The word "Islam" in translation from Arabic means "obedient to Allah" ("Allah" is the name of God). The followers of Islam call themselves the word "Muslim" (from Arabic - "devoted to Allah"). In Russian, this Arabic word was transformed into the word “Muslim”. According to the encyclopedia "Nations and Religions of the World" (M., 1888, p. 738), in 1996 there were over 1,100 million Muslims in the world.
Islam arose at the beginning of the 7th century in the west of the Arabian Peninsula. The main cities of the region where Islam originated were the cities of Mecca and Yathrib. Subsequently, Yathrib was renamed Madinat an-Nabi (City of the Prophet), and even later the abbreviated name of this city was adopted: Medina (City). Now the territory where Islam originated, together with the cities of Mecca and Medina, is part of a state called Saudi Arabia. Islam had a founder. Believers consider him a great prophet. His name is pronounced both as Muhammad and as Muhammad (from Arabic - "Glorified"). The second option is closer to the Arabic pronunciation of the name of the founder of Islam. Muhammad was born in 570 in Mecca and died in 632 in Medina. At first he was a shepherd, and after marrying a rich widow he became a merchant. In 610, he had "visions" (he saw what others did not see: an angel,mysterious, beautiful trees, etc.) and “sayings” (he heard what others did not hear: the voice of Allah, the voice of an angel, etc.). The voices conveyed to him the contents of the holy book, which was called the word Koran ("Reading aloud"), and ordered him to condemn polytheism and preach faith in Allah. And so at the age of forty, Muhammad began his preaching work. In the second half of the 7th century, the original Islam split into two confessions: Sunnism (from Sunna - “sample”, “example”, “way”) and Shiism (from “Shia” - “party”, “grouping”). In the 8th century, a confession separated from the Shiites, the supporters of which began to call themselves the Ismailis (after one of the spiritual leaders of the 8th century - Ismail). Sunnism, Shiism and Ismailism are the three main religions of Islam. In total, there are several dozen confessions in Islam (there are also Druze, Zaidis, Ibadis, etc.). The most widespread of them is Sunnism, which is supported by about 80 percent of the world's Muslims.
There were 44 Muslim countries in the world at the end of 1998. In these countries, Muslims, at least, predominated among the believers, and, as a maximum, among the population. One of these countries is located immediately in Europe and Asia (Turkey), one in Europe (Albania), 16 in Africa (Egypt, Algeria, Sudan, Morocco, etc.) and 26 in Asia (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc.). In 40 Muslim countries, Sunnis predominate among believers, and only in four - Shiites (Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Bahrain). In Russia, Islam is the second most widespread confession after Orthodoxy. As we have already indicated in the first chapter, in our country more than 70 percent of believers are Orthodox, about 20 percent are Muslims, about 10 percent are supporters of other confessions. There are three regions in Russia where Muslims predominate among believers:The North Caucasus (which includes six republics with a predominantly Muslim population: Chechnya, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, Adygea, and Karachay-Cherkessia), the Tatar Republic and the Bashkir Republic. In all large cities of Russia, where Orthodox Christians prevail among believers, there are also Muslims and Muslim mosques.
The sacred books of Islam can be divided into two groups. The first group includes one book called "Koran" (from Arabic - "reading aloud"). The Qur'an is both one work book and one volume book. The second group includes a whole collection of sacred books, united by the general name "Sunna" (from Arabic "sample", "example"). This collection contains six books-works and about one hundred books-volumes. In literature Sunna is also called "Tradition". According to the doctrine of Islam, there are two types of the Koran: heavenly (original Koran) and earthly (copy Koran). Nobody created the Heavenly Koran, it has always been. It exists in a single copy and is kept under the throne of Allah. At the same time, the heavenly Quran miraculously contains the direct speech of Allah.
The earthly Quran exists in many copies. But an exact copy of the heavenly Quran is only the earthly Quran in Arabic. God passed on the content of the earthly Quran to people along a peculiar chain. Allah dictated the content of the Koran to the angel Jabrail, the angel to the prophet Muhammad, Muhammad in the form of sermons to his disciples. Muhammad's disciples partly wrote down Muhammad's sermons, partly memorized them and memorized them. After the death of Muhammad under Caliph Uthman, the full text of the Koran was written down. The Koran is divided into 114 suras (surah from Arabic - "chapter"), the suras are divided into parts, which are called ayats (ayah from Arabic - "miracle", "sign").
