Basic Knowledge About Islam

The religion of Islam teaches that in order to achieve true peace of mind and surety of heart, one must submit to God and live according to His Divinely revealed Law. The word ‘Muslim’ means one who submits to the will of God, regardless of their race, nationality or ethnic background.

Muslims believe that all of God’s prophets which include Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, brought the same message of Pure Monotheism. For this reason, Prophet Muhammad is not considered as the founder of a new religion, as many people mistakenly think, but he was the Final Prophet of Islam.

Principles of Islam

According to traditional Islamic belief, the religion has existed since time immemorial. Allah, the Almighty God, created Adam (the father of the human progeny) out of a lump of clay and commanded the angels to greet him with a ‘Sijda’ (prostration in humility). All the angels obeyed the command with the exception of Iblis (the Satan). This resulted in Satan’s condemnation and Allah commanded that whosoever followed the Satan’s path will forfeit His pleasure and that his abode will be in the fire of hell eternally.

Basic Islamic Beliefs are:

• Tawheed: This means, believe in One, Unique, Incomparable God Who is the Creator, the Ruler and the Sustainer of the universe, and none has the right to be worshipped but He alone
• Belief in the existence of Angels of God as the honoured creatures
• Belief in God’s Revealed Books
• Belief in the Prophets and Messengers of God
• Belief in the Day of Judgement and Life after Death
• Belief in Predestination – God’s complete authority over human destiny

Main sects of Islam

The followers of Muslim are divided into two main sects: Shiah and Sunni. Though essentially following the same beliefs and tenets, they differ on two points: the succession to Prophet Muhammad, and the religious authority in Islam after him.

Shiism is a minority branch of Islam which makes up about one tenth of the total population of the Muslim world. The Shiites form an important part of the population in a number of Arab countries like Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon and Iran. The Shiahs consider Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet as his rightful heir. They maintain that Ali was the first legitimate Imam or Khalifah (Caliph) and therefore reject Abu Bakr, Omar and Usman, the first three Khalifahs of the Sunni Muslims, as usurpers.

There are two main shiite sects:

• The “Twelvers” are by far the largest group of Shiah Islam. They believe that the line of Ali became extinct with al-Askari, the Twelfth Imam, who mysteriously disappeared in 873 AD. They however refuse to accept that al-Askari died and believe that he will appear shortly before the end of the world.
• The Ismailites or Seveners are the second largest shiite sect. Their spiritual leader is the Aga Khan. The Ismailites only recognize the seven first Imams.

Sunnism is the main branch of Islam and recognizes the legitimacy of the first four Khalifahs or Caliphs. The Sunnis believe that the office of the Prophet was not hereditary and no one could claim to be his sole heir. The community chooses one amongst themselves as their leader or the Khalifah.

There are four orthodox sects among the Sunni Muslims i.e. Hanafiyah (followers of Imam Abu Hanifah), Shafiyah (followers of Imam Ash-Shafii), Malakiyah (followers of Imam Malik) and Hanbaliyah (followers of Imam Ahmed Bin Hanbal).

Khalifah

The word Caliph or Khalifah, means ‘successor’ or ‘deputy’. It is used to designate the Prophet’s successor as leader of the Muslim community. This title was used by the successive Arab empires and by the Ottoman sultans. The Ottoman Caliphate was maintained for two years after the abolition of the Sultanate, until it was itself abolished by Kemal Ataturk in February 1924.

Prophets of Islam

According to Islamic belief, Allah has sent various Prophets to the world at different times and different places to guide the people on the righteous path.

The names of the following Prophets are mentioned in the Holy Quran: Adam, Sheth, Idris, Nuh (Noah), Hud, Salih, Lut, Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail, Ishaq (Isaac), Yaqub (Jacob), Yusuf (Joseph), Shuaib, Dawud (David), Sulaiman (Solomon), Ilyas, Al-Yasa (Elisha), Musa (Moses), Aziz (Ubair or Ezra), Ayyub (Job), Dhul-Kifl (Isaih or Kharqil Bin Thauri), Yunus (Jonah), Zakariya (Zachariah), Yahya (John the Baptist), Isa (Jesus Christ) and Muhammad.

Prophet Muhammad

Prophet Muhammad is considered as the messenger of Allah and the last of all Prophets who restored Islam to its pristine purity. Prophet Muhammad was born in 570 AD at Makkah. At the age of 40, Prophet Muhammad received his first revelation from Allah through the Angel Jibreel (Gabriel) in a cave at Mount Hira near Makkah. The revelations continued for 23 years, and they are collectively known as the Quran.

He began preaching these revelations to the common populace in Makkah. Due to sever opposition from the unbelievers, Prophet Muhammad and his followers undertook the great migration or Hijra to a town called Yathrib, which later came to be known as Medina. This emigration marks the beginning of the Muslim Calendar.

In Medina, Islam began to flourish and Prophet Muhammad died at the age of 63. As a mark of respect to the Prophet, the Muslims use the words ‘Peace Be Upon Him’ after his name.

Islam in India

Islam first came to India at the Malabar Coast of Kerala through Arab traders as early as 6 AD. Several centuries later the local population that embraced Islam became a well-knit social and cultural group known as the Moplas.

Within the next 200 years, the first Muslim empire, the Delhi Sultanate, was established in India with its capital in Delhi. This was followed by several other Muslim dynasties like the Khiljis, the Tughlaqs, the Lodis and the Mughals. The period of the Mughals was the golden age of Islam in India. The religion flourished under the Mughal rule and many Indians embraced Islam. Today Muslims constitute about 12% of India’s population and are concentrated largely in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Rajasthan, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Kashmir.