07-13-2006, 10:10 AM
Islam
Islam (Arabic: الإسلام; al-islām listen (help·info)) is a monotheistic religion based upon the Qur'an, which adherents believe was sent by God through Muhammad, as well as teachings of Muhammad recorded in the Hadith. Followers of Islam, known as Muslims (Arabic: مسلم
, believe Muhammad to have been God's (Arabic: Allāh) final prophet.
Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is considered an Abrahamic religion.[1] With a total of approximately 1.4 billion adherents, Islam is the second-largest religion in the world.[2]
Secular historians place Islam's beginnings during the late 7th century in Arabia. Under the leadership of Muhammad and his successors, Islam rapidly spread by religious conversion and military conquest.[3] Today followers of Islam may be found throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Beliefs
Muslims believe that God revealed his direct word for humanity to Muhammad (c. 570–632) through the angel Gabriel and earlier prophets, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last prophet, based on the Qur'anic phrase "Seal of the Prophets" and sayings of the prophet of Islam himself, and that his teachings for humanity will last until the Day of the Resurrection. Muslims assert that the main written record of revelation to humanity is the Qur'an, which is flawless, immutable, and which Muslims believe is the final revelation of God to humanity.
Muslims hold that Islam is the same belief as that of all the messengers sent by God to humanity since Adam, with the Qur'an, the text used by all sects of the Muslim faith, codifying the final revelation of God. Islamic texts depict Judaism and Christianity as prophetic successor traditions to the teachings of Abraham, and the Qur'an calls Jews and Christians (and sometimes people of other faiths) "People of the Book". However, Muslims believe that some people have distorted the word of God by deliberately altering words in meaning, form and placement in their respective holy texts, such as Jews changing the Torah and Christians the Injeel. This perceived distortion is known as tahrif, or tabdīl, meaning "alteration, substitution". This doctrine is accepted by most Muslims; some relatively small sects, such as Mu'tazili and Ismaili, as well as a few Islamic scholars and members of various liberal movements within Islam, reject the view that the Qur'an is a correction of Jewish and Christian scriptures.[citation needed]
Fundamental Practices
Main articles: Five Pillars of Islam, Branches of Religion
Shahadah
Main article: Shahadah
The basic creed or tenet of Islam is found in the shahādatān ("two testimonies"): ašhadu 'an lā ilāhā illā-llāhu; wa ašhadu 'an muhammadun-r-rasūlu-llāh — "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."[4] As the most important pillar, this testament can be considered a foundation for all other beliefs and practices in Islam. Children are taught to recite and understand the shahadah as soon as they are able to do so. Muslims repeat the shahadah in prayer, and non-Muslims use the creed to formally convert to Islam.[5]
Salat
![[Image: 200px-Mosque.Qibla.01.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/82/Mosque.Qibla.01.jpg/200px-Mosque.Qibla.01.jpg)
![[Image: magnify-clip.png]](https://en.wikipedia.org/skins-1.5/common/images/magnify-clip.png)
Muslims performing salat (prayer).
