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Islam
Islam
Islam (Arabic, submission to God) Monotheistic religion founded by
Muhammad in Arabia in the early 7th century. At the heart of Islam stands the
Koran, considered the divine revelation of God to Muhammad. Members of the faith (
Muslims) date the beginning of Islam from ad 622, the year of the
Hejira. Muslims submit to the will of Allah by five basic precepts (pillars). First, the
shahadah, “there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet”. Second,
salah, five daily ritual prayers. At a
mosque, a Muslim performs ritual ablutions before praying to God in a attitude of submission, kneeling on a prayer mat facing
Mecca with head bowed, then rising with hands cupped behind the ears to hear God's message. Third,
zakat or alms-giving. Fourth,
sawm, fasting during
Ramadan. Fifth,
Hajj, the pilgrimage to
Mecca. The rapid growth in Islam during the 8th century can be attributed to the unification of the temporal and spiritual. The community leader (
caliph) is both religious and social leader. The Koran was soon supplemented by the informal, scriptural elaborations of the Sunna (Muhammad's sayings and deeds), collated as the Hadith. A Muslim must also abide by the
Sharia or religious law. While Islam stresses the importance of the unity of the
summa (nation) of Islam, several distinctive branches have developed, such as
Sunni,
Shi'ite, and
Sufism. Today, there are
c.935 million Muslims worldwide.
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Islam: Past, Present and Future.(Book review)
Magazine article from: The Christian Century; 8/12/2008; ; 700+ words
; Islam: Past, Present and Future. By Hans Kung...tenets of the Islamic faith" and that "Islam is peace." On what basis did Bush make...who isn't a Muslim, know something about Islam those Muslims didn't? For centuries the...
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Islam and the prayer economy: history and authority in a Malian town.(Book review)
Magazine article from: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute; 9/1/2007; ; 700+ words
; SOARES, BENJAMIN F. Islam and the prayer economy: history and authority...contribution to the anthropological study of Islam, which over the last two decades, has...colonial Muslim world. The anthropology of Islam has been shaped in dialogue with other...
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Political Islam: image and reality.
Magazine article from: World Policy Journal; 9/22/2004; ; 700+ words
; ...much of the discussion in the West regarding political Islam over the last decade and a half--especially since 9/11. These are: one, that political Islam, like Islam itself, is monolithic; two, that political Islam...
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Islam's ambassador to the West. (The Last Word).(Brief Article)
Magazine article from: The Middle East; 10/1/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...challenge, that of taking on the role of Islam's ambassador to the West. In almost...charity for Afghan refugees. At this time Islam needs all the goodwill ambassadors and...second body blow to the public image of Islam. The fact that women were denied education...
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Islam: An Introduction for Christians.(Review)
Magazine article from: Journal of Ecumenical Studies; 1/1/1998; ; 700+ words
; ...Augsburg, 1994 (rev. of Was jeder vom Islam wissen muss [Gutersloh: Gutersloher Verlagshaus...Temple University, and an introduction to Islam with a study guide: These quite different...academic and often theological treatments of Islam with stories of real Muslims who are struggling...
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Islam and terrorism: a humanist view.
Magazine article from: The Humanist; 5/1/2002; ; 700+ words
; ...President Bush, have routinely asserted that Islam is a religion of peace that was hijacked...assertions are simply untrue. First, Islam--like Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism...the World Trade Center arose somehow from Islam." But is Islam an inherently violent...
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Political Islam.
Magazine article from: The Journal of the American Oriental Society; 4/1/1994; ; 700+ words
; ...political perspective to the movement known as political Islam (al-islam al-siyusi), a term preferred by the editors to the...into six general groupings. The first, "political Islam viewed across time," consists of "The Golden Age...
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Islam in Russia under the federal law on freedom of conscience and on religious associations: Official tolerance in an intolerant society
Magazine article from: Brigham Young University Law Review; 1/1/2001; ; 700+ words
; ...nonChristian religious practices such as Islam. Though Muslims have historically played...government officially supports the existence of Islam in the country; however, treatment of...attitudes still exist. The main obstacle for Islam under the new law is not the law itself...
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Islam probed.(NATION)(INSIDE THE RING)
Newspaper article from: The Washington Times; 2/1/2008; 700+ words
; ...Byline: Bill Gertz, THE WASHINGTON TIMES Islam probed The Pentagon is looking into conflicting...statements about the background of Hesham Islam, a special assistant to Deputy Defense...Joint Staff counterterrorism analyst. Mr. Islam faced tough questions about his background...
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Islam and Central Asia: An Enduring Legacy or An Evolving Threat?/Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia
Magazine article from: The Muslim World; 4/1/2003; ; 700+ words
; Islam and Central Asia: An Enduring Legacy or...Studies, 2000 Jihad: The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia By Ahmed Rashid New Haven...book has been organized into three parts: Islam in Central Asia, Russia's connection to...
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Islam
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Islam , [Arab.,=submission to God], world...Prophet Muhammad. Founded in the 7th cent., Islam is the youngest of the three monotheistic...Judaism and Christianity). An adherent to Islam is a Muslim [Arab.,=one who submits...
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Islam in Africa
Book article from: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition
Islam in Africa the development of the Muslim religion...Negus gave them protection. The spread of Islam in Africa began in the 7th and 8th cent...North Africa. Along the coast of Africa Islam spread among the Berbers , who joined the...
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Nation of Islam
Encyclopedia entry from: International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences
Nation of Islam In his classic work The Black Muslims in...argued that originally the Nation of Islam was less a religious movement than a protest...pronounced Far-rod ), the Nation of Islam borrowed heavily from the teachings of...
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Islam: Africa
Dictionary entry from: New Dictionary of the History of Ideas
Islam: Africa It was the long, drawn-out confrontation...communities and chieftains had either adopted Islam as a court religion or incorporated Muslim...indispensable to understanding the development of Islam in Africa. However, space does not permit...
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Islam, History of Science and Religion
Encyclopedia entry from: Encyclopedia of Science and Religion
Islam, History of Science and Religion An account of science and religion in Islam must examine the attitudes of the faith of Islam towards science, as well as the scientific enterprise in Islamic civilization. The first aspect assumes that the...
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