Islam originated in the Arabian Peninsula in the 7th
century AD and spread over the world through a large empire. The world ‘Islam’
connotes ‘submission to god ‘. those who submit to God and follow the preaching
of Prophet Muhammad are called Muslims. Prophet Muhammad was the last in the
lines of messengers sent by God on earth like Abraham, Moses, etc. Both the
Christians and Muslims share Abraham as a common ancestor.
It is said that an angel revealed the message of
God to Prophet Muhammad on the mountains. he recited these injunctions to his
followers. Initially he faced many problems and had to leave his home in Mecca
and migrate to Madina. After a successful coup, he managed to come back to
Mecca. This travel back to mecca is the holy route that became the Haji (holy
pilgrims) and every Muslims is ordered to conduct this pilgrimage once in their
lifetime.
The saying or day to day teaching of Prophet
Muhammad were compiled by his followers after his death and is called Hadith,
which is the holy book of the Muslims.The holy book of Quran was complied
before prophet’s death and it was verified twice by him before being
transformed into book form after his death. This book and Sunnah form the basis
for Islamic laws or Sharia. IN India, there are four major schools of thought
and law in Islam:- Hanafi, Shafei, Maliki and Hambali.
The basic tenants of Islam are that there is only
one Allah (manifestation of god) who sent his messenger to help the people on
Earth and Muhammad was the last Prophet.
They also belive in the Day of Judgment where the merits and bad deeds will be judged and one would be sent to the hell or heaven accordingly. The Muslims should offer namaz or prayer five times a day. The prayers on Friday are supposed to be in the community mosque and it is called Juma Namaz. It is necessary for the Muslims to keep fast from sunrise to sunset during the month of Ramzan, which ends with Eid celebrations. According to Prophet, one has to give a portion of their earnings to the needy and the poor that is called Zakat or charity.
Although there are various sects in Islams, two
major sub-divions are: Shia (those who were partisans of Ali) and Sunni (those
who follow the Sunnah). The difference between the two is based on who should
be the successor to Prophet Muhammad. The Sunnis believed that it should be from
those close to the Prophet and who were his initial followers like Abu Bakr. On
the contrary the Shia’s claimed that Prophet’s successor should be from his own
flesh and blood and supported the claim of Ali, his son-in law.
Although the majority of Muslims in India are
Sunni, the presence of Shia’s is made known on Muharram when they reenact the
gruesome death of Ali. There were some moments in history when the religion
went through changes and movements, which affected the shape of Islam in the
subcontinent.
