Islam
'al-'islâm
Islam is a religion with more than 800 million
believers. It is dominant in East- and North Africa, Middle East, Central
Asia and in Indonesia. It's normally divided into three groups, sunni,
shici and kharijî.
This religion based upon the Koran, and the examples
of conduct from the messenger Muhammads life,
the Sunna, or hadîth. Islam is according
to Islam dated back to Adam, the first man created, and the first Muslims.
Ibrahim enjoys the same position in the history of Islam, through being
the founder and builder of the Ka'ba in Mecca.
Western scientists and many Muslims, too, regards Islam as historically
beginning with the first revelations to Muhammed in 610 in Mecca (in what
is now Saudi Arabia).
The teaching of Islam is that there is only one God, and that the God of
Judaim, Christianity is the same as the God of the Koran, but that the
teachings of the two religions are corrupted by man. The original teachings
of the two religions was exactly the same as what is found in Islam today,
but man has altered the the lore given to both groups. Nevertheless, this
teaching in Islam, has made Muslims show a lot of respect for both Christians
and Jews, as they are considered People of the book, âhlu l-kitâb.
There is no message of love in Islam, like the one found in parts of the
Gospels (Christianity), but the responsibility towards the community is
the most central issue in Islam. The Koran and the Sunna contains many
rules on how to act in life, what to do, what not to do. The core of Islam
is the family, the extended family, and from this, society is understood
as concentric circles. There are no obligations on the Muslims towards
people who are not Muslims, Jews or Christians.
Man can not be sure to enter Paradise, unless he lives as a Muslim. Most
Mulisms abstain from claiming that they are guaranteed a place in Paradise.
Islam has a Day of Judgement, but this does not play a central part, except
that this will be the day when all dead will be reawakened, either to be
condemned or let into Paradise. There are no reasons to consider the Muslim
Paradise as a place where men will enter more easily than women, but when
life in Paradise is described this is in most, but not all, cases described
on male conditions. Most learned Muslims consider the descriptions of Paradise
as symbolic, and consider Paradise as something that man on earth cannot
apprehend.
Islam holds elements from religious traditions from before Islam. These
vary from region to region. In modern ages Islam is turning in direction
of becoming more and more based upon the Koran, where "popular"
traditions lose their foothold.
Islam is defined out of the following (five pillars):