Islam is the second largest religion in the world today.
Around 622 A.D the Islamic religion was founded by Mohammed. There is only one god – Allah. Islam is mainly found in Middle East, and South Asia. Muslims were mostly scholars and/or prophets. The holy book is the Qur’ān - which is read in the Mosque. The Mosque is the place of worship. In the Mosque, women pray separately from the men to prevent distractions. Everybody must wash their hands before they pray. The mosque has no furniture, pictures or statues; everybody must be sitting in order, and has equal status. Muslims believe that there cannot be any sort of pictures of Allah; it would be disrespectful. Muslims have to take their footwear off outside of the door, this is for respect. At the top of every mosque is a muezzin, to call the Muslims to prayer. The first prayer of the day is Fajr, the second is Duhur, the third prayer is Maghrib, and the final prayer is ‘Isha.
The five pillars are- Shahdah, Prayer, Almsgiving, Pilgrimage, and fasting. The Shahdah pillar is the one that recognizes the achievement of the last prophet, which was Mohammed. The second pillar is Prayer, which is observing the daily prayers. Third, Almsgiving meaning, “voluntary charity”, this means that all or most Muslims must choose a charity to give money to or to help with. The fourth pillar is recognized for Ramadan, when Muslims fast, that is how it got its name. The last pillar is Pilgrimage. It is for people that are physically or financially able to journey to Mecca. A pilgrimage to mecca at least once in their life is every Muslims spiritual goal.
Qur’ān had 25 prophets, which one was Mohammed, another was Rasūl, he was important because he was the messenger. Shariah was the most important; he was the one who leads God.
Today, 1 ½ billion people follow the Islamic religion.
