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IN THE NAME OF GOD,
THE MERCIFUL,
THE COMPASSIONATE
ISLAM 101
IN THE NAME OF GOD
THE MERCIFUL,
THE COMPASSIONATE
ISLAM 101
ISLAM
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Meaning: “Submission” and “peace”
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Islam: A way of life
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Islam is not a new religion
Islam, continuity of Message
“Say: ‘We believe in God and what is revealed to us;
in that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, to
Isaac and Jacob and the Tribes; and in that which
their Lord gave Moses and Jesus and the Prophets.
We make no distinction between one another among
them, and to Him we have surrendered.’”
(The Qur`an 3:84)
MUSLIM
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Muslim is the one who submits himself/herself to the
Will of God.
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The submission must involve the whole being
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
(Deuteronomy 6:5)
“Submit yourselves therefore to God…Draw near to
God, and He will draw near to you.”
(James 4:7-8)
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Everything in the Universe is “muslim”
ALLAH
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Meaning: “The God”
It is a Semitic word.
It cannot be made plural, and also has no gender.
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God the One, the Unique,
The Absolute, the Infinite,
The Merciful, the Compassionate
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God Who is transcendent and immanent,
Greater than all we can conceive of or imagine,
Yet closer to us than our jugular vein.
ALLAH
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Allah is the Greatest Name,
which contains all the Divine Attributes.
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Allah is God's name only.
“Allah is Being but not through the phenomenon of
coming into being. He exists but not from nonexistence. He is with everything but not by physical
nearness. He is different from everything but not by
physical separation. He acts but without the
accompaniment of movements and instruments. He is
the One, only such that there is none with whom He
keeps company or whom He misses in His absence.”
Ali ibn Abu Talib
ALLAH
Five Qualities Indicating His NonResemblance to anything else:
He is
1.
Before the before, He did not become
2.
After the after, eternal:
He always will be.
1.
Unique, without partner.
2.
3.
The Creator bearing
no resemblance to the created.
4.
Self-existent, without any need.
ALLAH
Eight Essentials Indicating His Perfection:
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Allah is ever-living
Allah is all-knowing of all things, visible and
invisible, at all times.
Allah is all hearing
and all seeing.
All will is His.
All power is His.
All existence and actions depend upon Him.
The word, all that is said and heard is His.
EXALTED BE HIS MAJESTY
REVELATION and THE QUR’AN
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Revelation: The descend of the Word of God
in the form of scripture to a Messenger.
Revelation is different than inspiration.
God of Abraham has spoken to man in the
Qur`an.
The Qur`an, culmination of a long series of
divine communications.
The kernel of the message was always the
same: The Creator your Lord is ONE.
THE QUR’AN
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The verbatim revelation
of God's Word made to descend
into the heart, soul, and mind of the Prophet of
Islam through the agency of the archangel Gabriel.
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The Qur`an is the “Everlasting Miracle” of the
Prophet of Islam, uncreated, unchanged, preserved
in its original form.
“Verily, We have sent down the Message (The
Qur’an) and We will assuredly preserve it.”
(The Qur`an 15:9)
THE QUR’AN
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Both the words and the meaning
of the text are considered to be sacred.
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The soul of the traditional Muslim is like a mosaic
made up of phrases of the Qur`an.
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It is the source of all knowledge in Islam.
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It consists of 114 chapters of over 6,000 verses
revealed to the Prophet of Islam over twenty three
years.
THE QUR’AN
4 Main Purposes of The Qur’an
1.
Showing God's existence and
Oneness
2.
Establishing Messengerhood and
belief in Afterlife
3.
Promulgating the worship of God
4.
Setting forth the essentials of
Justice
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Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the one by whom God
sent the eternal message in its definitive form, the
Prophet who confirms all Prophets.
He has been held in the greatest esteem and respect,
but he was human, a mortal, not divine.
“Say: ‘I am but a mortal like you. It has been revealed to
me that your God is one God. Whoever expects to meet
his Lord, let him work righteousness, and, in the worship
of his Lord, admit none as partner.’”
(The Qur’an 18:110)
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The Prophet is the role model for Muslims to emulate.
“Verily you have in the Messenger of God an excellent
exemplar for him who looks to God and the Last Day, and
remembers God often.”
(The Qur`an 33:21)
THE CREDO OF ISLAM
Believing in
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the Oneness of God
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the Angels
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the revealed Books of God
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the Messengers of God
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the Day of Judgment,
Resurrection, and life after
death
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Divine Destiny
THE CREDO OF ISLAM
Believing in the Oneness of God
Muslims believe in God the Necessarily Existent, the
One, the Unique, Eternally Besought of all.
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“There is no god but Allah, One having no partner;
His is the Dominion and to Him belong all praise;
He alone gives life and makes to die;
He is living and dies not; in His hand is all good
and He is powerful over all things,
and unto Him is the return.”
Hadith (Prophetic Tradition)
THE CREDO OF ISLAM
Believing in the Oneness of God
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Believing in the Oneness of God is the heart of
Islam and that of every authentic religion.
