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| Sudanese Muslim |
Islam is the religion of the Muslims. With 1.2 billion followers, about one fifth of the world's population, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world and the second largest after Christianity. Indonesia has the biggest Muslim population of 170 million but Muslims reflect a variety of racial, ethnic and national backgrounds, hailing from across the Middle East, Eastern Europe and North Africa to South-East Asia and China.
'Islam' comes from the Arabic word 'salaam' meaning 'peace' and 'Muslim' means 'one who submits to God'. The religion teaches that its followers must submit to the will and laws of God to attain true happiness, peace of mind
and eternal salvation.
In 622 CE, the Prophet Mohammad founded the present form of Islam in Mecca. Muslims believe that God created Islam at the beginning of time and regard Adam as the first Muslim. Mohammad was the last and most important in a
succession of Prophets including Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. Muslims do not worship the Prophets as Gods but revere them as messengers who preached that God alone should be worshipped.
Islam descends from the same family tree of faith as Christianity and Judaism, bound by the events of the Old
Testament. Like its divine siblings, it believes in one, all-knowing, all-powerful God who is known in Islam by the Arabic name 'Allah'.
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Mountains around Mecca
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At the age of 40, Mohammad retreated into a cave in the Meccan mountains for a period of fasting and contemplation. There, the Angel Gabriel appeared to him and revealed divine messages from God over a period of 23 years. The divine revelations were memorised and compiled in the Quran, the sacred book of the Muslims.
Offering a complete way of life, the Quran addresses humanity and provides guidance on all facets of existence including the
family, law and order, politics, science, women's rights and the life hereafter. The other basic sources of Mohammad's teachings are the 'hadith' (spoken teachings not recorded in the Quran) and the 'sunnah' (the
traditions and practise of Mohammad's life).
During his Farewell Sermon on his final Hajj, Mohammad described the Five Pillars of Islam that all Muslims should perform as a declaration of faith (Shahadah), prayer five times a day (Salah), almsgiving of a fixed annual
amount (Zakah), fasting during the holy month of Ramadan (Sawm) and pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj). He also stressed the equality of all Muslim believers without barriers of race and class, better treatment of women and outlined his vision of the Ummah, a single Muslim community.
It is a vision annually realised in the global gathering of Muslims for the Hajj.
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History