ISLAM What does Islam mean Story of Muhammad s call Islam means submission in Arabic and it signifies the commitment of its adherents to live in total submission to God A person who professes Islam is called a Muslim As Muhammad was sitting one night in the solitude of his retreat an angel named Gabriel appeared Gabriel called him the messenger of God He was confirmed to be a prophet with a sacred mission to deliver a new message from God The 5 Pillars are the foundations on which Islam rests as a system of faith and social responsibility worship and piety Each pillar has both an inner or private voluntary dimension and an outer of public obligatory dimension o 1 The shahadah o 2 Regular worship including participation in all five of the obligatory daily prayers o 3 Almsgiving o 4 The Ramadan fast o 5 Participation in the annual pilgrimage to Mecca Muslims who trace succession to the Prophet s authority through imams in the lineage of Ali The smaller of the two main divisions of Islam Muslims who trace succession to the Prophet s authority through the caliphate The larger of the two main divisions of Islam Sunnah the life example of Muhammad s words and deeds based mainly on the Hadith literature the primary source of guidance for Muslims 5 Pillars Shi a Sunni Caliphs the Prophet s successor as the head of the Muslim community Prophets and Messengers specific time A prophet nabi is one who conveys a message from God to a specific people at a A messenger rasul is also a prophet sent by God to a specific community but the message he delivers is a universally binding sacred law Shari ah o Every messenger is a prophet but not every prophet is a messenger o 5 messenger prophets Noah Abraham Moses Jesus and Muhammad Their special significance lie in their having received universally binding revelations from God Shari ah It is sacred law the law of God It consists of the maxims admonitions and legal sanctions and prohibitions enshrined in the Qur an and explained elaborated and realized in the Prophetic traditions o It originally meant the way to a source of water Metaphorically it came to mean the way to the god in this world and the net o Muslims believe it to be God s plan for the ordering of human society Actions classified in 5 categories o 1 Lawful halal and therefore obligatory o 2 Commendable and therefore recommended o 3 Neutral and therefore permitted o 4 Reprehensible and therefore disliked o 5 Unlawful haram and therefore forbidden Halal Haram Lawful and therefore obligatory Unlawful and therefore forbidden Hadith A saying of the prophet Fiqh Sufi Dhikr Ascetics Rumi Ramadan It is the most important component of sunnah because it is the most direct expression of the Prophet s opinions or judgments regarding the community s conduct To qualify as a hadith a text must be accompanied by its chain of transmission beginning with the complier or last transmitter and going back to the Prophet The aim of the study of hadith is to ascertain the authenticity of a particular text by establishing the completeness of the Isnad chain of transmission and the veracity of its transmitters There are 6 canonical collection of hadiths Jurisprudence the theoretical and systematic aspect of Islamic law consisting of the interpretation and codification of the sacred law The early Muslim mystics were said to wear a garment of coarse wool over their bare skin in emulation of Jesus who is represented in Islamic hagiography as a model of ascetic piety For this reason they became known as Sufis from the Arabic world meaning wool The most characteristic sufi practice is a ritual called the dhikr remembrance of God which may be performed in public or in private Often it is their performance of the dhikr that distinguishes the various sufi orders from one another The early Muslim ascetics were known as zuhhad Also called weepers because of the tears they shed in fear of Gods punishment and in yearning for Gods reward Asceticism was frowned on by many advocates of mystical piety The most creative poet of the Persian language He met a wandering Sufi named Shams and they had a relationship so intimate that he neglected his teaching duties because he could not bear to be separated from his friend In the end Shams disappeared leaving Rumi to pour out his soul in heart rending verses expressing his love for Sham His greatest masterpiece in Mathnawi The 4th pillar of Islam is the month long fast of Ramadan Marking the month in which the Qur an was revealed to the Prophet the Ramadan fast extends from daybreak until sundown every day True fasting means more than giving up the pleasure of food and drink it also means abstaining from gossip and anger and turning one s heart and mind to God in devotional prayers and meditations Lunar Calendar o Before the introduction of Islam the Arabs had followed a lunar calendar in which the year contained only 354 days To keep festivals and sacred months in their proper seasons they added an extra month every 3 years But the Qur an abolished this custom allowing Islamic festivals to rotate throughout the year Id al Fitr o Ramadan ends with a festival called Id al Fitr a 3 day celebration during which people exchange presents and well wishing visits The 5th pillar of Islam is the haij pilgrimage instituted by Abraham at God s command after he and his son Ishmael were ordered to build the Ka ba Thus most of its ritual elements are understood as re enacting the experiences of Abraham whom the Qur an declares to be the father of prophets and the first true Muslim The profession of faith through which one becomes Muslim There are 2 statements I bear witness that there is no god except God and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God o The first affirms the oneness of God and expresses the universal and primordial state of faith in which every child is born o The second affirms Muhammad s role as messenger and signifies acceptance of the truth of Muhammad s claim to prophet hood and hence the truth of his message Is Arabic for struggle Has 2 components inner jihad is the struggle to make oneself more Islamic outer jihad is the struggle to make one s society more Islamic Haij Shahadah Jihad HINDUISM What does Hindu mean where does it originate Under Indian law the term Hindu applies not only to members of a Hindu denomination but also to any other person domiciled in the territories to which the Hindu Family Act extends o It s a catch all category that includes anyone who
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