Many people associate religion of Islam with the prophet Muhammad. According
to Huston Smith, Islam did not begin with Mohammad, but with God (223). This
does not mean that Muhammad is not important to the Islam faith. In fact,
Muhammad is known as the great prophet, and he felt that it was his duty to
spread the word of Allah (see below) to all due to the immoral state of the
world.
In the Islam faith, God is known as Allah. Allah is credited with the creation of the world and all humans inhabiting it.
The Muslims recognize the Koran as their sacred scripture.
Muslims do not believe that Jesus was the son of God, but rather view him
as a prophet like Muhammad.
They accept the concept of the virgin birth.
According to Islam, all choices have consequences, which accentuates their
ideas of good and evil.
One of the major teachings of Islam is that by following God's way, one can become a Muslim (Foltz 89-93).
The major beliefs of Islam are known as the five pillars of faith. The five
pillars stand for the creed of Islam, prayer, charity, observance of Ramadan,
and a pilgrimage to Mecca (Smith 242-248).
The religion does hold some exacting rules, such as prayer five times a day and fasting once a month, but all of these observances are done in hopes of heightening their experience with Allah.
Foltz, Richard. Religions of the Silk Road. New York: St. Martin's
Press, 1999.
Smith, Huston. The World's Religions. New York: Harper Collins Books,
1991.
