Islam

Islam was founded by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. Muhammad was born in Makkah, a city which is now Saudi Arabia in 570 C.E. He was the direct descendant of Ishmael, the first son of Abraham. Islam is the youngest of the three monotheistic world religions with Judaism and Christianity. There are more than one billion Muslims worldwide. It is the principal religion of Asia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq and Turkey.

In Islam the Qur’an is believed to be the final revelation by a transcendent Allah to Muhammad the prophet of Islam. Muhammad received divine revelations over a period of 23 years in the 7th century. It is the Holy Book of the followers of the religion of Islam, the Muslims. “The Qur-an, Arabic for the reading /reciting is the holiest book of Islam. Muslims regard the Qur-an as the Third or Final Testament. The authoritative text was written around 650 A.D. and the book is divided into 114 segments or chapters” (University of Phoenix material, 2006). The Qur’an addresses each level of mankind in every age. “The recitation began one night in the year 610 A.D., when Muhammad, born in Makkah in 570, was asleep in Ramadan; a voice from heaven called out to him with the command, "Recite! Recite! Recite!" The angel recited three verses to him and when he awoke he had these verses, as he said, inscribed in his heart. From that point on, Muhammad believed himself to be a prophet and messenger of God, the last in a line of seven prophets” (The Quran, 2005). It addresses and instructs them in faith, the highest and most subtle science, and in knowledge of God is instructed in the book. It speaks to discipline and subordination of the individual before Allah. The Qur’an is not meant to be translated in to any other language because it loses its meaning. “When