Uniqueness of the Name

The name for the religion of Islam is much more than just a name because it expresses a deep spiritual meaning as well as an overall outlook on life and concept of worship.

The word "Islam" is an Arabic word which means "complete submission to the will of Almighty God". Other religions are named after their founders, such as Christianity and Buddhism; after a tribe or ethnic group, such as Judaism; or after a specific geographical region, such as Hinduism.

Islam, however, is unique because its name represents its outlook on life and reflects its universal nature.

Question 1 "What is Islam?"

Islam is not a new religion, but the same truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world"s population, Islam is both a religion and a complete way of life. Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority have nothing to do with the extremely grave events which have come to be associated with their faith.

Question 2 "Who are the Muslims?"

What is Islam?

Muslims believe in one God and in the Day of Judgment and individual accountability for actions. Muslims believe in a chain of prophets beginning with Adam and including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Issac, Jacob Joseph, Job, Moses, David, Solomon and Jesus.

God's message was reaffirmed and finalized by the Prophet Muhammad. Islam is a religion of peace, mercy and forgiveness. Muslims pray in a mosque in the same way that Christians pray in a church.

What is the Koran?

The Koran, or Quran, is the Muslim holy book, like the Bible is to Christianity. It is the record of the exact words revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad. It was memorized by Muhammad and then dictated to his companions.

The twelfth month of the Hijra calendar is Dhul Hijjah.

This is one of the four sacred months, and is the month of the Hajj. The Hajj, or Pilgrimage, as it has become known in the West, is the time of year when Muslims from all over the world visit the Ka'ba in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.

The Ka'ba is the first House built for the worship of the one God, Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala). It was erected by Ibrahim (Abraham) and his son Isma'eel (Ishmael) (alaihim assalaam, i.e., may peace be upon them).

The Barren Desert

Prophet Ibrahim's (alaihis salaam) faith in the Lord is well documented in the Noble Qur'an. Ibrahim (alaihis salaam) is described as being a nation by himself, due to his great faith in Allah (Subhanahu wa ta'ala).

The question whether there is a life after death does not fall under the jurisdiction of science, as science is concerned only with classification and analysis of sensory data. Moreover, man has been busy with scientific enquiries and research in the modern sense of the term only for the last few centuries, while he has been familiar with the concept of life after death since time immemorial.

Al-Hijra (1 Muharram): New Year’s Day

This festival commemorates the Hijra (or Hegira) in 622 CE when the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) moved from Mecca to Medina. The Hijra was the beginning of the growth of Islam into a world faith. The Muslim calendar counts dates from the Hijra, which is why Muslim dates have the suffix A.H. (After Hijra).

• There is no specific religious ritual required on this day, but Muslims will think about the general meaning of Hijra, and regard this as a good time for "New Year Resolutions".

• The Qur’an uses the word "Hijra" to mean moving from a bad place or state of affairs to a good one, and so Muslims may think about how their faith helps them leave behind bad ways of living and achieve a better life.

If we would like to know whether a religion is true or false, we should not depend on our emotions, feelings, or traditions. Rather, we should depend on our reason and intellect.

When God sent the prophets, He supported them with miracles and evidences which proved that they were truly prophets send by God and that the religion they came with was true.

The true religion can be found by answering three questions:

1. What is truly the literal word of God, revealed by God?

2. Who was truly the last prophet sent by God?

3. What truly is the religion from God?

1. What is truly the literal word of God, revealed by God?

How to become a Muslim

It only requires a very simple act, but the meaning behind it is very deep. You have to believe that there is only one God, Allah, who created the entire universe, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is his final messenger on earth. If you recite this, with total sincerity, in front of two witnesses, you have become a Muslim. It really is as simple as that.

Muslims call this recitation the Shahada, and refer to it as the first Pillar of Islam. If you become a Muslim by converting (some Muslims would say "reverting") to Islam your fellow Muslims will accept you as if you had been born a Muslim.

Submitting to God

Since God is the absolute and the sole master of men and the universe, He is the sovereign Lord, the Sustainer and Nourisher, the Merciful, Whose mercy enshrines all beings; and since He has given each man human dignity and honor, and breathed into him of His own spirit, it follows that, united in Him and through Him, men are substantially the same and no tangible and actual distinction can be made among them except for their personal characteristics and behavior.

Eid-ul-Adha is the celebration of sacrifice, and is important to all muslims for various reasons. Two these are the element of sacrifice, and the Hajj.

The Sacrifice

During Eid-ul-Adha, we remember the spirit of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and how he was willing to sacrifice the person he loved the most, because it was Allah's (swt) command.

Allah chose Ibrahim to restore the Kabah from disrepair, and Ibrahim had his son Isma'eel (peace also be upon him) help him. It took them months in the desert heat, but they kept going because of their love for Allah (swt).

Once the Ka'bah was finally done, Allah asked Ibrahim (on the 10th day of the month of Dhul' Hijja - the day we celebrate Eid) to sacrifice Isma'eel.