Main article: Salat
Muslims perform five daily prayers throughout the day as a form of submission to God. The ritual combines specific movements and spiritual aspects, preceded by ablution. It is also supposed to serve as a reminder to do good and strive for greater causes.[6]
Zakat
Main article: Zakat
Zakat, or alms-giving, is a mandated giving of charity to the poor and needy by able Muslims based on the wealth that he or she has accumulated. It is a personal responsibility intended to ease economic hardship for others and eliminate inequality.[7]
Sawm
Main article: Sawm
Sawm, or fasting, is an obligatory act during the month of Ramadan. Muslims must abstain from food, drink, and sexual intercourse from dawn to dusk and are to be especially mindful of other sins that are prohibited. This activity is intended to allow Muslims to seek nearness to God as well remind them of the needy.[8]
Hajj
![[Image: 200px-Supplicating_Pilgrim_at_Masjid_Al_...Arabia.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Supplicating_Pilgrim_at_Masjid_Al_Haram._Mecca%2C_Saudi_Arabia.jpg/200px-Supplicating_Pilgrim_at_Masjid_Al_Haram._Mecca%2C_Saudi_Arabia.jpg)
The Pilgrimage (hajj) to Kaaba, Masjid al Haram, Mecca, is an important practice for Muslims to perform
Main article: Hajj
The Hajj is a pilgrimage that occurs during the month of Dhu al-Hijjah in the city of Mecca. The pilgrimage is required for all Muslims who are both physically and financially able to go and is to be done at least once in one's lifetime.[9]
God
Main articles: Allah, God, Islamic concept of God![[Image: Islam.gif]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4a/Islam.gif)
Allah in Arabic
The fundamental concept in Islam is the Oneness of God (tawhid), monotheism which is absolute, not relative or pluralistic. God is described in Sura al-Ikhlas, as follows:
"Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him." 112:1-4 In Arabic, God is called Allāh. The word is etymologically connected to ʾilāh "deity", Allāh is also the word used by Christian and Jewish Arabs, translating ho theos of the New Testament and Septuagint; it predates Muhammad and in its origin does not specify a "God" different from the one worshipped by Judaism and Christianity, the other Abrahamic religions.
The name "Allah" shows no plural or gender. In Islam "Allah" Almighty as the Qur’an says:
"(He is) the Creator of the heavens and the earth: He has made for you pairs from among yourselves, and pairs among cattle: by this means does He multiply you: there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things)." 42:11. The implicit usage of the definite article in Allah linguistically indicates the divine unity. Muslims believe that the God they worship is the same God of Abraham. Muslims reject the Christian doctrine concerning the trinity of God, seeing it as akin to polytheism. Quoting from the Qur'an, sura An-Nisa:
"O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of God aught but the truth. Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, was (no more than) a messenger of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in God and His messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist: it will be better for you: for God is one God: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is God as a Disposer of affairs." 4:171 No Muslim visual images or depictions of God are meant to exist because such artistic depictions may lead to idolatry and are thus disdained. Moreover, most Muslims believe that God is incorporeal, making any two- or three- dimensional depictions impossible. Such aniconism can also be found in Jewish and some Christian theology. Instead, Muslims describe God by the names and attributes that he revealed to his creation. All but one Sura (chapter) of the Qur'an begins with the phrase "In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful".
The Qur'an
![[Image: 200px-FirstSurahKoran.jpg]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/FirstSurahKoran.jpg/200px-FirstSurahKoran.jpg)
The first surah in a Qur'anic manuscript by Hattat Aziz Efendi.
Main article: Qur'an
The Qur'an is the central religious text of Islam. It has also been called, in English, "the Koran" and (archaically) "the Alcoran." Qur'an is the currently preferred English transliteration of the Arabic original (قرآن; it means “recitation”. Although the Qur'an is referred to as a "book", when a Muslim refers to the Qur'an, they are referring to the actual text, the words, rather than the printed work itself.
Muslims believe that the Qur'an was revealed to the prophet Muhammad by God through the Angel Gabriel on numerous occasions between the years 610 and up till his death in 632. In addition to memorizing his revelations, his followers had written them down on parchments, stones, and leaves, to preserve the revelation.
Most Muslims regard paper copies of the Qur'an with veneration, washing as for prayers before reading the Qur'an. Old Qur'ans are not destroyed as wastepaper, but burned.
Most Muslims memorize at least some portion of the Qur'an in the original language (i.e. Arabic). Those who have memorized the entire Qur'an are known as hafiz (plural huffaz).
Muslims believe that the Qur'an is perfect only as revealed in the original Arabic. Translations were the result of human effort, the differences in human languages, and human fallibility, as well as lacking the inspired verses believers find in the Qur'an. Translations are therefore only commentaries on the Qur'an, or "interpretations of its meaning", not the Qur'an itself. Many modern, printed versions of the Qur'an feature the Arabic text on one page, and a vernacular translation on the facing page.
