BELIEFS AND WORSHIP The starting point for all Muslims is the statement, "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God." From this expression of belief in the oneness and uniqueness of God, and the messengership of Muhammad stem all of Islam's concepts, attributes, moral values and guidelines for human behavior and relationships. A Muslim worships Allah, the same God of Christians and Jews. Allah is Arabic for God. Muslims believe that Allah revealed His will to Muhammad of Mecca beginning about 610 A.D. through the Archangel Gabriel. Those revelations are recorded in the Quran, the holy book of Islam. Muslims believe that Allah has no physical attributes or human characteristics. They believe that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, the beginning and the end. God is the Presence who knows every need. Muslims believe that they must follow all of God's commands. This includes the acceptance Muhammad's message of the oneness of God, justice for all, honesty, respect for others, self control and devotion to Allah. Muslims are not to worship the Prophet Muhammad and it is anathema for then to be called "Muhammadens." They are to worship only God. Tho corollary of this is that any association of another being with God is the unforgivable sin of polytheism, thus ruling out any veneration of minor gods, idols, human saints, or divine consort or son. A difficulty orthodox Muslims have with the Shiites, is their veneration of saints and their burial places. Muslims believe that even though God is absent of human characteristics, He is as near "as the veins in one's neck." Most Muslims believe that they do not need anyone to act as an intermediary such as a priest, minister or saint. Every man can have a relationship with God if he submits, is truthful, and believes there is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God. Angels, Jinn, and Devils The Quran mentions three types of creatures other than mankind. The first are angels, the messengers and slaves of God. They were formed from the light and appear in various forms. They are commanded by four archangels, Jibril (Gabriel), Mikail (Michael), Izrail and Isiafil. The second species of intelligent beings are jinn who were created from smokeless fire. They possess freedom of choice; some of them are good and others are evil. The English word for genie cones from the word, jinn. Some jinn are friendly to mankind, and others hostile; some are beautiful, and others, the ifrit and ghue (from which the word ghoul derives), are hideous. The jinn are mysterious creatures, invisible to man. They take on visible form when they work on a visible substance that responds to them. For example, magnetic fields are only visible when they work upon a substance that responds to them, and in the same vein if angels appear, they must do so in an "ethereal" form. The third type of creatures are devils. The Quran speaks of Shaitan (Satan) in the singular and also in the plural (Shayatiyn). Originally, Satan was one of the angels who was disobedient to God, who cast him out of heaven. He was not annihilated or cast into hell, that will happen on the day of judgement. The devil tempted Adam and Eve in the Garden Of Eden to eat from the forbidden tree, which in the Old Testament is called the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil." In Islamic belief, the guilt for this sin lies not with mankind as an "original sin" from which man has to be redeemed, but with the devil. Satan is the power in man's heart that is opposed to God. Muslims believe that one of the weapons the devil uses against mankind is disease, especially plagues. The Hereafter Muslims believe in an afterlife, which human beings are rewarded or punished according to their conduct. They believe in a bodily resurrection. On Judgement Day men will be given new bodies for eternal bliss or damnation. Men are judged on the last day -- the Day of Judgement when God decides whom He wills to Heaven or to Hell. The souls of the dead remain in the grave until Judgement Day. Islam stresses an individual's accountability to God. Man prepares himself for good or ill for the next life which lasts forever. The garden is the most frequent Quranic symbol of Paradise (al-Jannah). The Quran contains two versions of Paradise: one flows with rivers of sweet water, milk, wine and honey, and planted with shade trees. The imagination of both East and West has made much of the beautiful women of Paradise, and there are several passages in the Quran describing the maidens who are to be companions of the believers. The Quran promises believers that Paradise is a place where there are "rivers of flowing water, rivers of milk unchanging in flavor and rivers of wine -- a delight to the drinkers, rivers, too, of honey purified; and therein for them is every fruit, and forgiveness from their