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“Hear o Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord.”
(Deuteronomy 6:4)
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“We have never sent a Messenger before you
except that We revealed to him, saying, ‘There is no
god but I, so worship Me.’”
(The Qur’an 21:25)
THE CREDO OF ISLAM
Believing in the Angels
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Muslims believe in the existence of the
angels and that they are honored creatures,
worshiping God alone, obeying Him, and
acting only by his command.
Angels have no gender, no free will, and
they only exist to serve God.
There are 4 archangels: Gabriel, Michael,
Azrael, Israfil.
THE CREDO OF ISLAM
Believing in the Revealed Books
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Muslims believe in all the scriptures from God as
they were delivered in their original form, such as
the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel, and the Qur`an.
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“Indeed We sent down Our messengers with the
clear signs, and We sent down with them scriptures
and the scales of justice so that people might
conduct themselves with fairness.”
(The Qur’an 57:25)
THE CREDO OF ISLAM
Believing in the Messengers of God
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Muslims believe in the Messengers of God, starting
with Adam, including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael,
Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Moses,
Jesus, and Muhammad (pbut).
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They are all the Messengers of Islam.
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God had sent 124,000 Messengers throughout the
human history.
THE CREDO OF ISLAM
Believing in the Day of Judgment
Resurrection, and Afterlife
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Resurrection and then the
Day of Judgment in which
everyone will be called into
account for what he/she has done.
“And the earth will shine with the glory of its Lord:
the record (of deeds) will be placed (open); the Messengers
and the witnesses will be brought forward; and a just
decision pronounced between them: and they will not be
wronged (in the least). And to every soul will be paid in full
(the fruit) of its deeds; and God knows best all that they do.”
(The Qur’an 39:69-70)
THE CREDO OF ISLAM
Believing in Divine Destiny
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1.
2.
3.
4.
Everything is predestined by God.
It is not fatalism.
It entails believing in four things:
God has infinite knowledge, He knows what has
happened and what will happen.
God has recorded all that has happened and all
that will happen.
God is the Creator of everything, including our
actions.
God has given humankind free-will.
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
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In Islam belief must be backed up, and
adorned with a program of life-changing
action.
Islam has a system of practices designed to
translate our religious beliefs into concrete
reality.
These practices are integrated into the daily
routine of every Muslim's life and remind us
constantly our duty to God.
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
1.
2.
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4.
5.
Testimony of Faith
Daily 5 Time Prayer
Fasting
Alms-giving
Pilgrimage
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
Testimony of Faith
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“I bear witness that there is no god but Allah;
and I also bear witness that Prophet
Muhammad is the servant and messenger of
Allah.”
By sincerely uttering this testimony, Muslims
close their heart and mind to loyalty,
devotion, obedience to , trust in, reliance on,
and worship of anything or anyone other than
God.
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
The Prescribed Prayer-Daily 5 Time Prayer
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Of all the Islamic practices, the most important and
central are the daily prayers (salah).
It is obligatory upon all
men and women from the
age of puberty to death.
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Five times a day Muslims take ritual ablution and then
face to Qa’ba and perform the prayers.
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Daily prayers bring men and women back to a sacred
time marked by the meeting with God.
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
Fasting during the month of Ramadan
“O you who believe, fasting is prescribed for you, as it
was prescribed for those before you, that you might
achieve piety.”
(The Qur’an 2:183)
 Fasting is prescribed for all able adult Muslims from
dawn to dusk, during the month of Ramadan.
“Fasting is not only to restrain from food and drink,
fasting is to refrain from obscene acts.”
Hadith (Prophetic Tradition)
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
Fasting during the month of Ramadan
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Those who have excuses are permitted to break the
fast, but must make up an equal number of days
later in the year.
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Fasting is a worship, and is performed solely for the
sake of God as it is the case for any other ritual in
Islam.
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The main function of fasting: To make a Muslim pure
from “within”
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
Alms-giving-Zakah
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All things belong to God,
and wealth is therefore held
by human beings in trust.
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“Purification” and “growth”
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Obligatory form of charity
on savings
A means of redistribution of wealth
FIVE PILLARS OF ISLAM
The Pilgrimage to Mecca
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An obligation once in a life time
for those who are physically
and financially able
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A manifestation of unity and devotion
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Muslims all around the world, wearing the same dress,
respond to the Lord in one voice:
“Labbayk Alla humma Labbayk”
“Here I am at your service O Lord!”
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The rites commemorate Prophet Abraham's tradition
Does Islam Encourage War?
“Fight in the way of Allah against those who fight you,
but don’t be aggressors, because Allah doesn’t
approve of aggression. Fight them wherever they
are found, and drive them out from where they
drove you out, remember that Allah is the Forgiving,
the Merciful. However if they continue to oppress
(people), then battle them until oppression is no
more and justice and faith in Allah prevails. If they
seek peace, then you seek it as well, but continue to
pursue the evil-doers.”
(The Qur’an 2:191-194)