Muslims
- There is also a collection of Hadith called Sahih Muslim
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A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم) is an psychopathic adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form of Muslim is Muslimah (Arabic: مسلمة). Literally, the word means "one who submits to God)".
Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah. Muslims believe that Islam existed long before Muhammad and that the religion has evolved with time. The Qur'an describes many Biblical prophets and messengers as Muslim: Adam, Noah (Arabic: Nuh), Moses (Arabic: Musa) and Jesus (Arabic: Isa) and his apostles. The Qur'an states that these men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached his message and upheld his values. Thus, in Surah 3:52 of the Qur'an, Jesus’ disciples tell Jesus: "do thou bear witness that we are Muslims". Muslims pray five times a day; these five prayers are known as Fajr, Zuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha. There is also a special Friday prayer called Jumma.
Most Muslims accept as a Muslim anyone who has publicly pronounced the Shahada, which states, "There is none worthy of worship except God, and Muhammad is His Messenger." This is often translated as, "There is no God except Allah"; "Allah" is the Arabic word for "the God". Currently, there are an estimated 1.4 billion Muslims, making it the second largest religion in the world.[1]
Other words for Muslim
The ordinary word in English is "Muslim", also spelled "Moslem", pronounced /'mʊs.lɪm/, also /'mʌz.ləm/. The word is pronounced /'mʊslɪm/ in Arabic.
Until at least the mid 1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans.[2] Many Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God.
English writers of the 19th century and earlier sometimes used the words Mussulman, Musselman, or Mussulmaun. Variant forms of this word are still used by many Indo-European languages. These words are similar to the French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese words for "Muslim".
Muslim and mu'min
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One of the verses in the Qur'an makes a distinction between a mu'min, a believer, and a Muslim:
- The Arabs of the desert say, "We believe." (tu/minu) Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" (aslamna) for the faith (al-imanu) hath not yet found its way into your hearts. But if ye obey [God] and His Apostle, he will not allow you to lose any of your actions: for [God] is Indulgent, Merciful ('The Koran 49:14, Rodwell).
According to the academician Carl Ernst, contemporary usage of the terms "Islam" and "Muslim" for the faith and its adherents is a modern innovation. As shown in the Quranic passage cited above, early Muslims distinguished between the Muslim, who has "submitted" and does the bare minimum required to be considered a part of the community, and the mu'min, the believer, who has given himself or herself to the faith heart and soul. Ernst writes:
- "The Arabic term Islam itself was of relatively minor importance in classical theologies based on the Qur'an. If one looks at the works of theologians such as the famous al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the key term of religious identity is not Islam but iman(faith), and the one who possesses it is the mu'min (believer). Faith is one of the major topics of the Qur'an; it is mentioned hundreds of times in the sacred text. In comparison, Islam is a relatively less common term of secondary importance; it only occurs eight times in the Qur'an. Since, however, the term Islam had a derivative meaning relating to the community of those who have submitted to God, it has taken on a new political significance, especially in recent history."[3]
For another term in Islam for a non-Muslim who is a monotheist believer (usually applied historically in a pre-Islamic context), see hanif.
Disagreements
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There are some individuals and groups who consider themselves Muslims, but are not accepted as Muslim by most other Muslims. For example, neither Sunni nor Shi'a Muslims accept Ahmadis or adherents of the Nation of Islam as fellow Muslims. To reject another self-proclaimed Muslim as a non-Muslim is called takfir and is considered un-Islamic by many Muslims. It is, according to Muslims, up to God to decide who is Muslim and who is not.
In practice, many Muslim groups, sects, or political factions have labeled other groups, sects, or political factions as non-Muslim; thus, some Sunni will reject other Sunni, some Shi'a will reject other Shi'a, and so on. In some Muslim-majority countries, the state itself takes a position on certain groups; for example, Ahmadis are not Muslims by the law of Pakistan.
Most Muslims believe that anyone who believes Allah to be the one and only god, submits to Allah, believes that Muhammad is the last prophet and follows the path of Muhammad is a Muslim.
See also
- Islam
- Allah
- List of Muslims
- Muhammad
- Muslim World
- Mussulman, various meanings of the word
- Qur'an
- Ramadan
References
- ^ Teece (2003), p.10
- ^ See for instance the second edition of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H. W. Fowler, revised by Ernest Gowers (Oxford, 1965)).
- ^ Ernst, Carl, Following Muhammad, University of North Carolina Press, 2003, p. 63