Skip to main content

5 Things About Islam You Should Know

By

Before we begin, let's get one thing straight: Muslim and Arab are two different things. Arab is an ethnic group and as such Arabs can be Christian, Jewish, atheist, Muslim or any other religion. Islam is a religion. People often forget that the largest Muslim country in the world is Indonesia and the majority of the world's Muslims are not Arab. Many non-Arab countries around the world have large Muslim populations including Senegal, Uzbekistan, Malaysia, Bosnia, Turkey, Cyprus and Ghana among others.

With the difference between ethnicity and religion now clarified, here are the five things about Islam you should know.

1. Women and men are equal in Islam: "Each of you is equal to the other" (Quran, 3:195). It is true that inequalities exist in many Muslim societies but it is also true that gender inequalities exist in many non-Muslim societies as well. Gender inequalities emanate from cultural practices, not the religion of Islam. In the Quran, men and women enjoy the same rights spiritually, but also socially and politically. Several Islamic countries have also had female heads of state, including Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Turkey.

2. Islam shares many religious figures and historical events with Judaism and Christianity. Muslims greatly respect Jesus. He is considered a prophet in Islam.

3. Muslims fast for 30 days every year for Ramadan, which is one of the five pillars of Islam. Ramadan this year is happening during most of the month of July. Muslims fast to experience what it feels like to be poor and hungry, and to focus on their own inner spiritual journey. Fasting is a great teacher of compassion.

4. Islam is a religion with a deep commitment to social justice. In addition to the practice of Ramadan enabling Muslims to experience hunger as a poor and hungry person might, another of the five pillars of Islam is to help the poor through a donation of zakat. Put simply, Muslims must give 2.5 percent of their savings to the poor, as zakat is a requirement of those who have accumulated wealth.

5. Violence and suicide missions are un-Islamic. At its core, Islam is a religion of peace, a message reiterated many times throughout the Quran. The Quran calls its way "the paths of peace" (5:16) and states that God dislikes any disturbance of peace: "God loves not aggressors" (2:190). Additionally, there has been a fatwa (or religious decree) speaking directly against terrorism and suicide bombings, stating they are unjust, evil and have no place in Islam. People who perpetuate violence in the name of Islam are no more true to their faith than Christians who blow up abortion clinics.

With so much misunderstanding in the world about Islam, I hope these simple facts serve to redress some common misconceptions.

Source - Huffington Post

For More - Believe it or not but it's true

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This Woman Has Visited 181 of 196 Countries

By
Ever wanted to travel to every country in the world? Well that’s exactly what Cassandra De Pecol is doing! Her journey started off in Palau back in July 2015 and she’s already visited 181 countries since then 🇦🇪🐫🇦🇪 "Telling a story is one of the best ways we have of coming up with new ideas, and also of learning about each other and our world." - Richard Branson A photo posted by ᶜᴬˢˢᴬᴺᴰᴿᴬ ᴰᴱ ᴾᴱᶜᴼᴸ (@expedition_196) on Nov 4, 2016 at 11:00am PDT She’s hoping to become the first documented woman to travel to all 196 countries. Cassandra only has 15 more to visit in the next 40 days The trip has cost almost $200,000 so far but the costs are covered by sponsors She also uses her Instagram as a platform for advertising in exchange for free accommodation Been a bit MIA, but I've been out and about enjoying myself in Tripoli, Libya! Also, being held at the border because they thought I was in the CIA 😱. To see wha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Never-Before-Seen Photos Emerge From Inside White House During 9/11

By
Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, never-before-seen photos from inside the White House during the 9/11 attacks have been released. The photos, reportedly captured by a staff photographer, document the reactions of then President, George Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney as they watch the horrific incident unfold on live television on September 11, 2001. The majority of the photos were taken in the secure basement of the White House, where Secret Service agents frog-marched top government officials following reports that more attacks were a possibility. In the photos, President Bush looks tense as he converses with top officials in the President’s Emergency Operations Center (PEOC), a highly-secure bunker situated below the East Wing, which can withstand nuclear hits and ‘other devastating attacks’. Other senior government officials also feature in the photographs, including National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, CIA Director George Tenet, Dick Cheney’s law...
Post a Comment
Read more

6 Things You Might Not Know About Gandhi

By
On January 30, 1948, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the Indian nationalist movement and became known around the world for his philosophy of nonviolent resistance, was assassinated at age 78. He was gunned down in New Delhi by a Hindu extremist five months after India gained its independence from British rule. Check out some interesting facts about the man referred to as Mahatma (“great soul”) and the father of his country. 1. Gandhi was a teenage newlywed. At 13, Gandhi, whose father was the “diwan,” or chief minister, of a series of small princely states in western India, wed Kasturba Makanji (1869-1944), then also a teen and the daughter of a merchant. It was an arranged marriage, and Gandhi had been engaged to Kasturba since he was seven. The couple went on to have four sons. Even when Gandhi took a vow of celibacy in 1906 for reasons of spirituality, self-discipline and commitment to public service, his wife remained married to him until her death at age 74. She died a...
Post a Comment
Read more