds. Yet, a summary investigation into their basic tenets reveals they have much in
common. The chapter aims to examine the basic elements of the three Abrahamic religions, namely
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Specifically, the chapter looks into the origins, sacred texts,
doctrines, practices, denominations, and challenges of these religions.
By the end of this module you are expected to:

• Be able to define the three Monotheistic Religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam
• Be able to explain the origin, the nature, uniqueness, doctrines and practice, and similarities
of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
• Be able to state the differences and similarities of the origin, the nature, uniqueness,
doctrines and practice, and similarities of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
• Be able to compare and contrast the origin, the nature, uniqueness, doctrines and practice,
and similarities of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

Discover

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

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 People who follow
Judaism,
Christianity and
Islam all worship a
common God.

The Origin

Judaism and the Jews

The followers of Judaism (literally, Judah-ism) are called Jews. Based on a recent estimate by
Deming (2015, 270-71), there are about 14 million Jews in the world. The majority of the Jews reside
in Israel and the United States, each having about 6.2 million Jews. Next to these two countries is
France, which has about 600,000 Jews (many of whom were migrants from Algeria, Morocco, and
Tunisia). Canada has around 420,000 Jews and the United Kingdom has around 360,000. The rest of
the Jews are scattered in other areas of the world. On another account, Matthews (2010, 237)
estimates the population of Jews in the following areas: Worldwide: 15,118,000; North America:
6,169,000; Africa: 238,000; Asia: 5,350,00; Europe: 2,017,000; Latin America: 1,137,000.

The terms “Judaism” and “Jew” were derived from the word Judah, which was the name of
the fourth of the 12 sons of Jacob. Each of the 12 sons of Jacob became the ancestor of a certain
tribe. The tribe of Judah, therefore, was one of the 12 tribes of Israel (for Jacob was also called Israel).
Originally, the term “Jews” (“Yehudi,” in Hebrew) thus referred to the members of the tribe of Judah.
But later on, the tribe of Judah, along with some other tribes (those of Benjamin and Levi, brothers of
Judah), became part of the Kingdom of Judah when the Kingdom of Israel was split into the Northern
Kingdom, which became the Kingdom of Israel, and the Southern Kingdom, which became the
Kingdom of Judah. The Kingdom of Israel was later on conquered by Assyria (in 721 BCE) and the 10
tribes constituting it were exiled from the land. They dispersed and were consequently assimilated by
other peoples. The Kingdom of Judah, whose tribes traced their lineage to Israel, was left (though
after a century and a half this kingdom was conquered by the Babylonians). In any case, from then
on, the term “Jews” was used to refer to the members of the Kingdom of Judah, and no longer just to
the specific tribe of Judah.

While the followers of Judaism are called Jews, it must be noted, however, that in the present
usage of the term, “Jews” does not necessarily refer to followers or converts of Judaism. There are
Jews nowadays who belong to another religion (say Christian Jews) or who do not belong to any
religion at all (some are even atheists). This is because one becomes a Jew either by ancestry or by
religious affiliation or conversion. In terms of ancestry, one is automatically a Jew if both one’s
parents are Jews. In the case of mixed marriages, there are traditional and liberal views. Traditionally,
one becomes a Jew if one’s mother is a Jew regardless of whether one’s father is a Jew or not.
Liberally, one can also be a Jew if one’s father is a Jew even if one’s mother is not, so long as one
chooses to be a Jew. In terms of ancestry, one becomes a Jew regardless of whether one follows the
teachings of Judaism or not. On the other hand, in terms of religious affiliation or conversion, one is a
Jew if one professes to the faith of Judaism or if one is converted to Judaism through a formal
process. Thus it can happen that one becomes a Jew even if one has no Jewish ancestry (see De

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Lange 2000,1-25; Rich 2012 for a more thorough discussion of this topic). In our discussion, we shall,
however, limit our use of the term “Jews” to mean followers or converts of Judaism. Jews are also
called Hebrews and Israelites. They are called Hebrews because they are descendants of Abraham (the
grandfather of Jacob) who was called a Hebrew. They are also called Israelites because they are
descendants of Jacob, who was also called Israel (see below how he got this name). In this light, the
term “Israelites” means “Children of Israel,” but Jews also take this term to mean “God’s chosen
people.” Non-Jews, on the other hand, are called Gentiles in the Hebrew Bible.