Lord." The second version, described in the latter part of the Quran, is a more austere description of Paradise. It is described as a pyramid of eight levels, its top shaded by a lotus tree, and its wall guarded by angels. Those who are accepted in Paradise are lodged in rising order according to their merit. Reconciling the two descriptions need not be important because man's capacity to describe the hereafter is probably beyond his comprehension. The fundamental message is that Paradise holds the means to satisfy man's deepest relationships and most profound spiritual needs. Hell Hell is the place of torment where the damned undergo perpetual suffering. The most common names for Hell in the Quran describe fire, burning, scorching fire and crushing pressure. The Prophets of Islam Adam The people of the Arabian Peninsula trace their beginnings to Adam who they believe was the first prophet and the builder of the original Kaaba. The Kaaba is a large stone structure, covered with a black cloth located in the center of the Grand Mosque in Mecca. The Kaaba contains the Black Stone which is thought to be a meteorite and is believed to be a part of the original structure. The Kaaba is the most sacred place for Muslims. it represents a sanctuary consecrated to God since time immemorial. The Kaaba is the direction toward which all Muslims must face when they pray. Like Christians and Jews, Muslims believe that Adam was the first man and father of mankind, who was created in the image of God. Adam lived in the Garden of Eden with his wife, Eve who was taken from his left side. They disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. In Islam the responsibility of Adam's disobedience lies not with him but with the Devil who tempted him. Other Prophets Islam teaches that the prophets were divinely sent with a message of warning and guidance to a particular nation or people. Noah, Abraham, Lot, Ishmail, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Jethro and Jesus were some of them. Muslims believe that Abraham and Ishmail rebuilt the Kaaba, the sacred shrine in Mecca which is the object of the annual pilgrimage called the hajj. Islam is part of the monotheistic tradition of Judaism and Christianity, and its ethical code is similar to that of Old Testament Judaism. Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet sent to the Children of Israel. Although they believe that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mother by the power of God, they do not believe in the Resurrection or that he had a divine nature. Muhammad Islam teaches that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. His name means "the purified one" or "he who is glorified," and the name Ahmed, by which the Prophet is also known, is a superlative form meaning "the most laudable"; both from the verb hamada ("to praise, laud, glorify"). Muhammad was born about 570 A.D. in the city of Mecca near the west coast of Arabia. Mecca was a commercial center for caravan trade. It had been a religious center of pilgrims for centuries before the advent of Islam. The Kaaba had been there long before the birth of Muhammad and was dedicated to many gods and goddesses under a chief deity called Allah. Muhammad was brought up by his grandfather, an uncle and was later sent to live with a Bedouin family. He worked for many years as a caravan foreman for a wealthy widow, fifteen years his senior, named Khadija. He married her when he was 29 years old. Muhammad's marriage to Khadjia was apparently happy. Though polygamy was a common practice, he did not take any other wives while she lived. He would later have nine other wives. Muhammad had two sons and four daughters by Khadija. His sons died in infancy, leaving him without sons in a society that prized male offspring. This subsequently caused disruption over the succession to Muhammad's temporal authority. All of his daughters married, but it is important to note that his daughter Ruqayya married 'Uthman who became the third caliph and Fatima, Muhammad's only child to survive him, married Ali. The Shiites look upon the descendants of Ali and Fatima as true heirs of the caliphate. That issue continues to divide the Sunnites and Shiites to this day. Muhammad had always been a spiritual man who spent a lot of time in meditation and prayer. One night when he was in his early forties, he related that the Archangel Gabriel appeared to him while he was in a mountain cave, and gave him the first part of his divine message. He was told by Gabriel to proclaim the message of God. At first he told only his wife, Khadija, but later the Angel commanded him to proclaim publicly what had been revealed to him. He told men to believe in one God, Allah, seek God's forgiveness for their sins, live better lives, help those in need, and accept him as the "Messenger of God." His wife, Khadija, was