Islam

According to Islamic Sources, Muhammad made the hijra in the year 622 C.E. according to the Western Gregorian calendar.

However, for a Muslim the answer is much easier, because the hijra marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar. So a Muslim considers it the year 1.

Yes, Muslims can eat beef, provided that it is slaughtered according to Halal practices (Dhabiha).
Per Isalm religion teachings, Muslims can eat beef.

Halal ,

Islam has laws regarding which foods can and cannot be eaten and also on the proper method of slaughtering an animal for consumption, known as dhabiĥa.

Explicitly forbidden substances

A variety of substances are considered as harmful (haraam) for humans to consume and, therefore, forbidden as per various Quranic verses:

• Pork meat (i.e. flesh of swine)[Qur'an 2:173]
• Blood[Qur'an 2:173]
• Animals slaughtered in the name of anyone but Allah (God). There are debates regarding the permissibility of meat slaughtered by Jews (i.e., kosher meat).[Qur'an 2:173]
• Carrion[Qur'an 5:3]
• "Fanged beasts of prey" as per the Sunnah, usually simplified to all carnivorous animals, with the exception of most fish and sea animals
• The meat of donkeys.
• All insects except for the locust (no reference)
• Alcohol and other intoxicants

There is some disagreement among Muslims regarding seafood, especially predatory sea creatures. IFANCA (Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America) states, regarding the opinion of Islamic scholars:

• All are in agreement that fish with scales are halal.
• Sunnis consider all fish to be halal, while some Shias consider only shrimp and fish with scales to be halal.
• Within the Hanafi school of thought, the stronger position is that shellfish (shrimp, lobster, crab, clams, etc.) are prohibited]. But in the other three schools (Malaki, Shafi, Hanbali) crab and lobster are permissible.

Dhabiha: Method of slaughter

Dhabiha is the prescribed method of ritual slaughter of all animals excluding fish and most sea-life per Islamic law. This method of slaughtering animals consists of a swift, deep incision with a sharp knife on the neck, cutting the jugular veins and carotid arteries of both sides but leaving the spinal cord intact.

Kosher and Halal

There is a great deal of similarity between the laws of Dhabiĥa halal and kashrut, and there are also various differences. Whether or not Muslims can use kashrut standards as a replacement for halal standards is an ongoing debate, and the answer depends largely on the individual being asked. While some Muslim halal authorities accept kosher meat as halal, none of the Jewish kosher authorities accept meat certified as halal as kosher due to different

'Muslims believe that there are five greatest prophets; namely prophets Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them). Qur'an says (English meaning translation):

"The Messenger (Muhammad) has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord (Allah or God and same God worshiped in Judaism and Christianity), and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination."

Whenever Muslims conquered any land they keep peace. Muslim history is full of examples that proves that Islam is the religion of peace. Its biggest example is when our holy prophet (pbuh) conquered Mecca, he spared the lives and assets.

In the Reign of Hazarat Omar (ra) he took great care of non-Muslims who lived in those areas which were being conquered by Muslims and gave them rights and didn't make any difference between them and Muslims in the affairs of country and justice.

They assured them equal human rights irrelevant to their faiths, colors, cultures, and or social status. Refer to question below.

In sum, they treated them with:

• tolerance
• equal human rights
• free will to select the faith and religion
• justice

Refer to question below

Answer B (Non-Muslim's View)

Muslims treated non-Muslims in a way that was superior to contemporaneous civilizations and introduced the concept of religious tolerance (as opposed to Europe which was practicing the exact opposite at the time). However, it is nothing close to the Muslim conception given above nor was it at all close to equality or Rights. An important thing to note is that the concept of Rights comes out the Enlightenment. Prior to this point, there was a system of privilege wherein the Ruler would provide privileges (out of the kindness of his heart) to a certain group of people to do acts. A person did not have the "right" to anything and this was the mentality worldwide.

The Muslim opinion touches on the Pact of Omar, which was a document of submission signed by the Caliph Omar and defeated Christians and Jews during one of Omar's Wars. While the factual accuracy of that story may be doubted, there is no doubt that the Pact of Omar formed the basis for the treatment of non-Muslims in the conquered territories. The Pact of Omar set out a number of regulations that will be described in this answer.

