Bianca Masuzaki

Islam is a
major world religion, the second largest (after Christianity). Its approximately one billion adherents, called Muslims (or Moslems), comprise about one-fifth of the Earth's population. The Muslim world extends from the Philippines in the east to Morocco in the west, and from Central Asia in the north to sub-Saharan Africa in the south. Significant Muslim minorities also exist in China, Russia, South Africa, Australia, Europe, and the Americas. Islam was first proclaimed by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in the 7th century. The Arabic word Islam literally means both "surrender" and "peace"--surrender to the will of God and the peace that is entailed in that surrender. Islam is a monotheistic religion (see monotheism); like Judaism and Christianity, it traces its origins to the biblical patriarch Abraham.
Islam has found expression in diverse cultures. The most important Islamic cultural zones are the Arab, Persian (Iranian), Turkic, South Asian, Malay, and African. Other smaller or more recent culture areas such as the African American and Chinese are also significant. The Arabs are associated with the rise of Islam, Arabic is Islam's sacred language, and the Arab countries of the Middle East have had a strong influence on the development of Islamic civilization. The majority of Muslims, however, are not Arabs. The country with the largest Muslim population today is Indonesia, and the most populous Islamic cultural zone is South Asia, comprising India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Muslims are divided into different schools of thought, some of which are distinctive enough to be called sects. The most fundamental division is between the Sunnites and the Shiites. The Sunnites (or Sunnis) are by far the largest group, constituting about 90% of all Muslims. Shiites, however, have played an important role in Islamic history. Most Shiites live in the heartland of the Middle East: in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, and the Persian Gulf states. Sizable Shiite minorities also live in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Tajikistan. Shiite Islam is itself divided into different sects, the most important of which are the Twelvers (or Imamis) and the Ismailis. These divisions were the results of disputes over the sources of religious and political authority in the Islamic community. The Sunnites are not divided along sectarian lines, but into different legal traditions.
The Foundations of Islam
The sources of the Islamic faith are the Koran, or Qur'an (Arabic for "the reading"), which is the holy book of Islam, and the Prophetic Traditions (the sunna). According to Muslim belief, the Koran is the word of God that was revealed to Muhammad by the Archangel Gabriel and was recorded by the companions of the Prophet. In later years these renditions were canonized. Muhammad was illiterate, incapable of achieving the Koran's sophisticated prose and literary style. The Koran is therefore the miracle of Muhammad, whose illiteracy serves the same function in Islam as the virginity of Mary does in Christianity--that of the untainted vessel for the revelation of divine truth. The Koran consists of 114 chapters (suras) that were revealed to the Prophet over a period of time. They cover a variety of issues, including ethics, history, theology, and religious obligations. The Koran contains the fundamental teachings of the faith, and is the foundation of all other expressions of Islam in both the temporal and spiritual realms. Muslims hold it in the highest esteem. Not only are its contents of central concern to their piety, but reading the Koran is itself an act of religious significance. It is generally read in the original Arabic to preserve the sacredness that is interwoven with its literary style, and to remain true to the nuances and levels of meaning that would be lost in a translation. Over the centuries, commentaries on the Koran became an important aspect of Islamic religious scholarship. Varying methods of interpreting its texts formed the basis for different schools of Islamic thought. The text itself, however, has remained inviolate.
After the Koran, the Prophetic Traditions are the most important foundation of Islam. For Muslims, Muhammad is the messenger of God. He is also the most perfect of God's creatures, best suited to carry his message to humankind. Love for the Prophet lies at the heart of the Islamic faith, inseparable from the word of God that constitutes the essence of Islam. The example of the Prophet has thus conditioned the practice of the faith. Muslims emulate the example of the Prophet in every facet of their religious, social, and personal lives. His public and private conduct serves as a model for every Muslim. For this reason, great care has been taken to preserve the memory of his words (ahadith, sing. hadith) and deeds.
Muhammad was a member of the powerful Quraysh tribe of Mecca at a time when the city was the center of trade in the Arabian peninsula and of the idolatrous religion of the Arabian tribes. He lost both of his parents while very young, and was raised by an uncle. In his youth he worked as a trader, traveling with caravans to Syria. At the age of 25 he married a wealthy widow, Kadijah, who was 15 years older than he was. This marriage produced the Prophet's only child, his daughter Fatima. Muhammad was held in great respect by his compatriots; known as al-Amin (the trustworthy), he often arbitrated quarrels between individuals and tribes.

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