Islam
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     Islam (which means peace and submission to the will of God) appeared in 600 AC. Its message was brought by the prophet Muhammad. It has 1.5 billion adepts, all over the world. It is believed that Prophet Muhammad received the holly Quran (Al Qur’an) – the book with laws kept in heaven, directly from the angel Gabriel. As Islamism spread, it divided into 3 sects: the Sunni (from sunnah – tradition) they are led by a caliph, the Shiites, respecting the line of descendents of the true caliph, Ali, and the Kharijiti, the last ones think that only the community has the right to chose the leader and to demit him in case of errors. A caliph, is a person who lead the people, they are the ones who stand in place of the prophet. Muslims believe in one God, named Allah. They believe him to be eternal, absolute, perfect, creator of all, all merciful, unique etc. Allah cannot be compared to anything on this world, or the concept “Allah” loses its meaning. Muslims strongly believe in Allah and the Qur’an. The Qur’an is a book that is holly to the Muslims, and that contains laws referring to how to live one’s life and, also what to believe, and not to believe. In time, there appeared 4 schools, based on the interpretation of the Qur’an, but all of them say basically the same things. Muhammad said that a good Muslim has to perform just five tasks, which are the five pillars of Islam. They are mandatory for men, women do not have religious obligations:

  1. (Shahadah) to believe there is no other worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger –one must recite this in order to convert to Islamism, and to re acknowledge his fate.
  2. (salat) to pray – this occurs five times a day, at fixed times. 3. to pay Zakat (this is the money Muslims have to give in order to help the poor and the needy – alms giving)
  3. to pay Zakat (this is the money Muslims have to give in order to help the poor and the needy – alms giving)
  4. (Haji) to go in pilgrimage, if not every year, at least once in one’s lifetime to the House of Allah – Ka’bah , in Mekkah.
  5. (Saum) To observe fasting, during the Ramadhan.

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