B132 World Religions

Islam
Introduction
Did you Know?
The Three Great Abrahamic Religions

Among the listed prophets in the Quran are 21 men listed from Biblical traditions: Adam; Enoch; Noah;
Abraham; Ishmael; Isaac; Lot; Jacob; Joseph; Job; Moses; Aaron; Ezekiel; David; Solomon; Elijah; Elisha;
Jonah; Zachariah; John the Baptist; and Jesus.1
The sacred law of Islam is called the Sharia2 (the path of Gods commandments) it is classified under
five categories:
What God has commanded, i.e. keeping the Five Pillars
Dont Forget!
What God has recommended, i.e. giving to charity, visiting the sick.
Like Christianity, Islam has several
What God has left legally indifferent i.e. following secular law, use of
denominations, which disagree on some
birth control.
major points. The biggest division is
between the Sunni and Shia.
What God has deprecated, i.e. divorce or smoking.
Their division is based on Mohammeds
What God has forbidden, i.e. committing adultery, eating pork.
successors, and the Hadith they use.
These laws cover every aspect of Muslim life, some cannot be enforced by
Since Shia represent only 5% of British
human courts and are to be left up to the Day of Judgment.
Muslims, we will focus on Sunni, but key
3
There are several cities depicted as significant to Muslims.
differences will be highlighted throughout.
Mecca The birth place of the prophet Mohammed. Only
Muslims can enter the city as it is considered to be the most Holy as
it contains the KaabaA shrine to the one true God, originally built by Adam.
Medina The burial site of Mohammed is under the Green Mosque the city is thought of as holy
and is visited as part of the pilgrimage.
Jerusalem In a vision Mohammed was taken to Jerusalem where he was given a glimpse of Hell
before ascending to Heaven to speak with the prophets of old and being given instruction on how to
pray.
There are several symbols considered significant for Muslims
The five pointed star represents the Five Pillars
The crescent moon represents God the creator and the lunar calendar that represents the Islamic
festivals.
Jews and Christians are known in the Quran as People of the Book alongside Muslims (Quran 2:62)
Fundamentalists take the teachings in the Quran about the resistance of people to Islamic beliefs to be an
attack on Islam, therefor calling for Muslims to fight against unbelievers and continue fighting until the
world is truly peaceful because it is governed by Islam as justification for Jihad.4

The Quran ()
Overview
The Quran: the Islamic scriptures. There are 114 Surahs or chapters in the Quran,
1

Wikipedia contributors, List of people in both the Bible and the Quran, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, <https://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_in_both_the_Bible_and_the_Quran> (Accessed 14th April 2016)
2 BBC, What is Sharia and how is it Applied?, 7 May 2014, <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-27307249> (Accessed
14th April 2016)
3 Wikipedia contributors, Hajj, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj> (Accessed 14th
April 2016)
4 Chapman, Colin, Cross and Crescent: Responding to the Challenges of Islam, Nottingham: Inter Varsity Press, 2009.

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All Surahs will start with Bismillahi Rahmani Rahim ("In the name of Allah, the most
glorious, the most merciful) incantation.
Origin And History Of The Quran
The word Quran literally means reading. Read in the name of your Lord were the first words of the
Quran revealed to Mohammed.
The Quran was completely revealed over a period of 23 years.5
Muslims believe that the Quran is eternal, and has existed from all eternity in heaven, and was dictated
by God to Mohammed directly, and is not Mohammeds words.
Beliefs
The Quran is an exact dictated revelation, so they kiss the book, place it on their forehead, and store it
on the highest shelf in their houses.
The Quran was revealed in Arabic, and should be read in Arabic. Translation may be helpful for
understanding the Quran, but most Mosques, wherever they are in the
World, teach Arabic to children from an early age for this reason.
Truly Infallible?
It is considered the most perfect book ever written down, uncorrupted
Though Muslims often claim the Quran has
and unchanged throughout history. Unlike the Bible, which was written by
never been changed, recent discoveries, including
fallible men inspired by God, the Quran was written directly by God and
the Sana'a manuscript palimpsest and the Ubayy
dictated to the prophet.
ibn Kab codex show significant variation before
The Quran teaches about Gods sovereignty and centeredness.
Uthman standardised the text.
Additionally, several Hadith sayings refer to
Compared to the New Testament, which teaches about the life and
different or lost Surah in the Quran (eg, Hadith
ministry of Jesus, the Quran it does not focus on the life of Mohammed.
201, 509 & 511)
Instead the story of the life of Mohammed was penned down one and a
half century after his death by Muslim biographers.6
One of the fatalistic claims of the Quran is that Allah is exalted and pleased as he sent people to hell.
Differences Between The Quran And The Bible In Major Issues
Quran teaches that Allah sent prophets and messengers to proclaim the truth- In Christianity God sent
his son to be the truth, to die for sins, and to reconcile men and women to him.
The wrath of God is upon anyone who converts to Christianity from Islam more severely than one who
has never been in the faith The Bible teaches that God loves both sinners and good people.

