Islam, What Is It?
Like many of our readers, I have been pondering the events of September 11. It is hard to believe any group of people could hate us so much that they could commit such evil acts. I was much relieved to hear President Bush state several times that the perpetrators should be found and punished, but that they were not representative of the Islamic faith. They were extremists. They are terrorists who also are Muslims.
Many Muslims live near us in Toledo and Detroit. I went with a group of people from Trinity United Church of Christ to tour the mosque south of Toledo when it was first built and also to learn about their religion. As a teacher of English as a Second Language at Heidelberg in 1978, I taught Arab students who were Muslims. One that stands out in my mind is Omar. I was impressed by his descriptions of the warm family life that he missed so much and the fact that he faithfully obeyed Islamic teachings far from home.
In our E-mail from the Interfaith Alliance was an introduction to Islam written by Shahid Athar, a medical doctor who has written five books about Islam. I found his writing very informative as did well known public figures like Richard Lugar, Evan Bayh and Daniel Patrick Moynihan. In the hope that sharing some of his writings about Islam will build bridges of understanding between our readers and Muslims of the Islamic faith, I have included some facts about Islam from his writing.
The word “Islam” means submission to the will of God. “Allah” is the Arabic word for God. He is not God of Muslims only but the God of all creation.
A “Muslim” is a person who submits to the will of God. This is begun by declaring that “there is no God except one God and Muhammad is the messenger of God.” The Quran (Koran) specifically mentions Abraham as a prophet because he submitted to the will of God. Thus there are Muslims who are not submitting at all to the will of God and there are Muslims who are doing their best to live an Islamic life. One cannot judge Islam by looking at those individuals who have a Muslim name but in their actions, they are not living or behaving as Muslims.
Muhammad was born in the tribe of Mecca in Arabia in the year 570 AD. As a young man, he was known as a righteous person who used to meditate in a cave. At age 40, he was given prophethood when the angel Gabriel, appeared in the cave. Subsequently, over 23 years, revelations were revealed to Muhammad and were compiled in the form of a book called the Quran (Koran) The Quran has been preserved in its original form and confirms the truth in the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospels.
The Quran tells us that Jesus was born of a miraculous birth without a father. He was given many miracles as a prophet including healing the blind and the sick, reviving the dead and most importantly, the message he was carrying. According to the Quran, he was not crucified but was raised into Heaven.
In Islam there are two major schools of thought, the Shiites and the Sunni. Those who follow Prophet Muhammad are called Sunni. Those who follow the Prophet Mohammad and also follow the sayings and views of Ali (Muhammad’s son-in-law) as the rightful successor to Prophet Muhammad are Shiites. Most Shiites live in Iran and the southern part of Iraq and find authority in Ayatollahs who are interim leaders until the coming of a Mahdi. The rest of the Muslim world is mostly Sunni.
The five pillars of Islam are (1) the belief in one God and that Muhammad is His messenger, (2) prayer, which is prescribed five times a day, (3) fasting, which is required in the month of Ramadan, (4) charity, which is the poor-due on the wealth of the rich, and (5) hajj, which is the pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime if one can afford it physically and financially. In addition there are moral codes of Islam such as honesty, truthfulness, steadfastness and many other human moral qualities. The purpose of worship, whether it is prayer, fasting or charity is to become conscious of God. Muslims believe that God is just and has established a system of accountability. Those Muslims who do good will be rewarded and those who do wrong will be punished both here and in the hereafter. Non-believers who do good in this world will be rewarded in this world for their good deeds. The final judgment is up to God himself.
Islam emphasizes modesty in dress. No person should be perceived as a sex object. For men, they must at least cover the area from the knee to navel and for women, their dress should cover all areas except for the hands and face. The veil is not essential.
Islam does not promote violence and terrorism; it is a religion of peace and submission and stresses the sanctity of human life. It opposes abortion and does not permit it except to save the mother’s life. It is opposed to both suicide and euthanasia. Muslims do not believe in heroic measures to prolong the misery in a terminally ill patient.
Islam grants permission for Muslim men to have up to four wives if they can be equally just with each of them. Since it is very difficult to be equally just with all wives, in practice, most Muslim men have only one wife.
When Islam was established as a religion about 1,400 years ago, women in Europe and most of the world were regarded as the possessions of their fathers to be passed to their future husbands with little or no voice in the matter. Islam gave women the right to divorce, the right to have financial independence, and the right to keep their earned money and spend it as they wish. These are still the rights of Muslim women according to the Quran. If a particular society oppresses women, it does so in spite of Islam, not because of it.
These are just a few of the concepts in Islam. A History of World Religions by Dr. David Noss has more information. Paper and Ink in downtown Tiffin and the Heidelberg library have copies. I hope to promote understanding between our readers and the 7 million Muslims who live in the U. S. As a group, American Muslims “utterly condemn the vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent civilians on Sept. 11th.”
– Mary