Muslim



A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. The word Muslim means one who submits and implies complete submission to the will of God. Muslims believe that nature is itself Islamic, since it follows natural laws placed by God.
Thus a Muslim strives to surrender to God's commands every step of the way. There is no distinction made between daily life and religion or politics.
The basic beliefs of Muslims are: belief in God, His angels, His revealed Books, His Messengers, and the Day of Judgement, and affirmation of fate and the Divine Decree, the good of it and the bad of it.
The Five Pillars of Islam on which a Muslim's life is founded are:
  • The Testimony that there is none worthy of worship except God and that Muhammad is his messenger.
  • Establishing of the five daily Prayers (Salaah).
  • The Giving of Zakaah (charity), which is generally 2.5% of the yearly savings for a rich man working in trade or industry, and 10% or 20% of the produce for agriculturists. This money or produce is distributed among the poor.
  • Refraining from eating, drinking and having sex from dawn to dusk in the month of Ramadhaan (Sawm).
  • The Pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca during the month of Zul Hijjah, which is compulsory once in a lifetime for one who has the ability to do it.
Until recently the word was usually spelled Moslem; that spelling is now discouraged. Many English-language writers used to call Muslims "Mohamedans" or "Mohametans", meaning "followers of Mohammed", but this terminology is considered incorrect and insulting, because it is taken to imply that they worship the prophet Muhammad, contrary to the fundamental principles of Islam itself. By contrast, the term "Christian" does correctly imply the worship of Jesus Christ and the belief in his own ideas as divine. Muslims consider Muhammad and Jesus ("Isa") both to have been prophets of God.