THE HEBREW BIBLE AND OTHER SACRED WRITINGS

The Tanakh

The sacred writings of the Jews are divided into the primary
(or foundational) and the supplementary ones. The primary ones are those found in the
Hebrew Bible (or Hebrew Scriptures), known in Hebrew as the Tanakh (or Tanak).The
supplementary ones are called the Talmud (which contains the Mishnah and Gemara) and
Midrash. The Hebrew Bible is a collection of particular books which were once separate
scrolls. The word Bible, in fact, was derived from the Greek word biblia, which means
books. Thus a bible, strictly speaking,
means a collection of books.
The Nevi’im
The Torah is the set of laws that God gave to Moses on
Mount Sinai. This set of laws is believed to have been given to
Moses in two forms: the written form, known as the Written Torah, The Nevi’im consists of
and the oral form, known as the Oral Torah. The Written Torah materials from what are called former

consists of 613 rules (mitzvoth in Hebrew), which include the Ten prophets (or major prophets) and latter
prophets (or minor prophets). There are
Commandments written on two stone tablets. The Oral Torah
in total 22 books comprising the
(which Moses transmitted to Aaron, his brother, who in turn Nevi’im. Each book is named after its
transmitted to his sons and others), which supplements the respective prophet.
Written Torah, was originally intended to remain as an “oral
tradition” and to be passed on from parent to child throughout The
Torah

The Particular Books

The following are under the three particular books of the Tanakh.

Torah (The Teachings) Nevi’im (The Prophets) Kethuvim (The Writings)

Genesis (Former Prophets) Psalms, Proverbs, Job and

Joshua, Prophet, First and Second the Festal Scroll:
Exodus Samuel, and First and Second Kings, Song of Songs, Ruth,
(Latter Prophets) Isaiah, Lamentations
Leviticus Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and The Twelve Ecclesiastes, and
(treated as one book) consisting of Esther, Daniel, Ezra,
Numbers and Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Nehemiah, and First and
Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Second Chronicles
Deuteronomy Zephaniah, Haggai,
Zechariah, and Malachi

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 The Tanakh generally corresponds to the
Old Testament of the Christian Bible with

some minor differences in the order of the books.

The name “Old Testament,” however, is not
acceptable to some Jewish scholars because of
its connotation that it is meaningful only in
relation to the “New Testament.”
The Midrash examines the nonliteral meanings of the
Tanakh. Midrash writings
are ordered around the layout of the Tanakh. They are
mostly stories that relate to words, themes, or stories in
the Tanakh, which aim
to make these words, themes, or stories more
understandable and applicable to a person’s life.
Sometimes a midrash changes the
general understanding of a biblical story. For example,
many people familiar with the story
of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden will say that Eve
ate an apple. The idea of the
apple came from a midrash, for in the biblical story the
name of the fruit is not mentioned.
The Talmud is a set of books consisting of the Mishnah
and Gemara, which are commentated and
interpretative
writings. The Mishnah is a collection of writings that
were originally oral
instructions intended to supplement the
laws of the Written Torah. The Mishnah thus refers to
the Oral Torah. The
Gemara, on the other hand, is a collection of legal and
ethical commentaries on the
Mishnah. The Talmud has two versions, the
Babylonian Talmud and the
Palestinian Talmud, produced by the rabbis (Jewish
teachers) from Babylonia and Palestine, respectively.
The
Babylonian Talmud is considered the more
authoritative version and thus is
what is standardly referred to when one speaks of the
Talmud. The Palestinian
Talmud is considered incomplete and not clearly
written.

RITUALS AND MAJOR FESTIVALS

Jewish erve three daily prayer services during the day—in the morning,
afternoon, and evening. When making their prayers either in their home
Daily Prayers or synagogue, they must face the direction of the site of the temple in
Jerusalem.

The Sabbath Day The Sabbath occurs every sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday.
(Shabbat) Strictly no work is to be done on Sabbath for it is the most sacred day of
the week for the Jews, dedicated solely to prayer and rest from the
usual everyday activities. The observation of Sabbath honors the day
when God, after seeing that all that He created was good, rested on the
seventh day, and most importantly, God’s commandment to keep the
Sabbath day holy.