Muhammad's first convert, the first to believe that he had a divine mission. Others followed as Muhammad began to preach publicly to his own clan, the Hashemites. His early converts were among the poor, the young and the enslaved. Among his earliest followers were Abu Bakr, a friend and his future father-in-law; Ali, a cousin and future son-in- law, and Bilal, an Abyssinian slave, whom Muhammad made his first muezzin, or caller to prayer. As a result of the teachings of Muhammad, Islam grew but resistance to it increased because the merchants and the keepers of the Kaaba, who were of the Quraysh tribe, were threatened by Muhammad's message which condemned worship of idols causing them, to fear loss of control of the lucrative pilgrimage trade to the Kaaba in Mecca which they controlled. Muhammad refused to compromise. The Quraysh put a ban on Muhammad's Hashimite clan and attempted to discredit Muhammad by accusing him of fraud and borrowing religious ideas from the Christians and Jews. They persecuted him and his followers. They were oppressed so severely that he sent some of them to Abyssinia, where they were given tolerance and hospitality by the Christian inhabitants. As a result of their experiences there, the early adherents of Islam had great affection and respect for Christianity. Islam continued to grow and the number of Muslims increased. In spite of his success, there were difficult times for Muhammad. His uncle and his wife, Khadija, died. He, and his followers, continued to be persecuted. He married another widow, Sa'uda. He also became engaged, and later married Aisha, a young daughter of Abu Bakr. She was the Prophet's favorite wife in his later years. The Night Journey In 520 A.D. Muhammad made what Muslims call his Night Journey, in which he was transported to Jerusalem and ascended from there into the heavens. In Arabic the journey is called al-Mi'raj. This may have been a mystical vision, but many Muslims believe that Muhammad made the journey miraculously in bodily form. On his arrival to Jerusalem, he met and prayed with the prophets of the past, including Abraham, and Moses. He also conversed with Jesus at the place where the Dome of the Rock now stands. From the Dome of the Rock, he ascended to Heaven where he met and talked with angels and other heavenly beings after which he returned to Jerusalem and finally back home to Mecca. The Night Journey confirmed the prophethood of Muhammad and also established Jerusalem as one the three holy cities of Islam. The Hegira The hegira was the emigration of the Prophet from Mecca to Yathrib, later called Medina, at the end of September, 622 A.D. The lives of the Prophet and his followers were in danger in Mecca. They were offered sanctuary in Medina by a group of warring Arabs who believed Muhammad to be a wise man. They felt that their factionalism might result in their being taken over by the Jews in the area. They offered to let Muhammad come to Medina to serve as an intermediary. He sent about seventy of his followers out of Mecca in small groups so as not to arouse suspicions. He and Abu Bakr escaped from Mecca on camel with a flock of sheep driven behind them to cover their tracks. They arrived in Medina in about fourteen days and were given an enthusiastic welcome. That journey is called the hegira. Following the hegira, Islam grew rapidly, but Muhammad still had the desire to convert the Meccans. He eventually returned to Mecca and was involved in a series of battles. He was successful and a truce was signed. He took control of the Kaaba and ordered his men to destroy the images of the pagan gods. He proclaimed the Kaaba as the central shrine of Islam. Muhammad returned to Medina where he died on June 8, 632 A.D. Sixteen years later, the Caliph 'Ulmar formalized the Prophet's custom of dating events from the hegira, the moment of the establishment of the first Islamic state. The Islamic calendar today is called the Hegirian calendar because it dates from the journey of the Prophet to Medina. Thus the year of the hegira became the first year of the Islamic era. The years following the hegira are known as Anno Hegira or A.H. The Divine Decree Islam believes that everything is under the direction and control of Allah and that He is continuously active in all of His creation. The divine decree is a form of predestination. Muslims believe God alone is the source of benefit or harm, and turning to anyone or anything other than Him for protection and help when everything is dependent on His will, is not only utterly futile but wrongfully attributes to others, powers which God alone possesses. Muslims believe that belief in the divine decree is a statement of belief in His sense of total trust, dependence and submission to his creator. The Five Pillars of Islam Obligatory acts of worship set forth in the Quran and Hadith are