The Dhimmi, or non-Muslim under Muslim occupation was required by the Pact of Omar to pay a number of taxes that were connected with his Dhimmi status. The most famous was the jizya, which was a tax that Dhimmi had to pay for Muslims for the right to not be killed where they stood for not acknowledging Mohammed's Prophecy; it was a form of humiliation. Additional taxes included the kharaj, which was a tax on non-Muslim land-holdings in the Muslim World. The kharaj was so untenable that most Dhimmi were forced to live in the cities where the tax would not be applicable. The above answer is also incorrect as concerns justice. On paper, a Christian or Jew could testify against a Muslim, but in reality, such testimony was not acceptable and the attempt to defame a Muslim would receive retribution. Christians and Jews were not allowed to build new houses of worship, restore old houses of worship, proselytize in any way (this included religious debate or dialogue), or allow wine or pigs to be shown in public.

Polytheists were forced to convert to Islam with some rare exceptions (such as the Hindus in India). Zoroastrianism was the majority faith in Iran until Islam almost completely extinguished it, both by sword, economic inequality, and brutal repression of Zoroastrian customs (unless they could be Islamicized like Nourouz).

Note: It should be a tad ironic that the Muslim opinion uses the word "conquer" in a sentence describing peaceful conduct. Normally, when somebody is talking about actions of peace and humility, they refer to actions of diplomacy, hard work, and respect. For example, the Tibetan Resistance currently is peaceful because they are not taking up arms, but are taking to negotiating table.

• The jizya to be paid by non-Muslims was not to be not killed. It was for one reason. Non-Muslims were exempted from sharing the military services. That is why they paid Jizya to share military expenses. That why it was not imposed on women, children, old people, and/or unfit people for military service. Regarding the kharaj, this was applied on all citizens; Muslims and non Muslims. Regarding justice, you can refer to history of Islam to recognize how many court cases Jews and Christians won the case against Muslims. Unfortunately the limited space here do not allow to write some of them.

• Never ever any non-Muslim was forced to convert to Islam because it is the explicit Quran teachings that no compulsion in religion. Jews and Christians are called by Muslims as "people of the book" for holding Torah and the Bible that Muslims believe in as God holy books and believe in all God prophets from Adam through Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them all)

• The ratio of the houses of worship to their relevant followers for non-Muslims in any Muslim majority country is much higher than the ratio for Muslims. Anyone can check these statistics to be sure that it was not restriction on building new houses of worship for non-Muslims and/or restoring old houses of worship but just to maintain even statistics for all religions including Islam. It is the opposite, check in Korea, Japan, UK, USA and you find that this ratio is by far less for Muslims than for Christians and Jews.

• One final point is that Muslims never got control of any country to get more power but only to free the will of their people, to spread peace and civilization, and to guard against their attacks against Muslims and Islam. The historical example of the call of the Christians in Egypt to the Caliph Omar to save them from the tyranny of their rulers at that time is well known.

• It is a pity that some people spread unauthenticated information introduced by media that is biased against Islam. Unfortunately after the decline of communism, the west ranked Islam and Muslim countries as they first enemy and plotted their actions accordingly either through military actions, and/or media, and/or initiating internal disturbances.

• To conclude; Quran says (Meaning English translation): "O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes (different nations and different countries) that you may know one another (and cooperate for mankind benefit). Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah (or God and same God worshiped in Christianity and Judaism) is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted" (Quran, 49:13)

People of Mecca who were the Prophet's kinship , forced him to leave as they did not accept his beliefs and tortured his followers . Leaving to Medina was done under a Divine direction.

God informed prophet Mohamed (peace upon him) that the tribe leaders who, didn't accept Islam, plotted to assassinate him. Accordingly, he was commanded by God (Allah) to immigrate to Medina.

Just like the first person said, Muhammad was exiled from Mecca for preaching the revelations that he was told by the angel Gabriel. After his exile, he left for Medina, and gathered a group of followers. Muhammad then returned to Mecca* and captured it in 630 AD (year 6 Hijra year) marking the beginning of the Islamic empire.

*The journey to Mecca from Medina was called the Hijra.
Allah commanded him to migrate .One of the reasons was because the Muslims were being persecuted and ill treated in Mecca.
The first reason was that Muhammad had been warned by Allah about the plot to assassinate him and further commanded to migrate. As per Allah's orders did Muhammad choose to migrate. Another critical factor was the ever-growing resistance of the Makkans and all the persecutions that came with it. Madinah would become a more stable and Islam-friendly base for Islam to expand and gain root and after a few years, it did exactly this.

Muslims pray five times a day.

The timings for five daily praying in Islam are:

1. Salat Al-Zuhr (noon prayer): from decline of sun from its zenith till before the shadow of the person in the length of his own figure.
2. Salat Al-Asr (afternoon prayer): from the time the shadow of the person in the length of his own figure till before sunset.
3. Salat Al-Maghrib (Sunset prayer): After sunset, when the sun's red glow disappears, until the last ray of sunlight is gone.
4. Salat Al-Ishaa (night prayer): From the end of previous time till before Dawn.
5. Salat Al-Fajr (Dawn prayer): From dawn till before sunrise.

everyone who is Muslim can pray five times a day.