The Five Pillars

Called a pillar as it is a support, something that holds up a structurethe structure of Islamic practice.
Observing these does not guarantee paradisethere is no guarantee of salvation in Islambut following
these pleases Allah.7 The pillars are practices, which is to say that they are described and defined in terms of
activity.8
The Five Pillars Of Islam
The First Pillar: The Shahada the Expression of Faith.
Sunni vs Shia

I confess that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad

is the Messenger of Allah. According to Islamic Tradition, if
you say this, with a sincere heart then you are a Muslim.9
The Second Pillar: Salat Daily Prayer.
Five prescribed prayers which should be said daily. Fajr (dawn),
Dhuhr (noon), Ar (afternoon), Maghrib (evening), and Ish
(night).

Shia do not refer to their beliefs as pillars.

However in Shia Islam, these five beliefs
make up the most important parts of the
Ancillaries of the Faith, alongside
additional beliefs like Jihd (Struggle),
Tawalla (Expressing love towards Good) and
Tabarra (disassociation from Evil).

Muhammad Abdel Haleem, Understanding The Quran, London: I.B. Taurus & Co ltd, 2011, 1.
Mustafa Akyol, Islam Without Extremes, New York: W.W. Norton & Company 2011, 46.
7 S. A. Nigosian, Islam, Its Teaching and Practice, Wellingborough: Grucible Press, 2004, 88.
8 Sachiko and William, Islam, 9.
9 Rugaiyyah Naris Masqsood, Islam, Teach Yourself, London: Hodder, 59, 2006.
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Said facing Mecca, after ceremonial washing (wudu), including specific words and actions, (bowing,
standing, prostrating and sitting in a special way.) Can be said anywhere, but preferably in the
mosque, because this allows for fellowship.
In addition to the Salat, the daily prayers, Muslims offer Dua, personal prayer.10
The Third Pillar: Zakt Charity and Almsgiving.
Muslims are required to give a fixed percentage of their income to support the poor and needy.
By tradition, this is 2.5% though not specified in the Quran, and poorer people are permitted to give
in other ways, not necessarily financial, for example, by giving of time or helping others. 11
The Fourth Pillar: Sawm Fasting.
The ritual fasts occur during the holy month of Ramadan, and are compulsory for all Muslims who
are physically able to do so.
Muslims fast from sunrise until sunset, which includes all kinds of food and drink. This is
traditionally broken together, in a corporate way. Additional fasts are offered for repentance and selfdiscipline, and both are prescribed.12
The Fifth Pillar: Hajj - Pilgrimage to Mecca.
Muslims must make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives. All Muslims of age, who are
physically and financially able to do so, are required to visit Mecca during the holy month of Dhu
al-Hijjah.
Hajj must be carried out only once in a lifetime (though many Muslims aspire to do it more often).
Again, this pilgrimage is highly prescriptive, not a personal journey, and must be done in a very
specific way, at specific times, wearing prescribed clothing, and carrying out very particular acts.13
A Muslim who has carried out these five acts or pillars regularly, is in best standing to be considered
righteous before God, and is most likely to be accepted into paradise upon death.14

The Hadith and Sunnah The Traditions and Sayings of Mohammed

The Hadith are the sayings of Mohammed. The Sunnah include these,
plus records of his life, actions, and other biographical elements. Together
Sunni vs Shia.
15
Sunni
and
Shia
muslims each use different
with the Quran they form the basis of Muslim practice.
collections
of
Hadith,
which explains a lot
New Testament which is recorded within a few years of Jesus life,
16
o
f
t
h
e
d
i
f
f
e
r
e
n
c
e
s
between their
but Hadith and Sunah are not written down for over 150 years.
denominations.
Even
when
their beliefs and
Quran claims that Mohammed is the perfect human example, so how he
practices agree, they will often use different
interpreted the Quran and lived his life are important for Muslims.
Hadith to support them, as similar sayings
Ye have indeed in the Messenger of Allah a beautiful pattern (of
are recorded in different collections.
conduct) for any one whose hope is in Allah and the Final Day, and
who engages much in the Praise of Allah. (Sarah 33:21)
Though the five pillars are based on Quranic ideas, they are only made explicit in the Hadith, and their
particular expression comes from the Sunnah.17
Islam is built upon five [pillars]: testifying that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and
that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the prayers, giving zakat, making pilgrimage
to the House and fasting the month of Ramadan. (Hadith 3, recorded in Bukhari and Muslim)
There are tens of thousands of Hadith in total, of varying degrees of
reliability. Many are contradictory, or incompatible

10

Peace or Terror?
Moderate muslims can legitimately claim
Islam is a religion of peace, while ISIS can
teach violent Jihad (struggle/terror) against
non-believers, simply by accepting or
rejecting different Hadith.