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 • The Pilgrim Festivals consist of the festivals of Pesah
(Passover), Shavu’ot (Pentecost), and Sukkot
(Booths). These festivals are called Pilgrim Festivals because the
ancient Israelites living in the Kingdom of Judah would make
Major Jewish pilgrimages to the temple in Jerusalem, as commanded in the
Festivals Torah, to celebrate them.
• Days of Awe or the Days of Repentance, also called the High
Holy Days, consist of the Ro’sh ha-Shanah, Ten Days of
Repentance, and Yom Kippur. It is a period for serious
introspection, a time for deep reflection on one’s life as one
considers one’s sins of the previous year, repent on them, and
seek reconciliation with those one has done wrong.
• The festival of Pesah (Passover) recalls the Lord’s liberation of
the Hebrews, led by Moses, from bondage in Egypt. There are
eight days of Pesah, the first of which occurs on the Sabbath.
This day begins the cycle of Jewish festivals according to the
lunar calendar sometime in April or May.
• The festival of Shavu’ot or Shavuot (Pentecost) is a celebration of
the spring harvest season and God’s gift of the Torah—God’s
giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Harvesting the first
fruits symbolizes receiving the Law from God, which will now
guide them in starting a new life after years of slavery.

Sukkot (Booths) is the festival during which Jews build

 temporary booths where they take their meals for one week.
This reminds the Jews of the time when they lived in booths in
the desert after being delivered by God from their slavery in
Egypt. The Ro’sh ha-Shanah or Rosh Hashanah celebrates the
Jewish New Year and God’s creation of the world as described
in the Torah. It signals the beginning of time. The celebration,
Major Jewish which is now observed for two days, is started with the blowing
Festivals of the shofar, a ram’s horn (except if the day falls on a
Sabbath), to remind the Jews that they stand before God and
that they therefore need to repent for their sins of the past
year. Work is not done during the celebration.

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  Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement and is considered the
holiest day among Jewish rituals. To atone means to make up
for ones faults, and this day has traditionally been kept by
prayer and strict fasting, with no food or drink during the
entire day. Yom Kippur begins around sunset of that day and
continues into the next day until nightfall, lasting about 25
hours. Observant Jews will fast throughout Yom Kippur and
many attend synagogue services for most of the day. The ten
days in between the Rosh Hashanah and the Yom Kippur are
referred to as the Ten Days of Repentance.

CHRISTIANITY

According to the estimate of Deming (2015, 326-27), “Christianity is the world’s largest
religion, encompassing a third of the world’s population or more than 2.2 billion people ... Today
about 20 percent of all Christians UNIT I 75 live in Africa, and about 25 percent live in Latin America;
Europe accounts for another 25 percent, Asia for about 15 percent, and North America for about 10
percent.” On a very general level, Christianity is the religion that is based on the teachings of Jesus
Christ, and Christians are the followers of these teachings.

The Holy Bible

The sacred texts of Christianity are contained in the Christian Bible, usually referred to as the Holy Bible. The Holy
Bible is divided into two parts, which are called the Old Testament and New Testament.

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 Originally written in Hebrew, is basically the
Hebrew Bible, the sacred text of Judaism. It
contains all the books of the Hebrew Bible with
78 INTRODUCTION TO WORLD RELIGIONS AND
BELIEF SYSTEMS some modifications in the
arrangement.
The Old Testament contains prophesies
that Christians believe are fulfilled in the New.
The Old Testament Foremost of these prophecies is the coming of the
Messiah who would sacrifice Himself for the sins
of mankind. Christians believe that this prophecy
is fulfilled in the New Testament through Jesus.

Was originally written in Greek, contains the life

and teachings of Jesus, the early development of
Christianity, as well as Christianity’s belief about
the end of time. From the perspective of
The New Testament Christianity, the New Testament contains the
essential principles or core of Christian teachings
and the Old Testament provides the foundational
principles that properly guide us in
understanding Christianity’s essential principles.

The Gospels

The word gospel comes from the old English

God spell (which in turn came from the Greek word Mark, Matthew, Luke and John are referred
evangelion and Latin word evangelium), which to as the four Evangelists
means “good
news” or “good tidings. “The good news of the gospel
is the coming Kingdom of the Messiah, and of redemption through the life, death, and resurrection of
Jesus, the central message of Christianity.

