Islam Flashcards
What is Islam?
Islam is one of the three great revealed religions of the world.
It began in the 7th century with the mission of Muhammad, who, according to the Islamic tradition, received from the Angel Gabriel revelations that were later collected in the book of the Koran.
According to traditional Islamic belief, the Koran is a permanent book, coexisting with God through all eternity, whose message was given to every prophet–including Moses and Jesus–starting with Adam.
Islam means “to surrender.”
What was Muhammad’s role?
Islam holds that by the 7th century the message of the Koran had not been received fully, or alternatively, that its meaning had become corrupted, and that Muhammad was given the task to complete the proclamation of the Koran. Muslims believe that Muhammad was the last of the prophets, and that the Koran as revealed to him and written down in the years after his death is the true word of God.
What is the Essential message of the Koran?
The essential message of the Koran is that there is one true God and that individual believers must acknowledge this divine sovereignty and lead a righteous life according to the commandments of the one God to attain Heaven. Indeed, the Arabic word islam literally means “to surrender,” and in the religious context means to surrender to the will and law of God.
Who is Allah?
According to Islam, Allah (the Arabic word for God) has many attributes: Allah is merciful, just, all-powerful, and totally immanent in the world. The unity of one, sovereign, eternal God that creates everything and has priority over all creation is an extraordinarily powerful religious focus to the Muslim believer.
How does Islam view Jesus?
Though they regard him as a great prophet, Muslims do not believe that Jesus was the son of God, and hold that the Christian Trinity is a form of degradation of the one God into a kind of polytheism. God cannot be, in any sense, anthropomorphic so Muslims also object to references to God as “Father.”
What is a Muslim?
A follower of the religion of Islam.
What are the five pillars of Islam?
The first pillar is the Declaration of Belief (Shahada): “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.”
The second pillar is ritualized prayer (Salat), offered five times a day.
The third pillar is fasting (Sawm) during the Islamic month of Ramadan, which is the most rigorous fast that any of the major religions require of its adherents. Typically between June 18 - July 17.
The fourth pillar is almsgiving, or the purification of wealth (Zakat). Traditionally, 2.5 percent of one’s wealth must be given to the poor every year.
And the fifth pillar is the pilgrimage (Hajj) that one must make, at least once, out of one’s own earnings, to Mecca. There are substitute devotions that one can make near one’s home, or in one’s abode, if this is not possible.
Muslim–Heaven or Hell
The Muslim attains Heaven or Hell in the afterlife according to one’s virtuous life and good merits, which is determined by a balance of all the good weighed against all the evil one commits over the course of the individual’s mortal life. On the Day of Judgment, all humanity will be gathered and individuals judged according to their deeds on earth.
Caliphate
A form of Islamic government led by a “caliph”–a person considered a political and religious successor to the Islamic prophet, Muhammad (Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh), and a leader of the entire Muslim community.
Islamic State
is a type of government primarily based on the enforcement of shari’a (Islamic law), dispensation of justice, maintenance of law and order. From the early years of Islam, numerous governments have been founded as “Islamic.”
Modern Islamic State
Like the earlier notion of the caliphate, the modern Islamic state is rooted in Islamic law. It is modeled after the rule of Muhammad. However, unlike caliph-led governments which were imperial despotisms or monarchies (Arabic: malik), a modern Islamic state can incorporate modern political institutions such as elections, parliamentary rule, judicial review, and popular sovereignty.
Today, many Muslim countries have incorporated Islamic law, wholly or in part, into their legal systems. Certain Muslim states have declared Islam to be their state religion in their constitutions, but do not apply Islamic law in their courts. Islamic states which are not Islamic monarchies are usually referred to as Islamic republics.
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is a denomination of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad’s first Caliph was his father-in-law Abu Bakr. Sunni Islam primarily contrasts with Shi’a Islam, which holds that Muhammad’s son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, not Abu Bakr, was his first caliph.
Sunni Islam is by far the largest denomination of Islam. As of 2009, Sunni Muslims constituted 87-90% of the world’s Muslim population.
Shai Islam
is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad’s proper successor as Caliph was his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib. Shia Islam primarily contrasts with Sunni Islam, whose adherents believe that Muhammad’s father-in-law Abu Bakr, not Ali ibn Abi Talib, was his proper successor.
Adherents of Shia Islam are called Shias or the Shi’a as a collective or Shi’i individually.[1] Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam: in 2009, Shia Muslims constituted 10–13% of the world’s Muslim population, and between 68% and 80% of Shias lived in four countries: Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, and India.
Legalists
The third tradition was that of the “legalists,” who have become a dominant voice in Sunni Islam. They were the ones who eventually formed the Shari’a, the sacred law of Islam. Today the legalists are represented more or less by modern fundamentalists, who think that some or all of the Shari’a should be the life and the constitution of Islam.