Sachiko and William, Islam, 11.

Sachiko and William, Islam, 16.
12 Rugaiyah and Masqsood, Islam, 70.
13 Nigosian, Islam, 88.
14 Sachiko and William, Islam, 20.
15 Howard Greenstein, Kendra G. Hotz, John Kaltner, What Do Our Neighbors Believe?: Questions and Answers on Judaism,
Christianity, and Islam, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press , 49.
16 Josef W. Meri (ed.), Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, Volume 1, New York, NY:Taylor and Francis, 2006,
307-308.
17 Caroline Myss, The Five Pillars of Islam, N.D., <https://www.myss.com/free-resources/world-religions/islam/the-fivepillars-of-islam/> (Accessed Online 14th April 2016)
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Muslim Scholars use various methods to classify different Hadith as Sahih (authentic), Hasan (good)
or Daif (bad/unreliable) or Mawdu (fabricated). 18
There are no universally agreed upon criteria for classifying Hadith, and disagreements exist among
scholars about how individual sayings should be viewed, especially with hasan and daif hadith.
For Sunni Muslims, there are six primary collections of Hadith. These are: Sahih al-Bukhari; Sahih Muslim;
Jami` at-Tirmidhi; Sunan ibn Majah; and Sunan Abu Dawood, in addition to Muwatta Imam Malik, which
is highly regarded.19
However, even taking only the Sahih (authentic) from these, this repress over 5000 hadith and many
more Hasan: even among Sunni Muslims. there will be a great variety of belief in some areas,
depending on which are taught and emphasised, and which are ignored.20
In order to classify Hadith, Muslims rely heavily on Isnad chains chains of oral transmission from
Mohammed to the person who wrote it down. Shorter, but unbroken chains are preferred over longer ones,
as are chains containing more reliable narrators are given more weight.
However, since there is evidence of fraudulent and deliberately changed Isnad chains, this is not a
perfect science, and other, more subjective criteria must be applied.
Quran only muslims exist, who reject all of the Hadith and Sunnah as unreliable, or unnecessary for Muslim
life and practice: their worship, prayer, rituals and lifestyle would be nearly unrecognisable for most muslims.

Being a Muslim in Britain Do You Know Who I Am? (Video)21

Evangelism to Muslims
Tips to Get Along22
Dont insult Mohammed.
Do everything you can to keep it from becoming a me-versus-you debate.
Show interest in your Muslim friends faith not as a means of deception, but because you are interested in
them and what they think about God.
Be genuine and patient.
When speaking with a Muslim about Jesus: Use his title as a form of respect, i.e. Jesus the Christ (or
Messiah).
Many Muslims are pleasantly surprised when they see someone praying, reading a Bible, or treating religious
things with a sense of devotion.
A Real Life Example

Select Bibliography Recommended Reading.

Akyol, Mustafa, Islam Without Extremes, New York: W.W. Norton & Company 2011.
Chapman, Colin, Cross and Crescent: Responding to the Challenges of Islam, Nottingham: Inter Varsity Press, 2009.
Cornell, Vincent J. Voices of Islam: Voices of Tradition, Westport CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007.
Goldsmith, Martin and Rosemary Harley, Who is my Neighbour? World Faiths Understanding and Communicating,
Carlisle: Authentic Lifestyle, 2002.
Greenstein, Howard, Kendra G. Hotz & John Kaltner, What Do Our Neighbors Believe?: Questions and Answers on
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2006.
Haleem, Muhammad Abdel, Understanding The Quran, London: I.B. Taurus & Co ltd, 2011.
Medearis, Carl, Muslims, Christians, and Jesus, Bethany House Publishers; Minnesota, 2008.
Nigosian, S. A., Islam, Its Teaching and Practice, Wellingborough: Grucible Press, 2004.
18

M. S. M. Saifullah, An Introduction To The Science Of Hadith, Islamic Awareness, <http://www.islamic-awareness.org/

Hadith/Ulum/asb7.html> (Accessed 14th April 2016)
19 Vincent J. Cornell, Voices of Islam: Voices of Tradition, Westport CT: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007, 133.
20 Cornell, Voices of Islam, 133-134.
21 Dazed, Do You Know Who I Am?, Video clip available from <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDOnkr-oSvE>
(Accessed 14th April 2016)
22 Tips based on, Carl Medearis, Muslims, Christians, and Jesus, Bethany House Publishers; Minnesota, 2008.

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