Authors:  Mark
• Matthew
• Luke
• John

Acts of the Apostles

The book of the Acts of Apostles describes the early stage of the development of Christianity.
It narrates how Christianity as a religion began and propagated first among the Jews and later on
among the Gentiles (the non-Jews), from the ascension of Jesus into heaven until the time when the

The Disciples of Christ were 7

first called Christians at Antioch.
apostle Paul preached in Rome. It also shows the dedication and sacrifices of the apostles, primarily
Peter and Paul, as they preached the teachings of Christianity in various regions. The
Acts of Apostles is widely believed to have
been written by Luke, the same author of the book of Luke of the Gospels. It is in fact believed that
the books of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles originally constituted one continuous account of the
origin and development of Christianity by the same author which was later on divided into two parts.

 Within the period of 40 days between the

High Lights on the Acts of Apostles
resurrection of Jesus from the dead and his
ascension to heaven
Jesus appeared to the apostles and to his mother
 Mary and friends in various times.
The Holy Spirit descended on the apostles and
gave them the gift of tongues or the ability to
 speak various languages (this event has been
called the Pentecost).
Peter’s preaching resulted in many conversions
and baptisms.
Stephen, the first Christian martyr, and other
Christians were persecuted by Jews, which
 included Saul (from
Tarsus).
Saul, on his way to Damascus to lead the
 persecution of further Christians, had a vision
(Saul went blind for three days until his sight
was restored by Ananias, a Christian), which led
to his conversion to Christianity.


 Peter also had a vision in which food considered

unclean in Jewish tradition was made clean by
God. He interpreted this as God’s message that
the gospel must also be preached to the Gentiles
or that salvation must be for everyone and not
just for the Jews.

 Saul, changing his name to Paul after his

conversion, travelled in various places,
vigorously propagating Christianity especially
among the
Gentiles.

 Peter and Paul performed miracles which

included curing the sick and making a lame
person walk. Due to resistance from certain Jews
in power, Peter and Paul, along with their
companions, were put to prison several times but
God always helped them escape (sometimes
through an angel, sometimes through an
earthquake).

The Epistles

The word epistle comes from the Greek

work epistole, which means “letter” or “message. The Epistles refer to the 21 letters in the
Bible. These letters were
written either by an apostle (Paul,
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Peter, John) or a family member of
Jesus (James, Jude), except for
Hebrews whose author is unknown.
‘The Epistles expound on the great themes of God’s saving work on the cross; thus they play a major
role in the formation of doctrines throughout the development of Christian churches.

21 Epistles

Revelation

The book of Revelation (written around 95

CE) is the last book of the Christian Bible. It The book of Revelation culminates in the
symbolically describes how the battle between good prophecy about the Second Coming of Jesus
and evil Christ.
would come to an end as revealed in
visions. In particular, it symbolically describes how the forces of evil (Satan’s army) will be finally
defeated and the Kingdom of God will finally reign in the world. It is considered an example of
apocalyptic literature, referring to writings that describe how the end of the world would come about.

The author of this book, the one narrating his visions which he believes are revelations from
Jesus Christ, names himself in the text as “John of Patmos” (Patmos is a small Greek island in the
Aegean Sea). It is traditionally believed that this is the apostle John, the same person who wrote the
Gospel of John, but some present-day scholars doubt this, claiming that the author, though certainly
a Christian, may be a different John.

DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES

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THE NATURE OF GOD

Christians, like the Jews and Muslims, are monotheistic in that they believe there is only one
God. This is the same God as the God of Abraham, Moses, and the other prophets in the Hebrew
Bible. In the first of the Ten Commandments revealed by God to Moses, God affirms His oneness,
saying “I am the Lord your God ...You shall have no other gods before me.”

 He is a pure spirit
 He does not change
 He is simple in UNIT that he cannot be
divided into parts He does not need a
body to exist He is eternal (He is neither

Divine Attributes of God created nor destroyed; He has no
 beginning and end

 He is all-powerful (omnipotent), all-

knowing (omniscient), wholly good or
benevolent, just, and caring

Unlike the monotheism of the Jews and Muslims, the

Christians, like the monotheism of Christianity is qualified by the belief that God has
Jews and Muslims, are three persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus), and God the Holy
monotheistic in that Spirit. This belief that God has three such persons has been called the
they believe there is only one belief in the Trinity (sometimes the Blessed or Holy Trinity). Christians
God believe that there is no
rational explanation for this; it is simply a mysterious truth that is
accepted as a matter of faith. One helpful way to understand the
Trinity though is to think of it as the three fundamental ways of referring to the same God. There is
just one God, but we can refer to God as the Father (the Creator), the Son (the Savior or Messiah),
and the Holy Spirit (the power of God as experienced in human lives). The Trinity thus expresses the
personal nature of God, the three personal ways of how God is related to humans—that He creates,
saves, and empowers them.

