Muslims

A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish: Müslüman, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان) is an adherent of Islam. The feminine form of Muslim is Muslimah. Literally, the word means "one who submits to God". There are approximately 1.31 billion Muslims worldwide.

Most Muslims accept as a fellow Muslim (brother/sister) anyone who has publicly pronounced the Shahada, which states, "There is only one God and Muhammad is His messenger."

A Muslim's belief

1. They believe the Qur'an to be the word of God, as revealed to Prophet Muhammad.
2. They are the followers of Prophet Muhammad.
3. They are the followers of Adam, Abraham, Moses and Jesus whom they believe to be Prophets from God. "Say ye: We believe in God, and what has been revealed to us, and what has been revealed to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and what was brought to Moses and Jesus, and what was brought unto the Prophets from their Lord; we make no distinction between any one of them, and unto Him have we surrendered." 2:136'
4. They are the followers of the God and religion of Abraham. "They say: Become ye Jews or Christians then shall ye be guided by Abraham. Say, Not so! But we follow the religion of Abraham, the upright; he was not of the idolaters." 2:135
5. The followers of any of the Prophets sent by God throughout the world and the ages. "Verily, We have sent to every nation a Messenger, proclaiming: Serve ye God, and avoid Taghut (false gods). And amongst them are some whom God has guided, and amongst them are some for whom error has become established. So travel through the earth, and behold what was the end of those who denied them." 16:36 "He hath named you Muslims of old time and in this (Scripture), that the messenger may be a witness against you, and that ye may be witnesses against mankind." 22:78
6. The non-believers and the non-practicing Muslims who follow their own essential nature as made by God according to:- "Then set your purpose for religion as a man upright by nature - the nature made by God in which He has made men; there is no altering (the laws of) God's creation; that is the right religion, but most people do not know - turning to Him only, and be careful of your duty to Him and keep up prayer and be not of those who ascribe partners to Him (polytheists), of those who split their religion and became schismatic, every sect rejoicing in its own tenets." 30:30-32
7. Believe that all things are created by God. "And unto God do prostrate (submit) whosoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows in the morning and the evening." 13:15 "Do you not see that unto God bow down in worship (or submit in service and adoration) whosoever is in the heavens and whosoever is in the earth, and the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the mountains, and the trees, and the beasts, and many among mankind, though there are many unto whom the doom is justly due? Whomsoever God abases there is none to honour him; verily, God does what He will." 22:18

Muslims believe that the basics of Islam existed long before Muhammad. Muslims describe many figures also found in the Bible, such as Adam, Moses (Arabic: Musa) and Jesus (Arabic: Isa) as Muslims because they are said to have submitted to God and preached His message as prophets. Muslims believe that Jesus, Adam, Moses, and the rest of the prophets have no relativity to God. They are only chosen by Him to get the occupants of the land to live with his laws and rules.

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Muslim protesters in London.

Etymology

The word Muslim is an Arabic agent noun formed from the causative (Form IV) of the tri-consonantal root S-L-M سلم (be at peace), which is أَسْلَمَ meaning "to submit" or "to surrender". The plural form is "Muslimeen" (مسلمين) in Arabic and "Muslims" in English. The word Islam is the corresponding abstract noun, meaning "submission [to God]." "Moslem", an old-fashioned transliteration generally avoided at present, approximates the Persian pronunciation of the word; "Musulman" (with various spellings) is based on the corresponding Urdu form.

The Qur'an offers several illustrations of the word's usage, and of the resulting ambiguity in English translation, as exemplified in two translations of verse ^{[Quran 2:127]}:

Pickthall: "And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House, (Abraham prayed): Our Lord! Accept from us (this duty). Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower. Our Lord! And make us submissive unto Thee and of our seed a nation submissive unto Thee, and show us our ways of worship, and relent toward us. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Relenting, the Merciful."

Yusuf Ali: "And remember Abraham and Isma'il raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing. Our Lord! make of us Muslims, bowing to Thy (Will), and of our progeny a people Muslim, bowing to Thy (will); and show us our place for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn unto us (in Mercy); for Thou art the Oft-Returning, Most Merciful."

Other words for Muslim

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Muslim woman wearing the Hijab (headscarf)

Until the late 1980s, the term Moslem was commonly used. Muslims do not recommend this spelling because it is often pronounced "mawzlem" /mɒzlɛm/ which sounds somewhat similar to an Arabic word for "oppressed" (Za'lem in Arabic). The word is pronounced /muslem/ in Arabic, but often /mʊślɪm/ in English. The word is now most commonly written "Muslim".

Many English-language writers used to call Muslims Mohammedans or Mahometans. Muslims consider this terminology offensive, as it suggests that they worship the prophet Muhammad rather than God. It is also seen as too similar to Christians as followers and worshippers of Christ.

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

One verse in the Qur'an makes a distiction between a mu'min. a believer, and a Muslim:

(Rodwell 49:14) The Arabs of the desert say, "We believe." (tu/minoo) Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" (aslamna) for the faith (al-eemanu) 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.

According to the Western 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 cites 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, or faith, and the one who possesses it is the mu'min, or 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."

Disagreements

There are some groups that consider themselves Muslims, but are not accepted as Muslim by the majority of Muslims. For example, neither Sunni nor Shi'a Muslims accept Ahmedis or adherents of the Nation of Islam as fellow Muslims. Some Sunni regard the Shi'a and the Alawī sects as non-Muslim. There have also been numerous instances in which some Sunnis have declared other Sunnis to be unbelievers, some Shi'a have declared other Shi'a the same. The act of declaring other Muslims, who profess Islam, to be unbelievers is called takfir and doing so is considered blasphemy within Islam.

See also

• Islam
• List of Muslims
• Muhammad
• Muslim World
• Musulman
• Qur'an