4 -- wrbs

• Islam


  • Established around seventh century C.E
  • Youngest among the world's major religions
• Star and crescent


  Acknowledged representation of the Islamic faith
• Crescent moon or hilal


  Has early connections with royalty
• Muhammad ibn Abdullah


  • Born in the oasis town of Mecca
  • Married an older wealthy widow named Khadija
  • In 610 C.E., began hearing the voice of God in a cave on the summit of Mount Hira
  • Began to experience divine revelations delivered by the angel Gabriel
• Islam


  Means "submit" or "surrender or submit oneself for obedience to God" or "enter into a condition of peace and security with God through allegiance and surrender to him"
• Muslim


  Arabic word for a person who submits
• Allah


  Compound of al (the definite article, the) and ilah (god or deity)
• Muhammad


  Messenger and the last prophet sent by God to humankind who was visited by the angel Gabriel
• Muhammad died at the age of 62

  632 C.E.
• Quran (or Koran)


  The sacred writing of the Muslims that literally means "recitation" or "reading"
• Quran


  • Consists of 114 chapters or surahs, each composed of verses or ayahs
  • The longest surah has about 286 ayahs, the Al-Baqarah ("The Heifer")
  • The shortest surah has only three ayahs, the Al-Kawthar
  • The first of all the surah is called Fatihah ("The Opening") form of a prayer to God for guidance
• Hadith


  • The collection of the deeds and sayings of Muhammad
  • The second source of shari'a law
• 5 Pillars of Islam

  • The Creed (Shahada)
  • Obligatory Prayer (Salat)
  • Poor Tax (Zakat)
  • Fasting (Sawm)
  • Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj)
• Shahada


  "There is no God but Allah; Muhammad is the messenger of Allah"
• Salat


  Muslims must offer prayers or salat five times each and every day—before sunrise (as-subh), noon (az-zuhr), midafternoon (al-asr), immediately after sunset (al-maghreb), and before midnight (alisha)
• Zakat


  Muslims who live above the subsistence level must pay zakat or the poor tax to aid the underprivileged
• Sawm


  During the entire 30 days of Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Muslims must refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, and engaging in any sexual intimacy from dusk until dawn
• Hajj


  • All Muslims must attempt to undertake a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca or hajj ("visitation of Holy Places") at least once in their lifetime
  • The "Grand Mosque" (Al-Masjid al-Haram) in Mecca houses the most sacred site of Islam, the Kaaba ("House of Allah")
  • The Kaaba is a cube-shaped ancient stone building those dates back to the time of Adam and Eve according to Muslim tradition
• Subdivisions of Islam

  • Sunni Muslims (The Sunnis)
  • Shi'a (The Shi'ites)
  • Sufi Muslims
• Sunni Muslims


  Traditionalists and are considered the orthodox of Islam as they endeavor to follow the original religion established by Muhammad
• Shi'a Muslims


  The largest faction within the Islam religion that separated from the rest of the community
• Sufi Muslims


  Whose concern mainly dwell for a mystical union with God, "suf" that means "woolen"
• Selected Issues in Islam

  • Islam and Women
  • The Holy War (Jihad)
  • Militancy and Terrorism
  • Migration
• Islam and Women


  It is prohibited for any woman to lead prayers. When a woman is having her usual menstrual period, she must not enter any mosque. In some countries, Muslim women are required to cover their face and bodies when in company with men other than their immediate kin
• Jihad


  Means "effort" or "struggle" to convince unbelievers to pursue the Muslim way of life
• Islam is a religion of mercy that prohibits terrorism
• The presence of violence in Islamic society cannot be attributed to the teachings of Islam but to the failings of human
• European countries encouraged emigration from former colonies to augment manpower shortages
• The history of Hinduism in India can be traced to about 1500 BCE
• The earliest literary source for the history of Hinduism is the Rigveda, consisting of hymns that were composed chiefly during the last two or three centuries of the 2nd millennium BCE
• The religious life reflected in this text is not that of contemporary Hinduism but of an earlier sacrificial religious system, referred to by scholars as Brahmanism or Vedism
• Hinduism is the third-largest religion behind Christianity and Islam
• Hindu worship, which is known as "puja," typically takes place in the Mandir (temple)
• Although the name Hinduism is relatively new, having been coined by British writers in the first decades of the 19th century, it refers to a rich cumulative tradition of texts and practices, some of which date to the 2nd millennium BCE or possibly earlier
• If the Indus valley civilization (3rd–2nd millennium BCE) was the earliest source of these traditions, as some scholars hold, then Hinduism is the oldest living religion on Earth
• Brahma


  The first member of the Hindu Trinity and is "the Creator"
• Vishnu


  The second member of the Hindu Trinity. He maintains the order and harmony of the universe
• Shiva


  The third member of the Hindu Trinity, tasked with destroying the universe in order to prepare for its renewal at the end of each cycle of time
• Ganapati (Ganesha)

  Shiva's first son, the Remover of Obstacles
• Minor Deities of Hinduism (Avatars of Vishnu)

  • Rama
  • Krishna
  • Saraswati
  • Lakshmi
  • Durga Devi