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Intro to Islam
Islam in Brief
6 Articles of Faith
5 Obligations in Islam
Physical Purification

Introduction to Islam:

Shared Beliefs & Differences with Christianity

What is Islam & what is the Quran?

Islam is simply the religion of God, meaning the set of beliefs and practices that God wants human beings to follow. Islam is a full way of life. The teachings of Islam span almost every aspect of the life of human beings.

The Quran (can also be spelled as Qur'an, Kuran, or Koran) is the holy scripture of Muslims. The Quran states that the name of God's religion is Islam and it refers to its followers as Muslims.

The Quran started to be revealed by God to Prophet Mohammad through arch-angel Gabriel, when he was 40 years old, around year 610 AD. It was revealed gradually, few verses at a time, over a period of about 23 years. The Quran is a very unique book that differs from the Bible in many ways. Unlike the Bible which supposedly contains the sayings of Jesus and other writings which Christians believe were inspired by God, the Quran is the "literal" word of God. We mean that the words in the Quran are the exact words of God. Therefore, the author of the Quran is God himself. Furthermore, also unlike the Bible, the Quran does not contain the sayings of Prophet Mohammad, nor does it contain an account of Prophet Mohammad's life.

God in the Quran promises clearly to protect the Quran from corruption. Indeed, God has protected the Quran. The Quran has remained the same. All the verses that were revealed to prophet Mohammad by angel Gabriel are included in the Quran that is available today. The Quran was revealed in Arabic language and Muslims consider only the Arabic Quran to be the Word of God and any translation of the Quran to other languages are mere translations of the Quran to people who do not understand Arabic language because translations are authored by ordinary human beings whereas the Arabic Quran is authored by God. Therefore, those translations are not considered by Muslim as a Word of God or holy scriptures. The 5 daily prayers of Muslims are in Arabic (most of what is said by Muslims during a prayer consist of reciting verses from the Quran). However, Muslims are not required to be able to speak Arabic, other than learning to utter few sentences in Arabic that are part of regular prayers.

The Quran states that the Quran, in by itself, is the most important miracle that Prophet Mohammad has brought to humanity. Since Prophet Mohammad was intended to be the last prophet and the Quran was the last message, God decided to give people a unique miracle that can be examined and experienced by not only people who lived at the time of the prophet, but for the hundreds of years to come. So, it was natural for God to choose Quran to be such a miracle.

That is why the Arabic Quran is a unique miracle. The only book in the world authored by God himself, word by word, and that is still available today in its original form. People throughout the Ages have wondered whether they can see God or something that can be attributed directly to God. The Quran is the answer. It is available today for all humans to experience how God expresses himself in words. The Quran is a book of knowledge with a uniquely captivating style, in which every verse is a sign from God. Each word used in the Arabic Quran was uniquely chosen by God for a purpose. You can not add or subtract a word to/from the Quran, without the corruption becoming noticeable. Scholars have discovered some  hidden logic structures (codes) in the Quran that prove its authenticity and help in protecting its integrity from corruption. For more information about this topic, read the article below on this page, entitled Reflections on Islam and the Qur'an

The Quran contains lots of scientific knowledge that have only been known recently which were totally unknown and could not have been discovered at the time of prophet Mohammad. For more information about how modern science authenticates the validity of the divine source of the Quran, please feel free to visit the section of our site entitled Quran & Science where you will find videos, full-length books about this topic.

God, that the Quran refers to as Allah (an explanation of the meaning of the word Allah), is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, that includes creating the human beings, angels, animals, plants, trees, mountains, rivers, oceans, the planets, the sun, the moon, heaven, etc.

Islam is the inborn/ innate /natural religion of all human beings and everything created by God. All human beings are born as Muslims. Their parents may later raise them based on the teachings of another religion (in other words, their parents may corrupt their children’s natural Islamic religious beliefs). That is why, unlike Christianity which requires baptism, in Islam, there are no required rituals for children to go through to be Muslims because we believe that children are born as Muslims.

Islam did not start with Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). He was the final prophet, sent by God to complete God's religion. The first Muslim was Adam. Abraham, Moses, Jesus were also Muslims and prophets of Islam. God sent them to preach God's religion, that is Islam, even though at that time, God may not have instructed them to call it Islam.

In the Quran, God has specified a name for his religion, calling it Islam, to avoid what happened with the message and teachings of Jesus, where the teachings of Jesus came to be known later as Christianity. Please note that the term Christianity is not mentioned in the Bible. Those "Christians" ended up worshiping Jesus, instead of worshiping God, the creator of Jesus and the creator of the universe.

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The proper Islamic words to use and the best way to spell and pronounce them (Please note that on web site, we sometimes spell words in un-recommended ways solely to match the way most people spell these words as search key words):

1. The prophet’s name: The best way to spell his name is Muhammad because it is closest way to how it sounds in Arabic. However, Mohammad is close enough and is acceptable. If you have limited space, you may use one “m” in the middle, instead of two. The worst spelling is to end his name with “ed”, i.e. Mohammed or Mohamed.

2. Islam: The letter “s” in the word Islam should be pronounced as an “s” and as a “z”.

3. Muslim:

(a) The person who follows Islam is called a Muslim. This is an Arabic masculine word which means a male whose religion is Islam.

(b) A female whose religion is Islam should be called “Muslima”.

(c) Please note that Muslim, in Arabic, is a noun and not an adjective. The adjective that can be used to describe something related to Islam in English is the word “Islamic”.

(d) A Muslim used be called “Moslem” especially by British people. Today, even in Britain, Muslim is replacing “Moslem” as the most common way to spell this word. Muslim is definitely much closer to the way this word sounds in Arabic.

(e) However, it is unfortunate, that even though “Muslim” is being spelled properly, non-Muslim English-speaking people are still pronouncing it as if it is “Moslem”. The proper pronunciation corresponds much better with the word “ Muslim”. To pronounce it properly: (1) the use of “u” is better than “o” and this “u” should be pronounced the way you pronounce the “u” in names like “Lucy” or “Luke”; (2) the “s” must be pronounced as an “s”, not as a “z”; and (3) the “lim” in the word should be pronounced the way you pronounce names like “Tim” or “Kim”.

Islam in a Nutshell (Overview of Islam)

What do Muslims Believe Part 1 of 2

What do Muslims Believe Part 2 of 2

Understanding Islam - The 5 Obligations in Islam - by Dr. Tim Winter (Abdul-Hakim Murad) a convert to Islam

Understanding Islam - Sunnah & Shariah, Sectarianism, and Ijtihad - by Dr. Tim Winter (Abdul-Hakim Murad)  

Muslim Theology and Islamic Mysticism by Dr. Tim Winter (Abdul-Hakim Murad)- Part 1 of 2

Muslim Theology and Islamic Mysticism by Dr. Tim Winter (Abdul-Hakim Murad)- Part 1 of 2

Ammar Amonette (a convert Scholar): Introduction to Islam

Introduction to Islam

Lecture about Islam by Sheikh Yusuf Estes

American Ramadan Documentary- Islam in the United States

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