Islam More Than A Religion

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scriptures, the Qur'an (Koran). Allah revealed the Qur'an to his messenger, Muhammad. According to Islamic beliefs, Muhammad is the last of a series of prophets (including Adam, Noah, Jesus, and others). Muhammad's message concurrently perfect and do away with the �revelations� attributed to earlier prophets. From the very beginning of Islam, Muhammad had indoctrinated a sense of brotherhood and a bond of faith among his followers. The Prophet Muhammad fled to Medina in AD 622, it was during this time that his preaching was accepted and the community-state of Islam emerged. During this early period, Islam acquired its characteristics as a religion uniting in itself both the spiritual and temporal aspects of life. Islam also seeks to regulate not only the individual's relationship to God (through his conscience) but human relationship in a social setting as well. Thus, there is not only an Islamic religious institution but also an Islamic law, state, and other institutions governing ...

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who may pray in bed and, if necessary lying down. The third pillar is the obligatory tax called zakat which means � purification.� Zakat indicts that such a payment makes the rest of one's wealth religiously and legally pure. In today's society the payment of zakat has become a matter of voluntary charity dependent on individual conscience. The fourth pillar of the faith is fasting during the month of Ramadan (ninth month of the Muslim lunar calendar). Fasting begins at daybreak and ends at sunset, and during the day eating, drinking, and smoking are forbidden. The Qu'ran (2:185) states that it was during the month of Ramadan that the Qu'ran was revealed. The fifth pillar is the annual ...

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