Muslims must pray 5 times a day.

..................................................................................................................

Answer:

It is fard [obligatory] for every Muslim who is sane and has reached the age of puberty to perform the five daily namâzes (prayers). When a prayer time comes, it becomes fard for him/her the moment he/she begins performing the prayer. If he/she has not performed it and if there is time left enough to make an ablution and begin the namâz before the prayer time is over, it becomes fard for him/her to perform it. If the prayer time is over before he/she has performed it without an 'udhr [good excuse] not to do so, he/she will have committed a grave sin. Whether he/she has had a good excuse or not, qadâ will be necessary.

['udhr [good excuse]: by a good excuse we mean a situation which Islam recognizes as an excuse that will absolve a Muslim from the responsibility of not performing an Islamic commandment. An excuse of this sort is termed 'udhr.]

The same applies to situations such as when a child reaches puberty, when a disbeliever or a renegade becomes a Muslim, when a woman becomes canonically clean (i.e. immediately after the cessation of the menses at the end of a menstrual or lochial period), when an insane or unconscious person recovers, and when a sleeping person wakes up. It is fard for a new Muslim to learn the essentials (conditions) of namâz first. After learning them, it becomes fard to perform namâz.

Sleep is not a good excuse if it begins after the prayer time has begun. If you do so, it is fard for you to make sure that you will wake up before the prayer time is over, while it would be mustahab for you to make sure to wake up before the end of the prayer time if you were to go to sleep before the beginning of the prayer time.

These five daily prayers add up to forty rak'ats (units), out of which seventeen are fard [obligatory], three are wâjib [almost as compulsory as fard, so not to be omitted], and twenty are sunnat [act, thing, though not commanded by Allahu ta'âlâ, done and liked by the Prophet ('alaihissalâm) as an act of worship]:

1- Morning prayer [Salât-ul-fajr] consists of four rak'ats. First, two rak'ats of the sunnat prayer are performed. Then the fard prayer, of two rak'ats, is performed. The sunnat (the first two rak'ats) is very important. Some scholars classify it as wâjib.

2- Early afternoon prayer [Salât-uz-zuhr]consists of ten rak'ats, the initial sunnat consisting of four rak'ats, the fard consisting of four rak'ats, and the final sunnat consisting of two rak'ats. The early afternoon prayer is performed in this order.

3- Late afternoon prayer [Salât-ul-'asr]consists of eight rak'ats. First the sunnat, which consists of four rak'ats, and then the fard, which consists of four rak'ats, are performed.

4- Evening prayer [Salât-ul-maghrib]contains five rak'ats. First the fard, which is composed of three rak'ats, then the sunnat, consisting of two rak'ats, are performed.

5- Night prayer [Salât-ul-'ishâ] consists of thirteen rak'ats. The initial sunnat contains four rak'ats. The fard also contains four rak'ats, and the final sunnat has two rak'ats. After performing these ten rak'ats, you perform the witr prayer which is wâjib.

The initial sunnats of the late afternoon prayer and night prayer are ghayr-i muakkada [unemphatic, omittied from time to time by our blessed Prophet]. When sitting during their second rak'at, after reciting the Attahiyyâtu … , the prayers of Allahumma salli 'alâ ... and ... bârik 'alâ ... are recited completely. After standing up for the third rak'at, the prayer Subhânaka ... is recited before saying the Basmala. But the first sunnat of the early afternoon prayer is muakkad [emphatic, practised regularly by our blessed Prophet. They are the shi'âr (symptoms) of the Islâmic religion]. That is, it has been commanded emphatically. There are more thawâbs (blessings) for it. During its second rak'at, as in the fard prayers, only the Attahiyyâtuis said and then we stand up for the third rak'at. After standing up, we first recite the Basmala and then the sûra of Fâtiha.

It is mustahab to perform four more rak'ats after the fard of early afternoon and night prayers and six more rak'ats after the fard of the evening prayer. In other words, it is very blessed. One can perform all of them with one salâm or by saying the salâm after every two rak'ats. In either case the first two rak'ats are deemed to be the final sunnat. These prayers, which are mustahab, can be performed separately after the final sunnats of the two namâzes as well.