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Sunnah, according to creed, is a collection of sayings of Muhammad and stories about his life. Both the integral semantic sayings of Muhammad and the stories about his life are called hadiths (hadith from Arabic means "story"). Therefore, the Sunnah is also called the collection of hadiths. Of course, Muhammad himself is considered the author of the sayings. The authors of stories about his life are considered to be the contemporaries of Muhammad. All hadiths, according to creed, existed for a long time orally. Later, in the 9th-10th centuries, they were written down by prominent theologians. Their names are: Bukhari, Nishapuri, Maja, Sijistani, Nissai and Tirmizi. They are considered the authors of the hadith collections.
Islam recognizes the existence of six groups of supernatural beings. These are: God, angels, evil genies, good genies, gurias, Burak. God is called Allah. Translated from Arabic into Russian “Allah” means “God”. But at present this word is perceived by believers as a proper name. God is one, and, according to the Muslim doctrine, unlike the Christian, He exists in a single person. Allah created the earth, all living beings, the seven heavens, paradise (in the seventh heaven) and hell (below the first heaven). Above the seventh heaven is the throne of Allah. Allah is "Lord of the world", ie he directly controls all events in the universe. Allah has 99 beautiful epithets: One, Eternal, Most High, Great, Glorious, Almighty, All-Seeing, All-Knowing, Merciful, Merciful, Punishing, Lord of the Day of Judgment, etc.
The word "jinn" is translated as "spirits". Jinn are a special kind of living creatures created by Allah from fire, they are divided into evil and good. The functions of each of these two groups of jinn correspond to their epithets: evil jinn resist the will of God and do evil, the good are God's helpers and do good. After Allah created them, all the jinn did only evil. But everything changed after Muhammad's sermon, addressed not only to people, but also to jinn. Some of the jinn were re-educated, began to behave like angels, and most importantly: they began to help Muhammad and his followers to spread Islam. Good jinn are also called Muslim jinn. All evil genies strive to harm people. But among these jinn, the most malignant ones stand out, they are called "shaitans" (from the Hebrew "Satan" - "adversary"). Jinn have flesh:in their usual form, they are ugly, with hooves on their feet, but they can take on a human form. They are divided into senior and junior.
There is another supernatural being. It is called the word "Burak". This is the name of the species of this creature, and its proper name at the same time. "Burak" is translated from Arabic as "Lightning" or "Lightning fast". Burak looks like this: a body like the most beautiful horse, a head like a man's, and wings like an eagle. His name underlines the speed with which he flies through the sky. The doctrine of Burak merges in Islam with that part of the doctrine of the prophets, which deals with Muhammad. In the doctrine of Islam there is a story about how one night to Muhammad in Mecca, the angel Jabrail appeared with Burak. Burak in the blink of an eye carried the prophet from Mecca to Jerusalem, and then on the stairs that descended from heaven, Muhammad went upstairs to talk with Allah.
According to the doctrine of Islam, prophets are people whom God gave the task and the opportunity to proclaim the truth to people. And the truth they proclaimed had two main parts: the truth about the right religion and the truth about the right life. In the truth about correct religion, a particularly important element was the story of what the future holds for people. Muslim theologians call prophets by the term “nabi” (which is translated into Russian as “prophets”). According to the creed, there were 124 thousand of them. Among the Nabis, 313 people are distinguished who simultaneously bear the term "rasul" ("messengers"). These are persons who received from Allah not only oral, but also written revelations. Thus, in Islam, all messengers (rasul) are simultaneously prophets (nabi), but not all prophets are simultaneously messengers.
