Muslims believe in Allah and that he is unique, all powerful, gracious and merciful to all Muslims.
The Islamic faith is lived out according to five “pillars” that must be adhered to if one is to hope for salvation.
The Five Pillars of Islam are:
1. Reciting the two-fold Creed (shahada) (profession of faith) – ‘There is no God but Allah’ and ‘Muhammad is his prophet’ (or ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God’).
2. Prayer (salat) – At five set-times a day while facing towards the city of Mecca.3. Alms-giving (sakat) (zakat – means ‘purification’, an act of worship) – Both obligatory and voluntary giving to the poor.
4. Fasting (saum) – Especially during the ‘holy’ month of Ramadan.
5. Pilgrimage (hajj) – At least once in a lifetime – to Mecca, Saudi Arabia if at all possible, known as The Hajj.
Although the Hajj is well known today, it should be noted that the Black Stone was a meteorite to which great religious significance was attached even before Muhammad was born. Muhammad simply adopted the pagan practice. Thus the act of walking around the Ka’aba (“Cube”) seven times, kissing and touching the Black Stone became the “Islamic” pilgrimage of “Hajj” – one of the pillars of Islam today.
Pillars Bring No guarantee
While a Muslim may observe each of these pillars there is still no guarantee of salvation. Islam is based on a religion of self-righteousness. Muslims often think about the Day of Judgement where they believe Allah (or an angel) will take a balance and weigh each persons deeds. His hope is that his good deeds will outweigh his bad deeds, but even then Allah’s judgement is based solely on Allah’s will – not on justice.
Another interpretation is that man’s deeds are written in a book and on the Day of Judgement Allah will open the book and the sum of a man’s account will be placed in either his right or left hand. The only sure way to paradise is to die as a martyr during an Islamic Holy War, Jihad.
Muhammad
Muhammad is Islam’s highest prophet, but the Qur’an also speaks often of Jesus, also known as Isa. The Qur’an also refers to Jesus as Kalimat Allah, which means The Word of God. Muslims do not believe in Jesus death on the cross, His resurrection nor in His deity. Although Jesus is the second highest prophet in Islam, the Isa of the Qur’an is only one prophet among 124,000.
Jinn
The belief of angels and evil spirits, also known as Jinn, plays a very prominent part in the lives of most Muslims. Although the Qur’an states that ‘good and evil comes from Allah’, this belief is not founded in orthodox Islam but is a result of pagan religions, particularly from Africa and India, being incorporated in Islam.
The Law
Islam incorporates rules for every aspect of life. Within the Qur’an and the Hadith’s there is instruction for every detail of a Muslim’s daily life. The Shari’a – the sacred law of Islam, applies to all aspects of life, not just religious practices. It describes the Islamic way of life, and prescribes the way for a Muslim to fulfill the commands of God and reach heaven.
Video: Foundations
Foundations from DanStevers.com on Vimeo.
For Mr. (Ms?) Khan,.
I want to express my respect for your patient efforts to enlighten those of us Christians, who know less of Islam than you do of Christianity, it seems.
Can I ask you – what kind of muslim are you?
Are there differences in the different mosque/directions within Islam with regards to the mild attitude and the more aggressive attitude towards Christianity?
Has Islam evolved? If yes, do you have an example as to woman i.e.? What the tradition was in the times of The Prophet (honoured be his name) compared to the tradition now?
I have been explained, that Muslims have a duty to defend Muslim territories. AND that a piece of land that has been Muslim once is regarded as Muslim territory for ever. Is that correct?
I was impressed by the tale of Kahlidja. What a beautiful role model for any woman around the world. Strong, independent, wise and generous!
Thank you.
I am surprised to see your agressive resposes to teachings from a fellow human being (even if Mr./Ms. Khan is of another faith than us!) who seems to be a learned, earnest and peaceful Muslim seeking dialoque on the basis of insight.
Please, Mr. Steve. Be as The Lord Jesus: factual, consequent but loving and mild. Do not throw stones – it leads us nowhere!!
Do you have answers for Mr./Ms. Khans questions?
mr./Ms. Khan,
I do not read it the way you do. I think the text says, that Isa is another name for Jesus (Our Lord, The Messiah, Chrits, Jahve, Yosua etc.) who is ranked second among the 124.000 Prophets of Islam.
In Christianity we see a Prophet as a human being being called to speak on behalf of God. A Prophet is NOT to us devine in himself. BUT As Jesus is a form of God as is the Holy Spirit HE also in his form of man is devine we believe.