Islam and other religions
The Qur'an contains both injunctions to respect other religions, and to fight and subdue unbelievers during war. Some Muslims have respected Jews and Christians as fellow people of the book (monotheists following Abrahamic religions), while others have reviled them as having abandoned monotheism and corrupted their scriptures. At different times and places, Islamic communities have been both intolerant and tolerant. Support can be found in the Qur'an for both attitudes.
The classical Islamic solution was a limited tolerance — Jews and Christians were to be allowed to privately practice their faith and follow their own family law. They were called dhimmis and paid a special tax called the jizya. The status of dhimmis is a matter of dispute, with some claiming that dhimmis were persecuted second-class citizens, and others that their lot was not difficult.
The medieval Islamic state was often more tolerant than many other states of the time, which insisted on complete conformity to a state religion. The record of contemporary Muslim-majority states is mixed. Some are generally regarded as tolerant, while others have been accused of intolerance and human rights violations.
Related Faiths
The Yazidi, Sikhism, Bábísm, Bahá'í Faith, Berghouata and Ha-Mim religions either emerged out of an Islamic milieu or have beliefs in common with Islam in varying degrees; in almost all cases those religions were also influenced by traditional beliefs in the regions where they emerged, but consider themselves independent religions with distinct laws and institutions. The last two religions no longer have any followers.
History
Islamic history begins in Arabia in the 7th century with the emergence of Muhammad. Within a century of his death, an Islamic state stretched from the Atlantic ocean in the west to central Asia in the east, which, however, was soon torn by civil wars (fitnas). After this, there would always be rival dynasties claiming the caliphate, or leadership of the Muslim world, and many Islamic states or empires offering only token obedience to an increasingly powerless caliph.
Nonetheless, the later empires of the Abbasid caliphs and the Seljuk Turks were among the largest and most powerful in the world.[citation needed] After the disastrous defeat of the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Christian Europe launched a series of Crusades and for a time captured Jerusalem. Saladin, however, recaptured Palestine and defeated the Shiite Fatimids.
From the 14th to the 17th centuries, one of the most important Muslim territories was the Mali Empire, whose capital was Timbuktu.
In the 18th century, there were three great Muslim empires: the Ottoman in Turkey, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean; the Safavid in Iran; and the Mogul in India. By the 19th century, these realms had fallen under the sway of European political and economic power, due to European industrialism and colonialism.[citation needed] Following WWI, the remnants of the Ottoman empire were parceled out as European protectorates or spheres of influence. Islam and Islamic political power have revived in the 20th century.[citation needed] However, the relationship between the West and the Islamic world remains uneasy.[citation needed]
The demographics of Islam today
Main articles: Islam by country and Demographics of Islam![[Image: 200px-Islam-by-country-smooth.png]](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/Islam-by-country-smooth.png/200px-Islam-by-country-smooth.png)
Distribution of Islam per country. Green represents a Sunni majority and blue represents a Shia majority.
Based on the figures published in the 2005 CIA World Factbook ("World"), Islam is the second largest religion in the world. According to the World Network of Religious Futurists, the U.S. Center for World Mission, and Samuel Huntington, Islam is growing faster numerically than any of the other major world religions. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance estimate that it is growing at about 2.9% annually, as opposed to 2.3% per year global population growth. Non-Muslim observers attribute this growth to the higher birth rates in many Islamic countries (six out of the top-ten countries in the world with the highest birth rates are majority Muslim [11]). A recent demographic study, meanwhile, has determined that the birth rates of some Muslim countries are plummeting to the levels of western countries [12].
The most exact calculations estimate Islamic population to be a little over 1.3 billion.[citation needed] Commonly cited estimates of the Muslim population today range between 900 million and 1.4 billion people (cf. Adherents.com); estimates of Islam by country based on U.S. State Department figures yield a total of 1.48 billion, while the Muslim delegation at the United Nations quoted 1.2 billion as the global Muslim population in September 2005.[citation needed]
Only 18% of Muslims live in the Arab world; 20% are found in Sub-Saharan Africa, about 30% in the South Asian region of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and the world's largest single Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Europe, Central Asia, and Russia.
