S-squared
Great thread - thanx for the inquiry.
I would've gladly posted information about al-Islam here earlier (as I have done on other sites) but i did not think that folks would be receptive (the jury is still out on some folks though [
wink wink]).
I don't have much time this evening but i'll post what i can and i am also open to more specific question as well.
In either case, i will do my best to
inshal? answer each question.
First of all, the God of Abraham is the God of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Abraham begat Ishmael and Isaac.
Jew and Christians typically look to Isaac as their "ancestor" so to speak.
Muslims look to Ishmael in the same manner.
Like many of the "old time prophets," Muhammed was a sheperd in his youth. Like many of you learned in Sunday school, tending sheep is a special job that affords unique opportunities to grow as a spiritual leader: patience, foresight, reflection, discipline, dedication, et cetera.
Like many of the "old time prophets," Muhammed came from humble beginnings: he father died when Muhammed was an infant and his mother died when he was about twelve. This experience strongly influenced his lifelong care for the less fortunate such as orphans, the elderly, the poor, et al.
The first person to convert to al-Islam after the Archangel Gabriel revealed God's choice of Muhammed as a prophet of the Word (*remember Gabriel's other "revelations" in the Bible) was his wife Khadija.
Like all of the other "old time prophets," Muhammed and his family and friends had to endure great hardship because he chose to worship and praise the one true god. Death threats, attacks, beatings, exile, and so forth were but a mere part of what Muhammed and his small group of supporters had to endure.
The five pillars of the faith are:
* profession of faith - a person becomes a Muslim by reciting the simple yet powerful phrase that says
"There is no god but God and Muhammed is his last prophet and messenger."
* prayer - a Muslim is expected to pray at least five times a day, prostrating him/herself before God as an act of humility and devotion and love. Muslims "pray in the direction" of Mecca more for unity than for any worship of an earthly destination. In fact, Muslims originally prayed toward the holy city of Jerusalem. *Mecca's status a sacred city dates back to antiquity when Abraham and Ishmael contructed a temple to God. That structure is the Kaa'ba.
* almsgiving - one of the least known attributes of al-Islam is its social progressiveness. Muslims are encouraged to give charity to those in need to the best of each person's ability. Charity can be in the form of cash and/or in-kind donations. For example, if a person is hungry, it is pleasing in God's eye to feed that person. Also, if a person is enslaved, it is pleasing in God's eye to pay the bounty to free that person. Even a friendly smile is acknowledged by Muslims as charity.
* Also, on a related economic note (no pun intended), ursury is prohibited in al-Islam. Interest, like gambling, is considered a sin.
* fast - like in other religions, Muslims see fasting as a means of spiritual growth via physical abstinence. During the month of Ramadan, Muslims that are able to, abstain from eating and drinking during daylight hours as an act of homage to God. Married Muslims are also to refrain from conjugal relations from first light to last light.
Muslims that are too young, too old, infirm, pregnant, or menstrating are exempt from fasting as are individuals on an arduous journey.
* pilgrimage - at least once in his/her lifetime, Muslims that are able to should travel to Mecca during the pilgrimage season. This extraordinary experience is the ultimate fellowship experience as Muslims of all colors, sizes, shapes, languages, financial backgrounds come together from all over the world to celebrate God.
I'm going to close this first reply but, again, i'm glad that Seeing Spots asked the question.
I'll wrap this post up with a beautiful letter that some of you may have read before:
"Never have I witnessed such sincere hospitality and overwhelming spirit of true brotherhood as is practiced by people of all colors and races here in this ancient Holy Land, the home of Abraham, Muhammad and all the other Prophets of the Holy Scriptures. For the past week, I have been utterly speechless and spellbound by the graciousness I see displayed all around me by people of all colors.
"I have been blessed to visit the Holy City of Mecca, I have made my seven circuits around the Ka'ba, led by a young Mutawaf named Muhammad, I drank water from the well of the Zam Zam. I ran seven times back and forth between the hills of Mt. Al-Safa and Al Marwah. I have prayed in the ancient city of Mina, and I have prayed on Mt. Arafat.
"There were tens of thousands of pilgrims, from all over the world. They were of all colors, from blue-eyed blondes to black-skinned Africans. But we were all participating in the same ritual, displaying a spirit of unity and brotherhood that my experiences in America had led me to believe never could exist between the white and non-white.
"America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. Throughout my travels in the Muslim world, I have met, talked to, and even eaten with people who in America would have been considered white - but the white attitude was removed from their minds by the religion of Islam. I have never before seen sincere and true brotherhood practiced by all colors together, irrespective of their color.
"You may be shocked by these words coming from me. But on this pilgrimage, what I have seen, and experienced, has forced me to rearrange much of my thought-patterns previously held, and to toss aside some of my previous conclusions. This was not too difficult for me. Despite my firm convictions, I have always been a man who tries to face facts, and to accept the reality of life as new experience and new knowledge unfolds it. I have always kept an open mind, which is necessary to the flexibility that must go hand in hand with every form of intelligent search for truth.
"During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept on the same rug - while praying to the same God - with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the deeds of the white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.
"We were truly all the same (brothers) - because their belief in one God had removed the white from their minds, the white from their behavior, and the white from their attitude.
"I could see from this, that perhaps if white Americans could accept the Oneness of God, then perhaps, too, they could accept in reality the Oneness of Man - and cease to measure, and hinder, and harm others in terms of their 'differences' in color.
"With racism plaguing America like an incurable cancer, the so-called 'Christian' white American heart should be more receptive to a proven solution to such a destructive problem. Perhaps it could be in time to save America from imminent disaster - the same destruction brought upon Germany by racism that eventually destroyed the Germans themselves.
"Each hour here in the Holy Land enables me to have greater spiritual insights into what is happening in America between black and white. The American Negro never can be blamed for his racial animosities - he is only reacting to four hundred years of the conscious racism of the American whites. But as racism leads America up the suicide path, I do believe, from the experiences that I have had with them, that the whites of the younger generation, in the colleges and universities, will see the handwriting on the walls and many of them will turn to the spiritual path of truth - the only way left to America to ward off the disaster that racism inevitably must lead to.
"Never have I been so highly honored. Never have I been made to feel more humble and unworthy. Who would believe the blessings that have been heaped upon an American Negro? A few nights ago, a man who would be called in America a white man, a United Nations diplomat, an ambassador, a companion of kings, gave me his hotel suite, his bed. Never would I have even thought of dreaming that I would ever be a recipient of such honors - honors that in America would be bestowed upon a King - not a Negro.
"All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all the Worlds.
Sincerely,
Al-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X)
(From the AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X)
Malcolm X saw and experienced many positive things. Generosity and openheartedness were qualities which were impressed on him by the welcome which he received in many places. He saw brotherhood and the brotherhood of different races and this led him to disclaim racism and to say:
"I am not a racist... In the past I permitted myself to be used... to make sweeping indictments of all white people, the entire white race, and these generalizations have caused injuries to some whites who perhaps did not deserve to be hurt. Because of the spiritual enlightenment which I was blessed to receive as the result of my recent pilgrimage to the Holy City of Mecca, I no longer subscribe to sweeping indictments of any one race. I am now striving to live the life of a true Sunni Muslim. I must repeat that I am not a racist nor do I subscribe to the tenets of racism. I can state in all sincerity that I wish nothing but freedom, justice and equality, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all people." 
So, Hassan after you answer Seeing Spots question, Come on home.. There is room for you.. I promise there is..
