What is meant by Islam?

Answer 1

Islam, a name given by Allah to this religion (Quran 5:4), is an Arabic word which literally means obedience and peace. ISLAM is derived from the Arabic root "SALEMA": peace, purity, submission and obedience. So 'Islam' would mean the path of those who are submit to God and do all of his commands. Its followers are called Muslims. Islam is God religion since start of universe creation and even before. All God creatures are created on submission to God and surrender to His will (Islam). Refer to question below for details.

Islam is not a new religion. It is, in essence, the same message and guidance which Allah revealed to all prophets before Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Allah says in the Qur'ân:

"Say, `We believe in ALLAH and that which has been revealed to us, and that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and in that which was given to Moses and Jesus and other Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them and to HIM we submit." (Qur'ân 3-85)

Islam basic principle is to worship God as the one and only one God with no partner, no companion, no son, no father, no associate, and no equivalence. Muslims should have:

• To believe in the Oneness of Allah.
• To believe in all His Angels.
• To believe in all His Books.
• To believe in all His Prophets.
• To believe in the Day of Resurrection.
• To believe in the Decree of Allah

The Five Pillars of Islam (Declaration of the Islamic Faith)

In order to enter into the fold of Islam i.e. to be Muslim, one has to know, believe, accept totally and sincerely apply the five basic principles (Pillars) on which Islam is based: Ibn Umar narrated that the Messenger of Allah - Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H) said: Islam is based on the following five pillars (principles).

1. Bearing witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah
2. Observance of Prayer
3. Paying Zakat
4. Fasting during Ramadhan
5. Pilgrimage to the house of Allah if able to

"Islam" is the name of the religion which all prophets of God taught. It means: acquiring peace by willingly obeying the will of the One God. To us, Abraham taught Islam. So did Moses, Jesus and the others. Though their messages had some differences - based upon what God willed to reveal at each time and place - yet they all taught obedience to the will of the One God. Islam is the name we give to all their messages. All of them.

Refer to questions below

Islamists are the collective group of people who belong to the monotheistic religion of Islam and are also referred to as Muslims. Islam is one of the three Great Monotheistic of Abrahammic Faiths along with Christianity or Islam and was started by Mohammed in the 7th century AD. In as little as 1 century, it was the religion of an empire spreading from Spain to North Africa to Pakistan to the Middle East and much of Central Asia.

Mohammed, born into a strong Arab tribe, was soon orphaned and raised by poor relatives. His job as a caravan driver exposed him to the rest of the world and also found him a wife. However, one day he was visited by Gabriel the angel who told him that he was the prophet of Allah (God) and that he would be visited later. Islam's version of the Bible, the Koran (sometimes spelled Qu'uran), is the summary of all of the teachings he was given by Gabriel. Along with this, there is the Sunna, a collection of interpretations of these teachings and other aspects of life, created because the Koran doesn't deal with all of them. However, the Sunna is one of the contributors to the greatest splits in all of Islam: the Shiites and the Sunnis. The Sunnis accept Sunna as a legitimate source of information on Islam but the Shiites only accept the Koran. There are other differences between them, but they are neglible for this article.

Universally, the Islamic faith can be boiled down into 5 rules or pillars and a few no-no's. The first pillar is profession of faith in Allah and Mohammed as his prophet. Essentially it is saying that "There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his prophet." This is all one has to say to become a Muslim and is ideally what Muslims try to say as their last words. The second pillar is to pray five times a day, at sunrise, sunset, noon, after noon, and nightfall. The third is to pay alms or give to charity. The fourth is to fast from sunup to sundown during the holy month of Ramadan. The last, called hajj, is to make or help someone make the pilgrimage to the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia at least once in one's lifetime. The other basic no-no's of Islam are no drinking, blood feuds, gambling, of infanticide.

The word "Islam" itself means "Submission to Allah." The religion of Islam is not named after a person as in the case of "Christianity" which was named after Jesus Christ, "Buddhism" after Gautama Buddha

The Arabic word "Islam" means the submission or surrender of one's will to the will of the only true god worthy of worship, "Allah" (known as God "the Father" in Christianity).

Anyone who does indeed submit to the will of Allah as required by Islam is termed a "Muslim," which means one who has submitted to the will of Allah. Many people in the West have developed the sad misinformed trend of calling Islam "Muhammadanism" and it's followers "Muhammadans." This is a totally foreign word to Muslims and unrecognized by them. No Muslim has ever called his religion "Muhammadanism" or called himself a "Muhammadan."