France has the highest Muslim population of any nation in Western Europe, with up to 6 million Muslims (10% of the population [13]). Albania has the highest proportion of Muslims as part of its population in Europe (70%), although this figure is only an estimate (see Islam in Albania). The number of Muslims in North America is variously estimated as anywhere from 1.8 to 7 million.[citation needed]
Political and religious extremism
Main articles: Islamism and Islamic extremist terrorism
The term Islamism describes a set of political ideologies derived from Islamic fundamentalism.[citation needed] Islamist ideologies hold that Islam is not only a religion, but also a political system that governs the legal, economic and social imperatives of the state according to its interpretation of Islamic Law, in extreme cases pursuing its aims by resorting to warfare or terrorism.
Islamic extremist terrorism refers to acts of terrorism claimed by its supporters and practitioners to be in furtherance of the goals of Islam. The validity of an Islamic justification for these acts is contested by other Muslims.[citation needed] Islamic extremist violence is not synonymous with all terrorist activities committed by Muslims. Nationalists, separatists, and others in the Muslim world often derive inspiration from secular ideologies. These are not well described as either Islamic extremist or Islamist.[citation needed]
Symbols of Islam
Main article: Islamic symbols
Muslims do not accept any icon or color as sacred to Islam, as they believe that worshipping symbolic or material things is against the spirit of monotheism. Many people assume that the star and crescent symbolize Islam, but these were actually the insignia of the Ottoman Empire, [14] not of Islam as a whole. The color green is often associated with Islam as well; this is custom and not prescribed by religious scholars. However, Muslims will often use elaborately calligraphed verses from the Qur'an and pictures of the Ka'bah as decorations in mosques, homes, and public places. The Qur’anic verses are believed to be sacred.
I hope this tells you something about islam.. and it tells you that some are not terrorists..
Islam (Arabic: الإسلام; al-islām listen (help·info)) is a monotheistic religion based upon the Qur'an, which adherents believe was sent by God through Muhammad, as well as teachings of Muhammad recorded in the Hadith. Followers of Islam, known as Muslims (Arabic: مسلم
, believe Muhammad to have been God's (Arabic: Allāh) final prophet.Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam is considered an Abrahamic religion.[1] With a total of approximately 1.4 billion adherents, Islam is the second-largest religion in the world.[2]
Secular historians place Islam's beginnings during the late 7th century in Arabia. Under the leadership of Muhammad and his successors, Islam rapidly spread by religious conversion and military conquest.[3] Today followers of Islam may be found throughout the world, particularly in the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
Beliefs
Muslims believe that God revealed his direct word for humanity to Muhammad (c. 570–632) through the angel Gabriel and earlier prophets, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last prophet, based on the Qur'anic phrase "Seal of the Prophets" and sayings of the prophet of Islam himself, and that his teachings for humanity will last until the Day of the Resurrection. Muslims assert that the main written record of revelation to humanity is the Qur'an, which is flawless, immutable, and which Muslims believe is the final revelation of God to humanity.