often referred to as the Five Pillars of Islam. All are specific actions which a Muslim must perform in order to be a practicing Muslim. They are obligations placed upon all Muslims no matter where they happen to live, whether in a Muslim society or living away from any Muslim community. These are testimony to faith (shahada), prayer (salah), almsgiving (zakah), fasting during the month of Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Mecca. The First Pillar: The Declaration of Faith The first and most important of the Five Pillars of Islam is the declaration of faith or testimony, in Arabic called shahada. The declaration of faith is "There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God." The statement contains the essence of Islam: the unity and uniqueness of God and the role of Muhammad in bringing the message of God to mankind. Islam has no provision for becoming a member or follower as does Christianity with its catechism, probationary period or membership requirements. For one to become a Muslim, it is only necessary to sincerely recite and believe the shahada. Reciting the shahada in public is supposedly enough to gain recognition by the Muslim community. The shahada is recited daily by devout Muslims throughout the world. The one condition of salvation for Muslims is the complete acceptance of the shahada. The Second Pillar: Prayer The second pillar is prayer, salah in Arabic. The practice of regular salah is a fundamental requirement in Islam. Salah is the canonical, or ritual prayer, as opposed to the spontaneous petitioning of God, which is called dua. Salah is not spontaneous in the sense that one can do it anytime. The Quran enjoins Muslims to pray daily and at set intervals. The times of salah have been set by tradition. Every adult Muslim, male and female, is required to pray five tines a day -- before sunrise, at noon when the sun is at its peak, in mid-afternoon, at sunset and at night. The order of salah given above is from the western perspective of time. The beginning of the Islamic day, like Judaism, begins at sunset. So the Muslim would tell you that prayer or salah is required at sunset, in the evening, before dawn, at noon and in the mid- afternoon. The practice of salah is the most fundamental requirement in Islam. It may be done in private, in a mosque (established place for congregational worship), at home, at work, outdoors, or in any clean place. It may be done individually, but it is preferably done in congregation. Whenever Muslims pray they are obligated to face in the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca. Worshippers must be in a state of ritual purity before performing salah. Muslims put themselves in a state of purity by washing the face, the hands and arms up to the elbow, rubbing water on the head, and washing the feet. Running water is provided at mosques for such cleansing. If water is not available, then clean sand may be used. Shoes are removed and salah is done on a small rug, except when other conditions exist such as traveling. Women, as well as men, may pray in the mosque if they desire, but it is preferable and customary that women pray in the privacy of their homes, especially since leaving the home and children to go to the mosque five times a day is neither practical nor possible for many women. Many mosques have separate sections for women in order that they may pray in complete privacy and there may be no distraction caused by physical proximity of men and women. Muslims believe that salah should be done devoutly and with solemnity. Worshippers in prayer should not be interrupted, stared at or photographed. The ritual of salah follows a set form throughout the world and must be recited in Arabic. Islam provides for weekly congregational worship on Friday. The weekly congregational worship is called Salat al-Jumah and is observed around noon, when the sun is at its zenith. Attendance is obligatory for all Muslim men to the extent that if one misses three consecutive Fridays without a valid reason, one is considered to be out of Islam. Women may worship at home. In addition to Salat al-Jumah, special salahs are held on the great feast days of Islam. Although in most Muslin countries Friday is a holiday rather than Sunday, Friday has not been preserved as a day of rest in the Judeo-Christian sense. Friday is the day of obligatory worship; work and business transactions are permitted as usual before and after the time of the Friday prayer. The Third Pillar: Almsgiving The third pillar of Islam is almsgiving or zakah. It is the obligatory tax for the needy. The obligation for the faithful to share with the less fortunate is stressed throughout the Quran. Muslims are encouraged to charitably support widows, travelers, orphans and the poor. In some Muslin countries, the zakah is voluntary, in others it is enforced by