THE NATURE OF JESUS

There are at least seven fundamental beliefs that Christians hold about the nature of Jesus.

• First and foremost, Jesus is God. Jesus is God in that He is the Holy Trinity’s God the Son.
When we say Jesus is the Son of God, we are not speaking of two gods here—one, the Father
God, and the other, the Son God. Rather, we are speaking of the person of Jesus as God, his
being God the Son. Second, while Jesus is God, he is also human. He became human when
he was born into this world and later on died on the cross in order to save mankind from their
sinful nature. By being both God and human, it does not mean that Jesus is half-god and
half-human, making him a demigod. Rather it means that Jesus is wholly God and wholly
human; his divine nature is not weakened or diluted by his human nature and his human
nature is not strengthened by his divine nature. Jesus is wholly God in that he has all the
divine attributes in their full capacity, such as being eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, and
all-good.
• On the other hand, Jesus is wholly human in that he is subject to the same conditions and
struggles that ordinary humans are subject to, such as having free will, being subject to
temptations and ageing, having feelings of hunger and pain, and having a mortal body. His
being human does not make him a lesser God, and his being God does not make him a
superhuman.

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 • Third, Jesus is the Messiah that was prophesized in the Old Testament. Jesus came into this
world in order to save mankind from their sins. God becoming human was the perfect
sacrifice that would redeem mankind from their downfall and make them worthy of salvation
again. Jesus the Messiah will come again to establish the Kingdom of God in this world.
• Fourth, Jesus came into this world (to become human) through virgin birth. Jesus was
conceived in the womb of Mary through the Holy Spirit, and not through the natural
reproductive means humans engage in to conceive a child.
• Fifth, Jesus was sinless. As earlier noted, Jesus, being wholly human, was subject to the
same kinds of temptations humans’ experience, but Jesus was able to overcome all his
temptations.
• Sixth, Jesus resurrected from the dead. Three days after he died on the cross, Jesus became
alive again and met with his disciples, mother, siblings, and friends.
• And lastly, Jesus ascended into heaven. After 40 days since his resurrection from the dead,
Jesus ascended into heaven and promised to come again during the Last Judgment.

SOME PRACTICES AND RITUALS

Baptism

Baptism is a ritual for moral purification (“washing impurities away”) and serves as an
initiation rite. A person who undergoes it signifies his or her commitment to repent from his or her
sins, lead a new life, and make himself or herself ready to receive the Kingdom of God. John the
Baptist performed this ritual for people to cleanse themselves of sins in preparation for the imminent
coming of the kingdom of heaven. At the same time, baptism is an initiation rite as it signals one’s
entry into the Christian community

The Last Supper/ Eucharist

The practice of sharing a meal of bread and wine imitates the Last Supper that Jesus had
with his disciples before his death, and recalls Jesus’s sacrifice leading to his death and resurrection.
During this meal of bread and wine, Christians prayerfully recall Jesus’s death and resurrection. It is
a symbolic sharing of Jesus’s life and death, but Christians have different beliefs about certain
aspects of it. Some see the substance (or essence) of the bread and wine as transforming into the
substance (or essence) of the body and blood of Jesus (the physical components of the bread and wine
remain unchanged but their essences change into the essences of Jesus’s body and blood,
respectively, a process that is called transubstantiation).

Lenten Season

Lent refers to the 40 days of

repentance and preparation for Easter— the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead. The 40
days signify the 40 days of fasting and
prayer that Jesus spent in the desert after
his baptism by John the Baptist and before
his public life or Messianic ministry began.
But instead of fasting, Christians usually do

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abstinence or avoidance of pleasures like the consumption of luxury foods such as meat products
during this period. Some Christians begin the season with Ash Wednesday, when priests put ashes in
the form of a cross on the foreheads of believers. The week before Easter, which falls on a Sunday, is
called the Holy Week. Some Christians celebrate the Sunday before the Holy Week, called Palm
Sunday, by waving palm branches, recalling Jesus’s entry to Jerusalem. Holy Thursday recalls
Jesus’s last supper with his disciples, while Good Friday recalls His death on the cross. Black
Saturday is a day of quiet and prayer. Easter Sunday, celebrated at dawn, recalls the resurrection of
Jesus from the dead. Each form of Christianity has its own way of celebrating Easter Sunday.