Muslims hold that Islam is the same belief as that of all the messengers sent by God to humanity since Adam, with the Qur'an, the text used by all sects of the Muslim faith, codifying the final revelation of God. Islamic texts depict Judaism and Christianity as prophetic successor traditions to the teachings of Abraham, and the Qur'an calls Jews and Christians (and sometimes people of other faiths) "People of the Book". However, Muslims believe that some people have distorted the word of God by deliberately altering words in meaning, form and placement in their respective holy texts, such as Jews changing the Torah and Christians the Injeel. This perceived distortion is known as tahrif, or tabdīl, meaning "alteration, substitution". This doctrine is accepted by most Muslims; some relatively small sects, such as Mu'tazili and Ismaili, as well as a few Islamic scholars and members of various liberal movements within Islam, reject the view that the Qur'an is a correction of Jewish and Christian scriptures.[citation needed]
Fundamental Practices
Main articles: Five Pillars of Islam, Branches of Religion
Shahadah
Main article: Shahadah
The basic creed or tenet of Islam is found in the shahādatān ("two testimonies"): ašhadu 'an lā ilāhā illā-llāhu; wa ašhadu 'an muhammadun-r-rasūlu-llāh — "I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah."[4] As the most important pillar, this testament can be considered a foundation for all other beliefs and practices in Islam. Children are taught to recite and understand the shahadah as soon as they are able to do so. Muslims repeat the shahadah in prayer, and non-Muslims use the creed to formally convert to Islam.[5]
Salat
![[Image: 200px-Mosque.Qibla.01.jpg]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Mosque.Qibla.01.jpg)
Muslims performing salat (prayer).
Main article: Salat
Muslims perform five daily prayers throughout the day as a form of submission to God. The ritual combines specific movements and spiritual aspects, preceded by ablution. It is also supposed to serve as a reminder to do good and strive for greater causes.[6]
Zakat
Main article: Zakat
Zakat, or alms-giving, is a mandated giving of charity to the poor and needy by able Muslims based on the wealth that he or she has accumulated. It is a personal responsibility intended to ease economic hardship for others and eliminate inequality.[7]
Sawm
Main article: Sawm
Sawm, or fasting, is an obligatory act during the month of Ramadan. Muslims must abstain from food, drink, and sexual intercourse from dawn to dusk and are to be especially mindful of other sins that are prohibited. This activity is intended to allow Muslims to seek nearness to God as well remind them of the needy.[8]
Hajj
![[Image: 200px-Supplicating_Pilgrim_at_Masjid_Al_...Arabia.jpg]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Supplicating_Pilgrim_at_Masjid_Al_Haram._Mecca%2C_Saudi_Arabia.jpg)
The Pilgrimage (hajj) to Kaaba, Masjid al Haram, Mecca, is an important practice for Muslims to perform
Main article: Hajj
The Hajj is a pilgrimage that occurs during the month of Dhu al-Hijjah in the city of Mecca. The pilgrimage is required for all Muslims who are both physically and financially able to go and is to be done at least once in one's lifetime.[9]
God
Main articles: Allah, God, Islamic concept of God
![[Image: Islam.gif]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Islam.gif)
Allah in Arabic
The fundamental concept in Islam is the Oneness of God (tawhid), monotheism which is absolute, not relative or pluralistic. God is described in Sura al-Ikhlas, as follows:
"Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him." 112:1-4 In Arabic, God is called Allāh. The word is etymologically connected to ʾilāh "deity", Allāh is also the word used by Christian and Jewish Arabs, translating ho theos of the New Testament and Septuagint; it predates Muhammad and in its origin does not specify a "God" different from the one worshipped by Judaism and Christianity, the other Abrahamic religions.
The name "Allah" shows no plural or gender. In Islam "Allah" Almighty as the Qur’an says:
"(He is) the Creator of the heavens and the earth: He has made for you pairs from among yourselves, and pairs among cattle: by this means does He multiply you: there is nothing whatever like unto Him, and He is the One that hears and sees (all things)." 42:11. The implicit usage of the definite article in Allah linguistically indicates the divine unity. Muslims believe that the God they worship is the same God of Abraham. Muslims reject the Christian doctrine concerning the trinity of God, seeing it as akin to polytheism. Quoting from the Qur'an, sura An-Nisa:
"O People of the Book! Commit no excesses in your religion: Nor say of God aught but the truth. Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, was (no more than) a messenger of God, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and a spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in God and His messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist: it will be better for you: for God is one God: Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is God as a Disposer of affairs." 4:171 No Muslim visual images or depictions of God are meant to exist because such artistic depictions may lead to idolatry and are thus disdained. Moreover, most Muslims believe that God is incorporeal, making any two- or three- dimensional depictions impossible. Such aniconism can also be found in Jewish and some Christian theology. Instead, Muslims describe God by the names and attributes that he revealed to his creation. All but one Sura (chapter) of the Qur'an begins with the phrase "In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful".
