Dear Muslim Brothers
Our Disaster Is Not Caused By People Of Other Religions. This Matter Is Clear,Our Disaster Is Caused By People Of Our
Own religion, Who Commit Acts That Distort The Image Of Islam And Cause It To Be Hated,If A Muslim Preaches To A Non-Muslim
And Talks To Him About The Tolerance Of Islam, What Will The Latter Tell Him? Simply The Non-Muslim Will Say: "We Watch
On TV Day And Night What Muslims Do." This Is Distorting The Image Of Islam,
Whoever Contemplates The Image Of Islam Today Finds No Reason To Join It, Matter Of Fact It Is True, We Hurt Islam And
Our Muslim community,What We Are Doing Is Wrong, Because Of Mullah, Who Teach Us Hatred In Masjids, Or Killing By Name Of
Jihad
Does Any Non-Muslim Respect Muslim Or Islam, Answer Is Big "NO",This Is 21st Century, Wake Up, People Not Judge
You By Your Words, But Your Act, So Please For God Sake Don't Harm Other Muslim, Lets Talk About 911,Harms Islam. It Harms
The Pure Image Of Islam. How Odd It Is That Those Who Call Upon Others To Support Islam Are Harming Islamic And Distorting
Its Pure Image.
Dear Brothers, These People Belong To The Enemies Of Islam. People Who Distort The Image Of Islam Belong To The Enemies,
Who Tarnish The Good Name Of This Religion With Every Bad Deed. What Saddens Me, Dear Brothers, Is That Among Us Muslims There
Are People Who Raise Doubts. They Say: "No, No. They Did Not Do This." There Are Muslims Who Say Such Things. How
Is This Possible, While They Boast And Compete Among Themselves In Issuing Communiques Attributing These Crimes To Themselves?
Praise Allah, There Are Many...
Is There A Criminal Who Says: "I Am A Criminal"? Have You Ever Heard Of A Thief Who Says: "I Am A Thief"?
The Criminals Of These Times Are Indeed Strange - They kill Innocent People And Boast About Their Killings On TV, As You All
Can See. And What Is Their Pretext? The Victory Of Islam.Islam Will Not Be Victorious Through Such Barbaric And Abhorrent
Actions, Which Harm Islam.
God Bless You
Islam
Islam, one of the three major monotheistic faiths, was founded in Arabia by Muhammad between 610 and 632. There are an
estimated 5.1 million Muslims in North America and 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide.
Muhammad was born in A.D. 570 at Mecca and belonged to the Quraysh tribe, which was active in the caravan trade. At the
age of 25 he joined the trade from Mecca to Syria in the employment of a rich widow, Khadija, whom he later married. Critical
of the lax moral standards and polytheistic practices of the inhabitants of Mecca, he began to lead a contemplative life in
the desert. In a dramatic religious vision, the angel Gabriel announced to Muhammad that he was to be a prophet. Encouraged
by Khadija, he devoted himself to the reform of religion and society. Polytheism was to be abandoned. But leaders of the Quraysh
generally rejected his teaching, and Muhammad gained only a small following and suffered persecution. He eventually fled Mecca.
The Hegira (Hijra, meaning & of Muhammad from Mecca, where he was not honored, to Medina, where he was well received,
occurred in 622 and marks the beginning of the Muslim era. After a number of military conflicts with Mecca, in 630 he marched
on Mecca and conquered it. Muhammad died at Medina in 632. His grave there has since been a place of pilgrimage.
Muhammad's followers, called Muslims, revered him as the prophet of Allah (God), the only God. Muslims consider Muhammad
to be the last in the line of prophets that included Abraham and Jesus. Islam spread quickly, stretching from Spain in the
west to India in the east within a century after the prophet's death. Sources of the Islamic faith are the Qur'an (Koran),
regarded as the uncreated, eternal Word of God, and tradition (hadith) regarding sayings and deeds of the prophet.
Islam means surrender to the will of Allah,& the all-powerful, who determines humanity's fate. Good deeds will be
rewarded at the Last Judgment in paradise, and evil deeds will be punished in hell.
The Five Pillars, or primary duties, of Islam are profession of faith; prayer, to be performed five times a day; almsgiving
to the poor and the mosque (house of worship); fasting during daylight hours in the month of Ramadan; and pilgrimage to Mecca
(the hajj) at least once in a Muslim's lifetime, if it is physically and financially possible. The pilgrimage includes homage
to the ancient shrine of the Ka'aba, the most sacred site in Islam.
Muslims gather for corporate worship on Fridays. Prayers and a sermon take place at the mosque, which is also a center
for teaching of the Qur'an. The community leader, the imam, is considered a teacher and prayer leader.
Islam succeeded in uniting an Arab world of separate tribes and castes, but disagreements concerning the succession of
the prophet caused a division in Islam between two groups, Sunnis and Shi'ites. The Shi'ites rejected the first three successors
to Muhammad as usurpers, claiming the fourth, Muhammad's son-in-law Ali, as the rightful leader. The Sunnis (from the word
tradition), the largest division of Islam (today more than 80%), believe in the legitimacy of the first three successors.
Among these, other sects arose (such as the conservative Wahhabi of Saudi Arabia), as well as different schools of theology.
Another development within Islam, beginning in the eighth and ninth centuries, was Sufism, a form of mysticism. This movement
was influential for many centuries and was instrumental in the spread of Islam in Asia and Africa.
Islam has expanded greatly under Muhammad's successors. It is the principal religion of the Middle East, Asia, and the
northern half of Africa.
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