[Day 18] Muslims not only believe in the existence of angels but also in Jinn (Djinn), who also populate this world. They have their own social organisation and activities, yet they can also change their appearance and become visible or invisible at will.
[Day 15] Most Muslims believe that death by crucifixion was not a worthy death for a good prophet like Jesus. Based on the Qur’anic passage cited above, the majority of Muslims in our day say that Jesus never went to the cross. It is commonly thought that He was taken up into heaven without dying and that someone else died on the cross in His place.
Spend even a short time around Muslims and you will become aware that they continually use the Arabic phrase “In sha Allah”, which means “if God wills”. While the Qur’an also lays great emphasis on the free choice and moral conduct of individuals and communities, popular Islamic thinking and practice are often very fatalistic.
Even before Islam, sulha came about as a means for settling disputes in the absence of a legal system. Musalaha (reconciliation) is reached in the step-by-step process of sulha, practised by both Muslim and Christian Arabs.
The ultimate corporate expression of Muslim community is called “Ummah”, an Arabic word meaning “people, generation, or community”. For Muslims, the reality of the Ummah is especially experienced during the Muslim pilgrimage or Hajj to Mecca. Remember that there are literally millions of Muslims around the world praying towards Mecca (Qibla).
They have a sense of being under attack through events in Israel, Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq. They hate the repressive regimes in the Muslim world, which are often supported by the “Christian” West.
Sufism goes back to the founding of Islam; as Islam spread from Arabia to other parts of the world, it interacted with new cultures and philosophies. Islam encountered Christian monks in the desert, Gnostics of various sorts, Neoplatonic philosophy, and Buddhism and Hinduism from India. Some Muslims came under these influences