The Qur'an
![[Image: 200px-FirstSurahKoran.jpg]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:FirstSurahKoran.jpg)
The first surah in a Qur'anic manuscript by Hattat Aziz Efendi.
Main article: Qur'an
The Qur'an is the central religious text of Islam. It has also been called, in English, "the Koran" and (archaically) "the Alcoran." Qur'an is the currently preferred English transliteration of the Arabic original (قرآن
; it means “recitation”. Although the Qur'an is referred to as a "book", when a Muslim refers to the Qur'an, they are referring to the actual text, the words, rather than the printed work itself.Muslims believe that the Qur'an was revealed to the prophet Muhammad by God through the Angel Gabriel on numerous occasions between the years 610 and up till his death in 632. In addition to memorizing his revelations, his followers had written them down on parchments, stones, and leaves, to preserve the revelation.
Most Muslims regard paper copies of the Qur'an with veneration, washing as for prayers before reading the Qur'an. Old Qur'ans are not destroyed as wastepaper, but burned.
Most Muslims memorize at least some portion of the Qur'an in the original language (i.e. Arabic). Those who have memorized the entire Qur'an are known as hafiz (plural huffaz).
Muslims believe that the Qur'an is perfect only as revealed in the original Arabic. Translations were the result of human effort, the differences in human languages, and human fallibility, as well as lacking the inspired verses believers find in the Qur'an. Translations are therefore only commentaries on the Qur'an, or "interpretations of its meaning", not the Qur'an itself. Many modern, printed versions of the Qur'an feature the Arabic text on one page, and a vernacular translation on the facing page.
Islam and other religions
The Qur'an contains both injunctions to respect other religions, and to fight and subdue unbelievers during war. Some Muslims have respected Jews and Christians as fellow people of the book (monotheists following Abrahamic religions), while others have reviled them as having abandoned monotheism and corrupted their scriptures. At different times and places, Islamic communities have been both intolerant and tolerant. Support can be found in the Qur'an for both attitudes.
The classical Islamic solution was a limited tolerance — Jews and Christians were to be allowed to privately practice their faith and follow their own family law. They were called dhimmis and paid a special tax called the jizya. The status of dhimmis is a matter of dispute, with some claiming that dhimmis were persecuted second-class citizens, and others that their lot was not difficult.
The medieval Islamic state was often more tolerant than many other states of the time, which insisted on complete conformity to a state religion. The record of contemporary Muslim-majority states is mixed. Some are generally regarded as tolerant, while others have been accused of intolerance and human rights violations.
Related Faiths
The Yazidi, Sikhism, Bábísm, Bahá'í Faith, Berghouata and Ha-Mim religions either emerged out of an Islamic milieu or have beliefs in common with Islam in varying degrees; in almost all cases those religions were also influenced by traditional beliefs in the regions where they emerged, but consider themselves independent religions with distinct laws and institutions. The last two religions no longer have any followers.
History
Islamic history begins in Arabia in the 7th century with the emergence of Muhammad. Within a century of his death, an Islamic state stretched from the Atlantic ocean in the west to central Asia in the east, which, however, was soon torn by civil wars (fitnas). After this, there would always be rival dynasties claiming the caliphate, or leadership of the Muslim world, and many Islamic states or empires offering only token obedience to an increasingly powerless caliph.
Nonetheless, the later empires of the Abbasid caliphs and the Seljuk Turks were among the largest and most powerful in the world.[citation needed] After the disastrous defeat of the Byzantines at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Christian Europe launched a series of Crusades and for a time captured Jerusalem. Saladin, however, recaptured Palestine and defeated the Shiite Fatimids.