The Prophets for the Holy Bible are ranked as follows
The 4 most important and great Prophets: Esajas, Jeremias og Ezekiel, samt Daniel,
and the 12 other significant prophets are: Hoseas, Joel, Amos, Obadias, Jonas, Mika, Nahum, Habakkuk, Sefanias, Haggaj, Zakarias og Malakias.
Apart from thees the The Holy Bible mentiones: Agabos, Akija, Azarja, Bileam, Elias, Elisa, Gad, Hananja, Natan, Oded, Shemaja og Sidkija,
Some Profets sons who were members of sort of a prophetunion and wholived together in a sort of Manastery attached probably to places of worship:
And last BUT NOT LEAST
The females: Profetinder: Mirjam, Debora, Hulda, Noadja og Anna.
Yours
ap
We are salvaged – and enter the Kingdom – by believing in Jesus Christ and confessing to his name. Our duty is to invite every person born on earthe into the Christian falamily.
Isa is the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE – also the afterlife, you see?
I might add:
We do not have to DO anything (any deeds) in order to reach salvation.
Being a true believer should change our ways in itself.
“It is on the fruits, the good tree is recognized”
This is important: We are NOT living by the Law – we are living by FAITH
It also says in many ways in the Bible, that if you teat your fellow man the way you know as the right one you live up to Jesus since what you do not know you cannot correct yourself with.
The more you read and understand the words of God, the more it is expected of you to live up to his commandments of “Love thy God only and love thy Neighbor as yourself”.
I under stand that as a commanment to love everyone as if he or she was one of mine.
At the sametime The Bible states, the God knows, that even in our most honest strides, we fail and therefore WHEN WE ASK, we may be forgiven and receive the Grace of God.
Yours
ap
Sorry for all the spelling mistakes. I was so entusiastic and forgot to take time to correct my spelling. Apologies!
Khan,
Sorry orthodox Sunni Muslims do not hold the view that Jesus (Peace be upon him) died and is buried in Sri Nagar. This is ludicrous.
This is wrong belief, Jesus (pbuh) was raised up to heaven as a man and not God/Son of God and will return near the end of times, inshaAllah.
Jesus did not die on the cross, but Allah put someone there and made him resemble Jesus so that it looked like he did die on the cross. And nothing is difficult for Allah.
For those who say that there were witnesses confirming Jesus died on the cross, of course there were witnesses for what people thought was Jesus but it was not. (There is debate for who that person was, but for Muslims this does not detract from the truth)
All praises be to Allah alone, the lord of the worlds, who has no partners.
May he guide you to the right path and bring you all into the fold of Islam. For this is true Salvation.
There is no diety worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammed (Peace and blessing be upon him) is his final messenger.
Thanks
No, Muhammad, peace be upon him, did not simply adopt a pagan practice. The Hajj was originally performed by Abraham, peace be upon him, then his descendents, the Arabs who later became pagans, corrupted the Kaaba, and proceeded nudely around it. Amr ibn Luhay, an ancient Arab tribal chief, introduced idol worship to the Kaaba. Also, in the Qur’an God says that the point of praying to the Kaaba is simply a mark of Islamic faith. He says that you can pray to him in any direction, even Jerusalem, but what sets us apart as Muslims is that we pray to the Kaaba, which was built by Abraham, peace be upon him. Also, the Kaaba unites us as Muslims. Almost 2 billion people around the world pray in 1 direction.
The Qur’an says that those who believe in God and do good deeds in his name and worship him will attain salvation.
“Islamic Holy War”
Wow. You just exposed yourself as another Islamophobic Christian fundamentalist. News flash: Jihad is not holy war. Jihad is striving in God’s name. Doing good deeds is considered jihad. Fighting for the rights of the oppressed is considered jihad. Rasulullah, peace be upon him, said that “the best jihad is to speak a word of truth the an unjust ruler”. He also said that fighting the evils of one’s soul is the greater jihad, while fighting a physical enemy is the lesser jihad.
Islam does not call for holy war. The Qur’an only says to kill people if they try to kill you.
That one misinterpretation of the word “Jihad” spoke volumes about you. You are a Christian fundamentalist who wants to spread misconceptions about Islam. God has this to say to you:
“They wish to extinguish the light of Allah with their mouths, but Allah refuses except to perfect His light, although the disbelievers detest it.”-Surah At-Tawbah, Verse 32
That only applies to fiction and pondering another person’s point of view.