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Essence of World Religions
are followers of Mohammed's family successors all martyred at an early age.
Adherents
About 950 million mostly in the Middle East, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Africa, China, Indonesia, Central Asia, and India. Today Islam is the world's fastest growing religion.
Goals
The primary goal of Islam is to enjoy eternal life, both physical and spiritual in heaven with Allah (means God in Arabic). Heaven is a paradise in which all joys and pleasures abound and in which one lives amid beautiful gardens enjoying all comforts. Man is the noblest creation of God, ranking above the angels.
Path of Attainment
Total submission to Allah is the single path to salvation, and even that is no guarantee, for Allah may desire even a faithful soul to experience misery. The good Muslim surrenders all pride, sins, and follows explicitly the will of Allah as revealed in the Qur'an by His last and greatest prophet, Mohammed. This and this alone brings a full and meaningful life and avoids the terrors of hell, which befalls sinners and infidels.
Muslims believe in the five doctrines and observe the five pillars. The virtues of truthfulness, temperance and humility before God are foremost for Islam, and the practices of fasting, pilgrimage, prayer and charity are most necessary to please Allah.
Synopsis
Islam means submission, surrender to the Will of Allah. Islam also means peace. Those who submit are called Muslims.
The Qur'an records that Mohammed was the Seal of the Prophets, the last of a line of God's messengers that began with Adam (first man created by God) and included Abraham, Noah, Moses, and Jesus. Mohammed left the Word of God for the future guidance of the community revealed to him and recorded in the Qur'an, and the Sunnä, the collective name for his life and teachings as recorded in the traditional literature (Hädith).
Islam recognizes God's sending of messengers to all people and his granting of "Scripture and Prophethood" to Abraham and his
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