From the 14th to the 17th centuries, one of the most important Muslim territories was the Mali Empire, whose capital was Timbuktu.
In the 18th century, there were three great Muslim empires: the Ottoman in Turkey, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean; the Safavid in Iran; and the Mogul in India. By the 19th century, these realms had fallen under the sway of European political and economic power, due to European industrialism and colonialism.[citation needed] Following WWI, the remnants of the Ottoman empire were parceled out as European protectorates or spheres of influence. Islam and Islamic political power have revived in the 20th century.[citation needed] However, the relationship between the West and the Islamic world remains uneasy.[citation needed]
The demographics of Islam today
Main articles: Islam by country and Demographics of Islam
![[Image: 200px-Islam-by-country-smooth.png]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Islam-by-country-smooth.png)
Distribution of Islam per country. Green represents a Sunni majority and blue represents a Shia majority.
Based on the figures published in the 2005 CIA World Factbook ("World"), Islam is the second largest religion in the world. According to the World Network of Religious Futurists, the U.S. Center for World Mission, and Samuel Huntington, Islam is growing faster numerically than any of the other major world religions. Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance estimate that it is growing at about 2.9% annually, as opposed to 2.3% per year global population growth. Non-Muslim observers attribute this growth to the higher birth rates in many Islamic countries (six out of the top-ten countries in the world with the highest birth rates are majority Muslim [11]). A recent demographic study, meanwhile, has determined that the birth rates of some Muslim countries are plummeting to the levels of western countries [12].
The most exact calculations estimate Islamic population to be a little over 1.3 billion.[citation needed] Commonly cited estimates of the Muslim population today range between 900 million and 1.4 billion people (cf. Adherents.com); estimates of Islam by country based on U.S. State Department figures yield a total of 1.48 billion, while the Muslim delegation at the United Nations quoted 1.2 billion as the global Muslim population in September 2005.[citation needed]
Only 18% of Muslims live in the Arab world; 20% are found in Sub-Saharan Africa, about 30% in the South Asian region of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, and the world's largest single Muslim community (within the bounds of one nation) is in Indonesia. There are also significant Muslim populations in China, Europe, Central Asia, and Russia.
France has the highest Muslim population of any nation in Western Europe, with up to 6 million Muslims (10% of the population [13]). Albania has the highest proportion of Muslims as part of its population in Europe (70%), although this figure is only an estimate (see Islam in Albania). The number of Muslims in North America is variously estimated as anywhere from 1.8 to 7 million.[citation needed]
Political and religious extremism
Main articles: Islamism and Islamic extremist terrorism
The term Islamism describes a set of political ideologies derived from Islamic fundamentalism.[citation needed] Islamist ideologies hold that Islam is not only a religion, but also a political system that governs the legal, economic and social imperatives of the state according to its interpretation of Islamic Law, in extreme cases pursuing its aims by resorting to warfare or terrorism.
Islamic extremist terrorism refers to acts of terrorism claimed by its supporters and practitioners to be in furtherance of the goals of Islam. The validity of an Islamic justification for these acts is contested by other Muslims.[citation needed] Islamic extremist violence is not synonymous with all terrorist activities committed by Muslims. Nationalists, separatists, and others in the Muslim world often derive inspiration from secular ideologies. These are not well described as either Islamic extremist or Islamist.[citation needed]
Symbols of Islam
Main article: Islamic symbols
Muslims do not accept any icon or color as sacred to Islam, as they believe that worshipping symbolic or material things is against the spirit of monotheism. Many people assume that the star and crescent symbolize Islam, but these were actually the insignia of the Ottoman Empire, [14] not of Islam as a whole. The color green is often associated with Islam as well; this is custom and not prescribed by religious scholars. However, Muslims will often use elaborately calligraphed verses from the Qur'an and pictures of the Ka'bah as decorations in mosques, homes, and public places. The Qur’anic verses are believed to be sacred.
I hope this tells you something about islam.. and it tells you that some are not terrorists..