The first rak'at commences with the beginning of the prayer and the other rak'ats begin right after standing up, and each rak'at continues until one stands up again. The final rak'at continues until the salâm. No prayers can be less than two rak'ats. All prayers contain an even number of rak'ats, except the fard of the evening prayer and the witr prayer. After the second sajda (prostration) of each second rak'at, we sit. Each rak'at of prayer contains its fards, wâjibs, sunnats, mufsids [things or acts which nullify a prayer], and makrûhs [acts that are improper, disliked, or abstained by the Prophet].

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) returned to Mecca (Makkah) for two reasons:

• To remove the Idols (worshiped by unbelievers) that spread around Kaba.
• To allow Muslims to practice their worship of Hajj to Mecca with no harm or restrictions.

Losing weight is a part of health because obesity is a disease itself and leads to many complications.

so losing weight is indirectly supported by Holy Quran in all those verses that tell Muslims to maintain good health; to consume fruits ( fruits help you lose weight); to consume food in moderate amount ( to be moderate in all paths of life is an important part of faith); to play healthy games and sports (exercise and martial arts is supported in those ayah that tell muslims to prepare for war against evil).

Muhammad (PBUH), advised us to leave one third of our stomach empty when taking our meals.

Holy Prophet (PBUH) forbade to skip dinner - this will help you to prevent weakness and early aging.

N.B: if you want to lose weight for health purposes, it is well supported by Holy Quran and if you want to lose weight for good-looks, it's ok but, make sure that your intentions r not to expose ur body.

If you are looking for some ayah that will help you lose wait then I suggest you to look in some books of "Rohani ilaaj" (treatment with the help of Quranic verses)

[Because the "two groups" are not specified in this question, it has been kept separate from the question: Why did Islam split into Sunnis and Shiites? which is a much better-written answer and for which a link is provided below.]

Answer 1

They divided into more then two groups. Like Christianity there are always differences of opinion about interpretation and disagreement about who wields power over the faithful. Over time rifts develop and you end up with different groups under the same religion all claiming to have it right and often committing acts of violence upon each other in order to get more power over those that are just not interested.

Answer 2

Because the Shiites and the Sunni had trouble picking a leader so they split into two groups.

Answer 3

It is not a real split. It is just two different schools that looking differently to some minor issues that not belonging to the main Islam principles. Refer to related question below.

Answer 4

Ali was a member of the Hashim Clan. Ali was Muhammad;s causin and his son-in-law. Mu'awaiya was upset because Uthman's death, which was caused by an angry group of Egyptians. Ali was elected caliph, but Mu'awaiya was pressuring him to charge the people who had killed Uthman. This caused a split between the Muslims. They became the Sunnis and the Shiites.

Answer 5

Sunnis- they feel that decout Muslims can be caliphs. They support the rolde of the first three caliphs, who were not blood-related to Muhammad.

Shiites- NEVER accepted caliphs who werent blood related decendents of Muhammad.

Answer 6

Muslims did not split into two groups. They split into many, many more than that.

According to Muhammad (peace be upon him) the Muslims would break up into many sects. He said "seventy-three", but in the classical Arabic language, the numbers seven, seventy, seven hundred, etc., simply means "a lot".

Then Muhammad said that ALL of those sects are headed for Hell - except ONE.

When he was asked, which one, he replied: The one that remains on what I and my Companions are on today. It is the Majority.

A solid 85% of all Muslims follow the Qur'an and the example of the Prophet. We are referred to as "Sunni" Muslims; but, in fact, we are the original, orthodox, pure Muslims.

In my understanding, ALL of the others have deviated from Islam.

Of course, a Shiite, a Sufi, a Zaydi, an Ahmadi, a Druze, an Alawi, woulddisagree with me. BUT . . . read the Qur'an, and the teachings of Muhammad, and you can see where they have gone astray. My opinion, of course.

Answer 7

The end of the Rightly Guided Caliphs

It was after the sorrowful death of the third Rightful Caliph Hazrat Usman RAU by the rebels that the Muslims split occured. The two groups are now known as Sunni (almost 85%) and Shias (10%).

The rebels killed the third Rightful Caliph and forced Hazrat Ali RAU to become the caliph. It was rumoured about that Hazrat Ali RAU didn't want to save Hazrat Usman RAU from the rebels. While the fact was that Hazrat Ali RAU had deputed two of his sons -Hazrat Hassan RAU and Hazrat Hussain RAU to watch the house of the Caligh and try to defend him. This misunderstanding resulted into bloodshed of thousands of Muslims fighting against one another. Those who favoured Ali were called Shiyan-i-Ali and those who opposed and demanded that the rebels and killers of the caliph should be brought to book were the other group. A third group-Khawarjis- also appeared out from this split.