Christmas

Christmas is the
Christian celebration of the birth of
Jesus which takes place on December
25 of every year. The fourweek
preparation for Christmas, which
remembers the period prior to the
birth of Jesus, is called Advent.
Several days after Christmas, on
January 6, Christians
celebrate the feast called the
Epiphany or Three
Kings, which mainly
commemorates the visit of the three
wise men to baby Jesus.

ISLAM AND THE MUSLIMS

ORIGINS AND SACRED

Because it began only in the seventh century BCE, Islam is

considered the youngest of the major religions. But with its followers, the
Muslims, constituting almost 25 percent of the world’s population, Islam
is considered the second largest religion (Deming 2015, 390). Though
earlier Muslims were Arabs, there are actually more non-Arab
Muslims today than Arab ones. According to the estimate of Deming
(2015, 390), “the nation with the largest Muslim population is Indonesia
—where almost 13 percent of all Muslims live (over 200 million according
the Pew Research
Center). After Indonesia comes Pakistan (175 million), India (160
million), and Bangladesh (145 million). Egypt and Nigeria currently tie
for the fifth spot (78 million each); and Iran and Turkey tie for the sixth
spot (73 million each). Of these eight countries only three are in the
Middle East (Egypt, Iran, and Turkey) and only one is Arab (Egypt).”

In the context of the religious tradition of Islam, the word The word Islam literally
specifically means “surrender or submission to God.” The word means
Muslim or Moslem, on the other hand, means “one who submits to
“surrender” or
God.’ Thus the followers of Islam are the Muslims (or Moslems).
Muslims refer to God in Arabic as Allah (see Molloy 2010, 430; Peters “submission.”
1994, 8-9). The use of the word “Allah” is not intended to qualify the
kind of God that Muslims worship.

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 Though most Arabs are Muslims, and the early
Allah is not different from the Muslims were Arabs, the terms “Muslims” and “Arabs” are
God of the Jews or the clearly not equivalent. Before most of the Arabs became
Christians. Allah, in fact, is the sameMuslims, they were either Jews, Christians, or others
God that Abraham—a common (Judaism and Christianity were already established when
spiritual ancestor of the Jews, Islam was only beginning to establish itself). There are Arabs
Christians, and who remained
Muslims—recognizes non-Muslims even today—the Arab Jews, Arab Christians,
and others.
Furthermore, since the spread of Islam outside of Arab
territories, there have been various non-Arab Muslims, such as the Muslims in Indonesia (whose
population is predominantly Muslims), Pakistan, Philippines, Malaysia, and many other parts of the
world.

Submission to God, according to Muslims, means

first and foremost accepting and putting into action the
If being a Muslim means submission to
fundamental doctrines of Islam, which are contained in
the so-called Five Pillars of Islam. If Islam means God, wouldn’t
“submission to God,” then these five pillars are the Five this make anyone who submits to God,
Pillars of Submission to God. In addition to believing in such as devout Jews or Christians,
Allah, one also needs to accept other beliefs especially that Muslims as well?
Muhammad is God’s last prophet or messenger. This
means that to be a Muslim, or to be one who submits to
God (as Muslims understand it), one must, in addition to believing in God, also accept that
Muhammad is God’s last prophet, among others.

THE QUR’AN AND HADITH

Muhammad regarded by
Muslims as the last prophet or
messenger of God

Muhammad shared God’s

messages to him first to his close family
and friends and then to other people.
Though some of these revelations were
written down by his close followers,
memorization through oral transmission
was the primary way of preserving these
messages. The
consistency of these messages was
maintained by Muhammad. If there were
questions about what these messages
really were and meant, Muhammad was there to clarify it. But when Muhammad died, his disciples
became concerned about how to deal with the variations that might arise with regard to the
messages, so they decided to write down an authoritative version of the messages.

The project of writing down Muhammad’s revelations was initiated by Abu Bakr, who became
the first caliph (from khalifa which means “successor”) or successor of Muhammad as Islam’s
spiritual leader. The project was finished in 656 CE during the caliphate of Uthman. The finished
book was called the Qur’an, which literally means “The Recitation” (see Molloy 2010, 425).