the government. Islamic legal tradition has produced a set of technical regulations about how much zakah is due and upon which property it is to be taxed. Simply put, it can be generally stated that the most common calculation is 2.5 percent of the amount of cash an individual holds in savings or investments for a year. Zakah can be paid directly to deserving Muslims in one's own community or it can be sent to Islamic organizations for distribution to the needy. The Fourth Pillar: Fasting During the Month of Ramadan The fourth pillar is sawm, the fast during the month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar which commemorates when the Prophet received the first revelation. The fast begins when the new moon is sighted. Since a physical sighting of the new moon must be observed, the fast during Ramadan varies in length from twenty-eight to thirty days. The Quran commands that for the entire lunar month of Ramadan, Muslims are required to abstain from food, drink, tobacco and sexual relations during the hours of daylight. Ramadan is reckoned according to the lunar calendar and therefore it occurs on different dates in each year of the Gregorian calendar. It is observed during the long days of the summer as well as the short days of winter as it moves through the year because it is tied to lunar months rather than the solar calendar. During the long days of the extremely hot summer months Ramadan can be a severe hardship. The fast is a test of self-discipline and scrupulous obedience to God. It also permits the rich to experience the deprivation of the poor. All Muslims, men and women, boys and girls, keep the fast. Very young children, aged travellers, pregnant and nursing women, the sick and the elderly are exempted from the fast. The fast must be broken at sunset each day. A heavy late evening meal is served in many homes during Ramadan as well as a pre-dawn meal before resuming the fast. In some Muslim countries the fast during Ramadan is enforced by law. Restaurants are closed, hours of grocery stores are restricted and smoking is prohibited. People are encouraged to go to the mosques to pray. Ramadan is also a time of jubilation. During the evenings children stay up later and are allowed to play. Shops, cafes and places of amusement are opened. Just before dawn men parade through the streets beating drums to awaken everyone for a final meal before the day's fasting begins. At the conclusion of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate one of the two major festivals of Islam, 'Eid al-Fitr, the Festival of Fast- Breaking. 'Eid al-Fitr lasts three days or more. Children receive presents, family and friends share gifts, and alms are given to the poor. In strict Muslim countries it is bad manners for foreigners to eat, drink, or even smoke in public during Ramadan. The Fifth Pillar: Pilgrimage to Mecca The fifth pillar of Islam is the pilgrimage, or hajj, to the Kaaba, the holy shrine in Mecca. The Quran requires that every adult Muslim who can afford it, and is of sound body and mind is to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in his or her lifetime. There are two kinds of pilgrimages. The lesser pilgrimage call, umrah may be made at any time of the year. It is a voluntary pilgrimage. The required pilgrimage called hajj must be made during the twelfth month of the Lunar calendar. Muslims perform the hajj with enthusiasm, not only for its religious meaning but as an opportunity to travel. It gives them an opportunity to meet Muslims from all over the world. Muslims who make the hajj are held in high esteem and are called hajji. Many believe that a hajji is guaranteed a place in Paradise. Special dress is prescribed for men and women who make the hajj. Hajjis must be in a state of ritual purity. Men wear two sheets of seamless white cloth, one wrapped around the hip and the other draped over the shoulders. Women wear a simple white robe and a simple covering for the head. Uniformity in dress is meant to remove all distinction of class, wealth, and origin among those making the hajj. The ultimate destination for all of the pilgrims is the Sacred Mosque in Mecca where the Kaaba is located. When pilgrims arrive in Mecca and get a glimpse of the Kaaba, they perform a brief salat of greeting to the Mosque. The pilgrims circle the Kaaba seven times, or what Muslims call performing seven circumambulations. Most attempt to touch or kiss the sacred black stone. After the circumambulations, the pilgrims pray personal prayers (dua) and ritual prayers (salat). Other acts and rituals associated with the pilgrimage are also performed. During the hajj, many pilgrims visit Medina to pay their respects to Muhammad's tomb and the tombs of his family and companions. The prophet forbade access to Mecca for unbelievers and that has generally been held to apply to Medina also.