pronounced
/ˈmʊslɪm/, is an adherent of the
religion of
Islam. Literally, the word means "one who submits (to
God)".
Muslim is the
participle of the same verb of which
Islam is the
infinitive.
[1] The
feminine form is sometimes used as
Muslimah (
Arabic:
مسلمة), especially in recent years.
[citation needed] All Muslims observe
Sunnah, but differences in the definition of what is and what is not Sunnah has led to the emergence of sectarian movements. The well-organised and cohesive community of Muslims who accept the Sunnah as defined within one of the traditional
Maliki,
Hanafi,
Shafi or
Hanbali madhabs are the classical
Sunni Muslims. Those who fall outside of this fold are the
Shia Muslims, though often thinking themselves to be Sunni Muslims.
Muslims believe that there is only one
God, translated in Arabic as
Allah. Muslims also believe that Islam existed long before
Muhammad though it was not called Islam until the revelation of Surah al-Maeda. Muslims believe that this religion had evolved with time from the time of
Adam until the time of Muhammad and was completed with the revelation of verse 3 of Surah al-Maeda:
This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.
The
Qur'an describes many Biblical
prophets and messengers as Muslim:
Adam,
Noah (Arabic:
Nuh),
Moses and
Jesus and his apostles. The Qur'an states that these men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached his message and upheld his values. Thus, in Surah 3:52 of the Qur'an, Jesus’ disciples tell Jesus, "We believe in God; and you be our witness that we submit and obey (
wa ashahadu bil-muslimūna)."
Muslims consider making ritual prayer five times a day a religious duty (
fard) (see the section on Ismāˤīlīs below for exceptions); these five prayers are known as
fajr,
dhuhr,
ˤasr,
maghrib and
ˤishā'. There is also a special Friday prayer called
jumuˤah. Currently, the most up to date reports from an American think-tank and
PBS have estimated 1.2 to 1.57 billion Muslims populate the world, or about 25% (
quarter) of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion.
[2] With 60% in Asia and 20% of Muslims living in the Middle EAST AND NORTH AFRICA
IslamMost Muslims accept as a Muslim anyone who has publicly pronounced the
Shahadah (declaration of faith) which states,
Ash-hadu an laa ilaha illa-lahWa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan rasulullah"I bear witness there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and I bear witness,
Muhammad is His final messenger".
The
Amman Message[10] more specifically declared that a Muslim is one who adheres to one of the eight schools of Islamic legal thought.
Currently, there are between one billion and two billion Muslims, making it the second largest religion in the world.
MUSLIM AND MUAMIN One of the verses in the
Qur'an makes a distinction between a
mu'min, a believer, and a
Muslim:
The Arabs of the desert say, "We believe." (tu/minu) Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" (aslamna) for the faith (al-imanu) hath not yet found its way into your hearts. But if ye obey [God] and His Apostle, he will not allow you to lose any of your actions: for [God] is Indulgent, Merciful ('The Koran 49:14, Rodwell). According to the academician
Carl Ernst, contemporary usage of the terms "Islam" and "Muslim" for the faith and its adherents is a modern innovation. As shown in the
Quranic passage cited above, early Muslims distinguished between the Muslim, who has "submitted" and does the bare minimum required to be considered a part of the community, and the mu'min, the believer, who has given himself or herself to the faith heart and soul. Ernst writes:
"The Arabic term
Islam itself was of relatively minor importance in classical theologies based on the Qur'an. If one looks at the works of theologians such as the famous
al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the key term of religious identity is not
Islam but
iman (faith), and the one who possesses it is the
mu'min (believer). Faith is one of the major topics of the Qur'an; it is mentioned hundreds of times in the sacred text. In comparison,
Islam is a less common term of secondary importance; it only occurs eight times in the Qur'an. Since, however, the term
Islam had a derivative meaning relating to the community of those who have submitted to
God, it has taken on a new political significance, especially in recent history."
[12] For another term in Islam for a non-Muslim who is a
monotheist believer (usually applied historically in a pre-Islamic context), see
hanif
