What is Islam, and What do Muslims Believe? | GotQuestions.org

What Islam Is and How It Began

Question, what is Islam and what do Muslims believe? In this video I'll answer those questions and afterwards I'll share some helpful resources, so stick around until the end. Islam is a religious system begun in the 7th century by Muhammad.

Muslims followed the teachings of the Quran and strived to keep the five pillars. In the 7th century, Muhammad claimed the angel Gabriel visited him. During these angelic visitations, which continued for about 23 years until Muhammad's death, the angel purportedly revealed to Muhammad the words of Allah, the Arabic word for God used by Muslims.

These dictated revelations compose the Quran, Islam's holy book. Islam means submission, deriving from the root word which means peace. The word Muslim means one who submits to Allah. Muslims summarize their doctrine in six articles of faith.

The Six Articles of Faith in Islam

First, belief in one Allah. Muslims believe Allah is one, eternal, creator, and sovereign. Second, belief in the angels. Third, belief in the prophets. The prophets include the biblical prophets, but end with Muhammad as Allah's final prophet.

Fourth, belief in the revelations of Allah. Muslims accept certain portions of the Bible, such as the Torah and the Gospels. They believe the Quran is the pre-existent perfect word of Allah. Fifth, belief in the last day of judgment and the hereafter.

Everyone will be resurrected for final judgment into either paradise or hell. Sixth, belief in predestination. Muslims believe Allah has decreed everything that will happen. Muslims testify to Allah's sovereignty with their frequent phrase inshallah, meaning if God wills.

The Five Pillars of Islam

The following five tenets compose the framework of obedience for Muslims. First, the testimony of faith, which states there is no deity but Allah. Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. A person can convert to Islam by stating this creed.

The creed shows that a Muslim believes in Allah alone as deity and believes that Muhammad reveals Allah. Second, prayer. Five ritual prayers must be performed every day. Third, giving. This almsgiving is a certain percentage given once a year.

Fourth, fasting. Muslims fast during Ramadan, in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. They must not eat or drink from dawn until sunset. Fifth, pilgrimage. If physically and financially possible, a Muslim must make the pilgrimage to Mecca and Saudi Arabia at least once.

The pilgrimage is performed in the twelfth month of the Islamic calendar. A Muslim's entrance into paradise hinges on obedience to these five pillars. Still, Allah may reject him. Even Muhammad wasn't sure whether Allah would admit him to paradise.

Islam Compared with Christianity

Compared to Christianity, Islam has some similarities but significant differences. Like Christianity, Islam is monotheistic. However, Muslims reject the trinity, that God has revealed himself as one in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Muslims claim that Jesus was one of the most important prophets, not God's son. Islam asserts that Jesus, though born of a virgin, was created like Adam. Muslims do not believe that Jesus died on the cross.

They do not understand why Allah would allow his prophet Isa, the Islamic word for Jesus, to die a torturous death. Yet, the Bible shows how the death of the perfect son of God was essential to pay for the sins of the world.

The Bible, the Quran, and the Way of Salvation

Islam teaches that the Quran is the final authority in the last revelation of Allah. The Bible, however, was completed in the first century with the Book of Revelation. The Bible warns against anyone adding to or subtracting from God's word.

The Quran, as a claimed addition to God's word, directly disobeys God's command. Muslims believe that paradise can be earned through keeping the five pillars. The Bible, in contrast, reveals that sinful man can never measure up to the Holy God.

Only by God's grace may sinners be saved through repentant faith in Jesus. Because of these essential differences and contradictions, Islam and Christianity cannot both be true. The Bible and Quran cannot both be God's word.

Testing the Spirits and Closing Resources

The truth has eternal consequences. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God.

Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God. And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the Antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming and now is already in the world.

1 John 4, 1 -4. Hungry for more? Subscribe so you don't miss the next video! Visit GotQuestions .org for more great content. And check out the details section below this video, there is one book I recommend, along with several links to related articles.

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