The Qur’an

Consists of 114 chapters (or suras), which cover a wide variety of topics which include the
spiritual origins of Islam in the persons of the different prophets, values, and specific instructions on
how to live an ethical life. As the messages of God were revealed to Muhammad in Arabic, an

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authoritative written version of these messages had to be in Arabic. Thus, any translation of the
Qur’an is considered to be an interpretation of the original messages already. The Qur’an contains the
main doctrines of Islam, but to help themselves understand and interpret these doctrines; Muslims
rely on what is called the Hadith, which literally means “reports” or “recollections” (Molloy 2010, 462).

The Hadith

The Qur’an consists of written narrations of Muhammad’s life, which report his words,
actions, decisions, and characteristics as a person. While the Hadith refers to the entire collection of
narrations, a hadith refers to each narration. Each hadith consists of two parts:
• The text or report itself and
• The chain or series of narrators for the Hadith (this was intended to give authenticity to the
report).

Each branch of Islam, however, refers to a different collection of hadiths, though they may be
about the same things. The idea behind the hadiths was that Muhammad’s life was an ideal
manifestation or a perfect model of a life lived according to the teachings of the Qur’an. While
Muslims do not regard Muhammad as a god (neither did Mohammad proclaim to be one), they regard
him as a human who has lived a spiritually and morally perfect life. Among the hadiths, those
recalled by Muhammad’s wife Aishah are regarded as the most trusted. One popular hadith was the
one recalled by Umar, the second caliph of Islam. According to his hadith, angel Gabriel appeared in
human form and had a conversation with Muhammad about the essence of Islam. It is said that while
Muhammad was kneeling, a man kneeled beside him and asked him about what it means to submit
to God. Muhammad replied by stating the Five Pillars of Islam, to which the man agreed. When the
man left, Muhammad told Umar that the man he talked with was the angel Gabriel (Urubshurow
2009, 230).

The Hadith is generally also called the Sunnah. Some Muslim scholars, however, make a
distinction between the two (see, for instance, Peters 1994, 21415; Matthews 2010, 336), and they
disagree about the nature of the distinction. We can identify at least three views on this. One view
claims that the Hadith as we have defined it is actually the Sunnah, and the Hadith actually just
refers to the sayings of Muhammad, which would make the Hadith simply a part of the Sunnah.
Another view maintains the identity of the Hadith as we have defined it above, and understands the
Sunnah as a set of practices that Muhammad taught the Muslims to follow and which were passed on
to the next generations of Muslims. Consequently, this view sees the Sunna as more reliable than the
Hadith. Still another view simply regards the Sunnah as referring to the contents of the Hadith, that
is, the Hadith is the set of written records of the Sunnah—understood here as referring to the words,
actions, and decisions of Muhammad. These are issues that Muslim scholars are to decide on. For
our purpose of indicating' another sacred work of Islam that records the ideal life of Muhammad as he
practiced the teachings of the Qur’an, it will suffice to follow the third view, that the Hadith contains
the Sunnah.

THE SHARIAH

From the religious doctrines of the Qur’an and the Hadith, Islamic scholars formulated the
Shari’ah, which literally means “pathway to be followed” or the path leading to the watering place”—
for the path to this place is the whole way of life in the desert.
Shari’ah refers to the Islamic Law or the basic Islamic legal system. Recognized by most
Muslim groups, the Shari’ah is a system of duties, responsibilities, or rules which Muslims must
follow as a matter of religion.
• It covers all aspects of life such as issues arising from one’s personal dealings with other
people;
• matters concerning marriage contracts;
• trade regulations;
• how to govern the state;
• rules for prayer, charity, fasting, sexual intercourse, hygiene, and diet among others; and
• punishments for specific crimes like theft, drinking alcohol, adultery, and murder (these
punishments include beheading, stoning, and flogging).

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 In varying degrees, Shari’ah serves as the basis for making legal laws in many
Muslim countries which include Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Brunei, United Arab Emirates,
Yemen, Mauritania, Qatar, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. In sum, the primary sacred text of Islam is the
Qur’an. The secondary ones are the Hadith and the book of Shari’ah. The Qur’an contains God’s
messages to Muhammad. As Muhammad is believed to be the last prophet (and there will not be
another one), these messages are believed to be the final messages of God to humanity. The Hadith is
a written record of the words, actions, decisions, character, and practices of Muhammad, which
constitute a perfect model for a life, lived according to the teachings of the Qur’an. The Shari’ah refers
to the Islamic legal law, which was based on the Qur’an and Hadith and was formulated to serve as
specific guidelines for Muslims in carrying out their everyday affairs and activities.

DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES

Oneness of God

At the core of Islamic faith is Tawhid, referring to the belief in the oneness of God. The Arabic
word “Allah” for God already existed even before Muhammad received his messages from God, but the
Arabs then regarded Allah as merely one among the gods that they worshipped. Acting on the
messages that he received from God, Muhammad taught and asserted that only Allah is God and
there are no other gods aside from Allah. Allah, in fact, embodies everything that the other gods were
thought to embody. That means Allah, the only true God, has all the powers attributed to the other
gods, such as the powers to help humans deal with their problems, forgive, and send rains, among
others. The Qur’an particularly notes that God, being one, cannot have a father and a son, indicating
Islam’s nonacceptance of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity.
Aside from the word “Allah,” Muslims call God by other names (it is said that Muslims have
99 names for God), each name indicating a specific divine power. These names include the following:

• the Most Compassionate (ar-

The Attributes of Allah
Rahmn),
• the Merciful (ar-Rahm),
• the All-Peaceful, (as-Salm),
• the Forgiver (al-Ghaffr),
• the Gentle, Knower of Subtleties (alLatf)
• the Grateful (ash-Shakr),
• the Responsive (al-Mujb),
• the Praiseworthy (al-Hamd),
• the Cause of Death (al-Mumt),
• the Light (an-Nr), and
• the Patient One (asSabi)

The Afterlife

Like the Jews and Christians, Muslims believe in an afterlife and in the Day of Resurrection
and Day of Judgment. A day will come when dead humans will be resurrected and will be judged by
God according to their deeds on whether they deserve eternal happiness or suffering. In this
connection, Muslims also believe in heaven or paradise (Jannah), a place of eternal happiness where
good people (people who submit to God’s will) are put by God; and hell (Jahannam), a place of
suffering where evil people (those who do not submit to God’s will) are put by God.

THE PROPHETS

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 As already noted, Muslims believe in prophets or messengers of God. God speaks to the
people through the prophets. Muslims recognize many of the prophets recognized by the Jews and
Christians though they appear in the Qur’an in their Arabic names. These include Adam (Adem), the
first prophet, Abraham (Ibrahim), Ishmael (lsm‘l), Noah (Nu), Moses (Musa), Elisha (Alyasa), David
(Dawid), John the Baptist (Yahya), Jesus (Isa), and Muhammad. Jesus, as earlier noted, is recognized
as a prophet and not as a god. Muhammad, as also previously mentioned, is regarded as the last of
the prophets (Peters 1994, 185-189).

THE FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM

These activities were mentioned by Muhammad in the

famous hadith involving the angel Gabriel. To recall, in this hadith,
Muhammad had a brief interaction with Gabriel who had assumed a There are five obligatory
human form. The angel Gabriel asked Muhammad what activities for all Muslims.
They are standardly
“submission to God”—or “Islam”—meant, and
referred to as the
Muhammad replied by stating the five pillars.
The five pillars, which define the Muslim life, consist of the
following:

1. testimony of faith (shahadah), which requires Muslims to

publicly profess or affirm their faith in the oneness of God
and in the authority of Muhammad as God’s messenger;

2. prayer (salat), which requires Muslims to pray to God five

times each day;

THE FIVE PILLARS of ISLAM 3. charity for the poor (zakat), which requires Muslims to
donate a certain percentage of their resources to the poor

4.fasting during Ramadan (sawm), which requires Muslims

to abstain from taking in food and water for a specified
period of time

5. pilgrimage to Mecca (haj)), which requires Muslims who

are physically and financially capable to visit the holy place
of Mecca at least once in their lifetime

The Jihad

Though not officially a pillar, the important Islamic principle called the jihad—which literally
means “struggle"—is sometimes referred to by some Muslims as the sixth pillar.
Nowadays, most non-Muslims understand jihad as a military warfare or battle of Muslims
against non-Muslims. Muhammad and his followers did engage in military warfare against non-
Muslims when they went back to Mecca from Medina, so jihad does include the meaning of physical
struggle to defend Islam. But jihad is not limited to this. It also means psychological, spiritual, and
moral struggle to overcome the evils within oneself and in one’s environment and thus to lead an
ethical life according to the principles of Islam. In this consideration, a distinction is made between
greater jihad, referring to spiritual self-perfection, and lesser jihad, referring to warfare. In its general
sense, jihad thus means any kind of struggle to defend the faith of Islam.

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