Among the messengers, 9 people, who are called "steadfast prophets", enjoy special reverence. Eight out of nine are worshiped by Christians, but, according to Muslims, their names are distorted. This is how the Christians call these eight prophets (their Muslim names are in brackets): Noah (Nuh), Abraham (Ibrahim), Jacob (Yakub), Joseph (Yusuf), Moses (Musa), Job (Ayub), David (Daud), Jesus Christ (Isa). As for the eighth staunch prophet, then, according to Muslims, Christians have distorted not only his name, but also the characteristics of his inner nature. Isa is a great prophet, but not a god, and Christians mistakenly call him “God”. Of the nine staunch prophets, the ninth, Muhammad, is the most revered. Only Muhammad bears the title “Seal of the Prophets”. This means that Muhammad is considered the last and greatest of the prophets. It was Muhammad Allah who gave the most complete and important written revelation - the Koran. Two Muslim holidays are associated with events in the life of Muhammad: Mawlud (from Arabic - "birth") is the birthday of the prophet and Miraj (from Arabic - "ascension") - the day of his ascension to heaven for a conversation with Allah. On these days, solemn services are held in mosques.
The Muslim doctrine of the soul completely coincides with the doctrine of the soul that was among the ancient Christians and is preserved today in many Christian denominations: in Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism, Baptism, etc. These are the main ideas of this traditional religious doctrine. The soul, unlike the body, is a supernatural part of a person. The soul does not depend on the body, i.e. able to live without a body. The soul is not a collection of the smallest particles (as, for example, Buddhism teaches), but a holistic formation. The souls of all people were created by God, and the souls of all people are immortal.
The underworld, according to the teachings of Islam, has two branches: paradise (in Arabic: janna) and hell (in Arabic: jahannam). The righteous go to heaven, sinners go to hell. The division of people into righteous and sinners in Islam is carried out according to a different criterion than in Christianity. If in Christianity all people are sinners (with the exception of Mary, the mother of Christ), and the righteous are only a special part of sinners, then in Islam the righteous and sinners are two opposite groups of people. For the righteous, good deeds prevail in life, for sinners, bad, unkind deeds. If the ancient Christians considered staying both in paradise and in hell, for those who got there it was considered eternal (and it is considered as such by many Christian denominations even now), then among Muslims it is believed that everyone in paradise is eternal, and the inhabitants of hell are divided into permanent and temporary "tenants". Temporary residents of hell are Muslim sinners: no matter what sins they commit, sooner or later Allah will transfer Muslims from hell to heaven.
The stay in the afterlife, Muslim theologians, like Christians, divide into two stages: before the Day of Judgment (the existence of souls without bodies) and after the Day of Judgment (when souls will stay with bodies in heaven and hell). On the Day of Judgment, at the sound of the trumpet of the angel Israfil, first all the living will die, and then all the dead (including those who have just died) will be resurrected. All people, one after another, will cross the Sirat Bridge, stretched over hell to heaven, thin as a hair and sharp as a sword blade. The righteous will successfully cross the bridge to heaven, while the sinners will fall into the hellish abyss.
Every Muslim is obliged to lead a lifestyle that is required by Sharia. Sharia (from the Arabic "sharia" - "the right way") is a set of rules of conduct approved by Muslim authorities. Sharia can exist both in written form (like books written by authorities) and orally (like sermons delivered by authorities). Sharia is the rules of conduct, both legal, moral, and everyday. These are instructions on what must be done without fail, what can or can not be done and what must not be done under any circumstances. It is through the Sharia that the moral teaching of Islam finds its expression. Sharia is based on the Koran and Sunnah. But the Qur'an and Sunnah must be interpreted, and interpretations may be different. All Sunni Muslims at all times had one Quran and one Sunnah, but there were many Sharia. Of course, all Shari'ahs have something in common, but there are also differences. At the same time in different countries in some way the Sharia proclaimed different rules of conduct. In the same country in the new time, through the Sharia, norms can also be proclaimed that are somewhat different from the norms of the previous time. So, for example, in Afghanistan the Sharia of the 80s. of our century allowed women not to cover their faces with a veil, and men not to grow beards. In the 90s. of our century, the Sharia of the same country categorically forbade women to appear in public places with open faces, and men not to have a beard. Differences in the Sharia of different countries often lead to disputes between Muslims over the question of which of them professes true Islam.somewhat different from the norms of the past. So, for example, in Afghanistan the Sharia of the 80s. of our century allowed women not to cover their faces with a veil, and men not to grow beards. In the 90s. of our century, the Sharia of the same country categorically forbade women to appear in public places with open faces, and men not to have a beard. Differences in the Sharia of different countries often lead to disputes between Muslims over the question of which of them professes true Islam.somewhat different from the norms of the past. So, for example, in Afghanistan the Sharia of the 80s. of our century allowed women not to cover their faces with a veil, and men not to grow beards. In the 90s. of our century, the Sharia of the same country categorically forbade women to appear in public places with open faces, and men not to have a beard. Differences in the Sharia of different countries often lead to disputes between Muslims over the question of which of them professes true Islam. Differences in the Sharia of different countries often lead to disputes between Muslims over the question of which of them professes true Islam. Differences in the Sharia of different countries often lead to disputes between Muslims over the question of which of them professes true Islam.
