Questions tagged [islam]

Questions about the religion of the Muslims; a monotheistic faith regarded as revealed through Muhammad as the Prophet of Allah.

Islam

  1. the religious faith of Muslims, based on the words and religious system founded by the Prophet Muhammad and taught by the Koran, the basic principle of which is absolute submission to a unique and personal god, Allah.

  2. the whole body of Muslim believers, their civilization, and the countries in which theirs is the dominant religion.


Islam (Arabic: الإسلام‎) is a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion articulated by the Qur'an, a religious text considered by its adherents to be the verbatim word of God (Allāh), and, for the vast majority of adherents, by the teachings and normative example (called the sunnah, composed of accounts called hadith) of Muhammad (c. 570–8 June 632 CE), considered by most of them to be the last prophet of God. An adherent of Islam is called a Muslim (sometimes spelled "Moslem").

Muslims also believe that God is one and incomparable and that the purpose of existence is to worship God. Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Although a large majority of Muslims do maintain that the previous messages and revelations have been partially misinterpreted over time, they are nevertheless all obliged, according to the Qur'an, to treat the older scriptures with the utmost respect. As for the Qur'an, Muslims consider it to be both the unaltered and the final revelation of God. Religious concepts and practices include the five pillars of Islam, which are basic concepts and obligatory acts of worship, and following Islamic law, which touches on virtually every aspect of life and society, providing guidance on multifarious topics from banking and welfare, to family life and the environment.

Most Muslims are of two denominations: Sunni (75–90%) or Shia (10–20%). About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country, 25% in outh Asia, 20% in the Middle East, and 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Sizable Muslim communities are also found in Europe, China, Russia, and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world. With about 1.62 billion followers or 23% of the global population, Islam is the second-largest religion by number of adherents and, according to many sources, the fastest-growing major religion in the world.

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Did medieval Russia reject Islam because of its prohibition against alcohol?

For a long time, I have been aware of a historical anecdote about the attempt to convert Russia to Islam. I don’t know where I first heard the anecdote: I’m pretty sure it was oral, so I had to dig a bit to find notable claims. The anecdote goes…
gerrit
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Did Muhammad exist?

What contemporary historical records of the existence of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, exist or are known to have existed at some point?
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Is Sweden experiencing a "rape epidemic?"

The US think-tank, the Gatestone Institute - along with many conservative web-sites, has claimed that rapes in Sweden have gone up because of the influx of refugees from the Middle East. Forty years after the Swedish parliament unanimously decided…
inund8
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Does polygamy result in less infidelity and prostitution?

An answer (now deleted) at the new Islam.SE site made the following claim: If one takes a look at society where polygamy is banned or discouraged, you will see that some men will always try to fulfill their need for more partners by illegal means;…
Flimzy
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Is the number of Muslims correlated with terrorist attacks?

As reported in The Guardian, the Australian TV host Sonia Kruger has recently kicked up a storm by claiming that There is a correlation between the number of people in a country who are Muslim and the number of terrorist attacks Putting aside…
lemon
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Did the Saudi mufti issue a fatwa saying that men can eat their wives?

According to some news reports, a leading Muslim leader in Saudi Arabia has permitted men to eat their wives (the whole thing, or only part if that's all they need) if they get hungry enough. This is apparently the mufti Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah…
Scimonster
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Has the Quran (the recitation) been preserved since Muhammad?

Islamic scholars claim that Quran's preservation is the one of the most miraculous aspects of Quran. In fact, a major reason for muslims to believe in the Quran was the preservation of Quran, which is a promise from God. For example: It is an…
user14754
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Did Ataturk say that Islam is "an absurd theology" and "a rotting corpse which poisons our lives"?

Various places (for example, the books Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America's Future by Stephen Kinzer and From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia by Pankaj Mishra) claim Ataturk said: This is Islam, an absurd…
chx
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Did Hitler use a verse from the Quran in one of his speeches?

In this book ( سلسلة قادة الحرب - كتاب أدولف هتلر.. الطبعة الاولى - بيروت - صفحة 38 - ترجمة كمال عبدالله. ), the author claims that Hitler quoted a verse from the Quran. Is there any evidence of this? Translation of the claim, by Google…
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Is ISIS beheading children in Mosul, Iraq?

On the Gateway Pundit, this claim by Chaldean-American businessman Mark Arabo is posted: “There is a park in Mosul, where [ISIS] they actually beheaded children and put their heads on a stick and have them in the park,” Is this true?
user20862
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Is Mecca at a special place on the earth's surface, dictated by the Golden Mean?

Mecca considered by Muslims to be the holiest city of Islam. This video about the Mecca makes the following claims: Mecca is at a special point on the Earth's surface in the sense that its proportion in distance to the South and North pole, and…
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Is Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" a bestseller in Muslim countries?

This article from the Telegraph makes the claim that Adolf Hitler's infamous manifesto, Mein Kampf is a bestseller in the Palestinian territories: AN Arabic translation of Hitler's Mein Kampf which has become a bestseller in the Palestinian…
March Ho
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Was a class of Dutch school children required to learn Muslim prayer?

Many websites claim that some school children in Holland had to learn "how to pray in a mosque". Is this claim true?
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Did Muhammad marry a 6 year old?

Making the rounds of news sites today is a story of a billboard in Indianapolis that makes the following six claims regarding the prophet Muhammad, under the heading "The Perfect Man": Married 6 year old Slave owner & dealer Rapist Beheaded 600…
RLH
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Is Islam based on a moon worshiping cult?

I've heard this claim many times, mostly from anti-Islamic sources such as this one. Basically, they attempt to refute the way Islam views itself as an "Abrahamic" faith that is basically a newer version of the previous ones (Christianity and…
System Down
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