How Islam started
There are roughly 1 billion followers of Islam. These followers are called Muslims, the basic belief that they declare is �There is no God except Allah and Muhammad is the messanger of Allah.� These specific words are called the shahadah. Muslims believe that over the years God has sent messages down to earth and that prophets including Jesus and Moses received these messages. Muslims hold Jesus and Moses as well as other prophets in the Christain and Jewish religion in great esteem. However, Muslims think that these messages of God got confused with the words and ideas of humans. They think God sent another message to earth and chose Muhhamad ibn Abd Allah to receive this new message. God sent the angel, Jibril (Gabriel) to give this message to Muhhamad. At the age of 40, Muhhamad would go into a cave at night near Mecca, meditating on the questions that trubled him. One night, he saw visions, these visions he saw are said to be the angel Jibril. That night, Jibril grabbed hold of Muhhamad and ordered him to recite a group of words. When Muhhamad did this, she let him go. After this, Muhhamad thought that he was losing his mind or the spirits had possessed him. Muhhamad ran out of the cave, shocked and terrified at the same time. Partway down the hill, Muhhamad heard this foice behind him say, �Oh, Muhhamad, you are the messanger of God, and I am Jibril.� Muhhamad figured out that the words he had recited were words from God. For 23 years after this, Muhhamad continued to reciece messages from God. All the messages Muhhamad received, formed the Muslims holy book, the Koran. Muslims believe the Koran is the true words of God. This is how Islam was first started.
Muhhamad tuaght only to worship God. When Islam began to grow in the city of Mecca, Muhhamad had heard that a group of Meccan�s where plaining to assasinate him. That night, Muhhamad fled to a near by cave. He and his closet advisor, Abu Bakr, hid from his eniemy for 3 days. It is told that moments before Muhhamad�s eniemys came by, a spider formed his web right in the opening of the cave.When they came troting by on their horses, they looked down at the cave and thought, �they couldn�t be in there, they would have knocked down that spiders web.� After the assasins went by Muhhamad, he traveled to Medina where he and Abu Bakr where gratefully greeted by the people in Medina that had converted to Islam and by his followers that had travelled there from Mecca. This journey that Muhhamad took is known as the Hijrah.
Muslims must practice the 5 following things to get a better perspection of Allah in their daily lives:
1. Say the shahadah in arabic
2. Salah: Talk to and worship Allah five times a day, the way Muhhamad tuaght.
3. Sawm: Fasting from before dawn untel sunset everyday during the month of ramdan.
4. Hajj: A pilgramage to Mecca, Mina, Muzdalifah, and Arafat from the 8th through the 13th of the month Dhul Hijjah. Sometimes when on Hajj, men wear simple white unswed garments, and women wear loose fitting white clothing. This sybolizes their faith and unity. Muslims must go on Hajj at least once in their lifetime.
5. Pay a poor tax of 2.5 % of whats left of their money after paying all their exspences.
Before Salah, (prayer) Muslims must wash the following things three times, under runing water, each in a special way: face, hands, mouth, nose, arms, head, ears, neck, and feet. This is called wudu.
A babys birth is a happy occasion for Muslims. They believe that it is a gift from Allah. When the baby is first born, the first words it hears are those of the iqamah, which is whispered in the left ear, and those of the adhan, this is whispered in the right ear. When the baby reaches about a week old, its hair may be shaved off. This hair is then weighed on a goldsmiths or pharmasics scale. The amount shown on the scale is given to the poor or needy in silver.
Muslims greet each other by saying �Assalaam Alaikum,� meaning, �peace be on you all.� This symbolizes that a true Muslim can only be wish well to all his brethren.
