Islam

Islam is a religion that began in the Arabian Peninsula in the seventh century. Its followers are called Muslims. Today there are about 1.9 billion Muslims around the world, which makes Islam the second largest religion after Christianity. Muslims live in almost every country, but the largest Muslim populations are in Indonesia, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

The word "Islam" is an Arabic word. It means "submission," in the sense of giving yourself to God. The word "Muslim" means "one who submits."

The Prophet Muhammad

Muslims believe that Islam was taught to people by a prophet named Muhammad. Muhammad was born around 570 CE in the city of Mecca, in what is now Saudi Arabia. He worked as a trader and was known for being honest. When he was about 40 years old, Muslims believe he began to receive messages from God through the angel Gabriel. He spent the rest of his life sharing those messages with others. He died in 632 CE.

Muslims do not believe Muhammad was God or the son of God. They believe he was a human being chosen to deliver God's words. Muslims also believe in many earlier prophets, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. They see Muhammad as the last in this long line.

The Quran

The holy book of Islam is called the Quran. Muslims believe it contains the exact words God spoke to Muhammad. It is written in Arabic and is about as long as the New Testament of the Christian Bible. Many Muslims learn to recite long sections of the Quran by heart. A person who memorizes the entire book is called a hafiz. The Quran has been kept in the same Arabic words for more than 1,300 years.

One God

The most important idea in Islam is that there is only one God. Muslims call God by the Arabic word Allah. They believe Allah is the same God worshipped by Jews and Christians, the God of Abraham. Muslims do not pray to statues or pictures, and Islamic art usually does not show people or animals in religious places. Instead, mosques are decorated with patterns and beautiful Arabic writing.

The Five Pillars

Muslims try to follow five main practices, called the Five Pillars of Islam.

The first pillar is the declaration of faith. A Muslim says, "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God."

The second pillar is prayer. Muslims pray five times a day, facing the city of Mecca. Before praying, they wash their hands, face, and feet.

The third pillar is giving to those in need. Muslims who can afford it are expected to give a small share of their savings each year to help the poor.

The fourth pillar is fasting during the holy month of Ramadan. From sunrise to sunset for about 30 days, adult Muslims do not eat or drink. The fast ends each evening with a meal called iftar. After Ramadan ends, families celebrate a holiday called Eid al-Fitr.

The fifth pillar is the hajj. This is a special trip to the city of Mecca that every Muslim is asked to make once in their life, if they are healthy and can afford it. Each year more than two million people from all over the world travel to Mecca for the hajj. They walk seven times around a stone building called the Kaaba, which Muslims believe was first built by Abraham and his son Ishmael.

Branches of Islam

Soon after Muhammad died, Muslims disagreed about who should lead the community next. This disagreement slowly led to two main branches: Sunni and Shia. About 85 to 90 percent of Muslims today are Sunni. Most Shia Muslims live in Iran, Iraq, and a few other countries. Both groups share the same core beliefs, the same Quran, and the same Five Pillars. They differ mostly in their views about leadership and some traditions.

Islam in the world

For more than a thousand years, Muslim scholars led the world in math, medicine, and astronomy. The number system most people use today, including the digit zero, came to Europe from Muslim mathematicians, who had learned much of it from India. Words like algebra, algorithm, and average all come from Arabic. Today, Islam is part of the daily lives of nearly one out of every four people on Earth.