October 29, 2001
Facts about Islam: Religion parts with Christianity at Ishmael
___By John Hall
___& Mark Wingfield
___Although Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world and more than 3 million Muslims now live in the United States, few Americans know much about Islam's beliefs or followers.
___Like Christianity, Islam traces its roots to Adam. But Muslims follow the lineage of Ishmael, the son born to Abraham by Hagar, maidservant to his wife, Sarah. The Old Testament book of Genesis portrays Ishmael as a perceived threat to Abraham's line through Isaac, who later was born to Abraham and Sarah as the child promised by God to make Abraham "the father of many nations."
___Muslims accept the first five books of the Old Testament, the Psalms and the sayings of Jesus as authentic, but they believe Jews and Christians have corrupted these Scriptures by changing the original texts.
___According to Muslim teaching, Allah dictated his final and complete word, the Koran, to the prophet Mohammad early in the seventh century through the angel Gabriel. Although many outsiders believe Muslims and Christians worship one god, Muslims reject the notion of the Trinity and believe that Christians worship three gods in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Muslims do not believe Jesus is the divine Son of God, but merely a prophet. They also deny the bodily resurrection
ADHERENTS of Islam number approximately one billion.
of Jesus and do not believe Jesus will return to earth in judgment, although they do believe in a day of final judgment.
MORE: Baptist profs don't see Islam as 'peaceful'
___According to Islamic teaching, the eternal destiny of all people will be determined by their deeds on earth. Those who have done more good than bad will go to heaven, while those who have done more bad than good will go to hell.
___Muhammad said he received the revelations that are recorded in the Koran over a period of many years. After receiving each revelation, he would return to the streets of Mecca and preach what he had been told.
___Terry Muck, author of the soon-to-be-published "Pocket Guide to America's Religions," describes Muhammad's sermons as having three main points: the uniqueness of Allah; the need to care for the poor, orphaned and widowed; and the inevitability of a final judgment.
___These sermons were not well-received in seventh-century Mecca, because they threatened the various tribal gods worshipped by the people, Muck explains. However, Muhammad's message was well received in the town of Medina, which was divided by a rivalry between its Jewish population and an indigenous population that worshipped tribal gods.
___"Muhammad's message proved to be a bridge between the two," Muck writes. "Muhammad saw himself as a legitimate prophet in the Jewish-Christian tradition, yet the name he gave to the God of Abraham and Jesus, Allah, was the name of an Arab tribal god."
___From a base of support in Medina, Muhammad eventually built a fiefdom that incorporated all of Western Arabia.
___Muslims believe they have five main duties to perform in their lifetime, call the Five Pillars of Islam. These are reciting the creed ("There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger."), praying fives times daily while facing Mecca; giving alms to the mosque at least once a year; fasting during daylight hours for the month of Ramadan; and making at least one pilgrimage to Mecca.
___Muslims also are mandated to tell others that Allah is the only god worthy of worship and that Muhammad is his prophet.
___Although Americans stereotype all Muslims as looking Arabic, the faith has taken root around the world. In fact, the majority of approximately 1 billion Muslims around the globe today are Asian. Arabs comprise only 20 percent of the Muslim population. The largest Muslim country in the world is Indonesia, but Muslims control other nations such as Afghanistan and Iran.
___Muslims worldwide can be divided into two distinct groups, explained James Chancellor, professor of missions at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky. These are Shiite (SHE-ite) and Sunni (SUE-nee).
___Shiites, which are most influential in Iraq, believe the head of the state should be in the lineage of the son-in-law of Muhammad. Sunnis believe the leader may be any Muslim elected by Muslims.
___Shiites interpret the Koran more in the mystic tradition than the Sunnis, according to Samuel Shahid, professor of missions at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth. Shahid said Shiites also have different traditional scriptures than the Sunnis and interpret Islamic law differently.
___Sunni Muslims are by far the largest segment of the faith, accounting for 95 percent of Muslims worldwide. Shiite Muslims are found primarily in Iran.
___Several aspects of the current conflict between the Western world and a radical sect of Muslims in the Arab world present ironic contrasts with the teachings of Muhammad.
___For example, observant Muslims eschew the use of any mood-altering drugs, including alcohol. Yet the terrorist network of Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan's Taliban government is widely reported to be bankrolled by the sale of drugs.
___Likewise, the Koran teaches that all humans are created by Allah and deserve respect--a notion not seen promoted within the extreme sects of Islam.
___Islam does teach modesty in dress for women, but the extreme measures of head-to-toe coverings imposed on women in some Muslim countries are "cultural expressions that have their roots in Persian culture," according to Muck.
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