Sharia contains certain food prohibitions within itself. In particular, Sharia law prohibits Muslims from eating pork and drinking alcoholic beverages. You cannot eat the meat of sharks, crabs, crayfish, meat of predatory animals. In a number of countries, Muslim authorities introduce into the Sharia not only compulsory prescriptions and prohibitions, but also punishments for violations of these prescriptions and prohibitions (public flogging, imprisonment, cutting off the hand, the death penalty, etc.).
The clergy teach that there are three types of prayers: shahada (daily testimony of faith), namaz (five times obligatory daily prayer) and additional prayer.
Shahada (from Arabic - “testimony”) is a short formula in Arabic: “La illyaha illyalahu wa Muhammadun rasul llyakhi” (“There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger”). Shahada is pronounced only in Arabic, it is repeated several times a day, it is necessarily included as a part of the other two types of prayer. If a non-Muslim pronounced the Shahadah in front of two Muslim men, then he becomes a Muslim (albeit, provided that he had previously expressed a desire to become a Muslim).
Namaz (from Persian - "prayer") is a daily five-fold prayer cycle. Therefore, we can talk about Muslims performing five prayers a day. Namaz includes established verbal formulas (necessarily in Arabic), certain postures (standing, bowing, kneeling, sitting on the heels) and certain movements. The collection of formulas, postures and movements is called rakat. Namaz is performed: the first time - at dawn (two rak'ahs), the second - around noon, (four rak'ahs), the third - between noon and sunset (four rak'ahs), the fourth - after sunset (three rak'ats), the fifth - before going to bed (four rak'ahs)). Before prayer, a Muslim must perform ablution, women must pray separately from men. Namaz can be performed collectively and individually, inside and outside the mosque.
All prayers that are not shahadah (although the shahada must necessarily enter into them as a special prayer part) and namaz are considered additional. A Muslim can compose the text of these prayers himself. These prayers can (and, as a rule, are performed) in the native language. It is through additional prayers that a Muslim expresses his requests to Allah. They can be spoken at any time of the day. All prayers should be performed by Muslims, facing towards the holy city of Mecca.
Every Muslim has a duty to participate in the struggle for the faith. The struggle for faith is designated by the term "jihad" ("effort", "diligence") Muslim theologians distinguish four types of jihad. The first is the jihad of the sword. This is participation in the armed struggle against the infidels. This type of jihad is declared in a situation when the country in which the Muslims live takes part in any hostilities. So, from 1980 to 1988, Iran and Iraq were at war with each other. In both countries, Shiites predominate among believers (although there are more of them in Iran). The spiritual leaders of both countries called the Muslims of the neighboring country “infidels” and accordingly mutually declared jihad to them. Other types of jihad exist constantly. The second is the jihad of the hand. This refers to the adoption of certain disciplinary measures against criminals and violators of moral norms. Least,jihad of the hand is used in the family by the elders in relation to the younger ones. The third type is the jihad of the language. This type of jihad means the duty of believers to approve of others when they do things that are pleasing to Allah and to blame them for violating Sharia law. And the fourth type of jihad is the jihad of the heart, which means the struggle of every Muslim with his own vices and shortcomings.
The pilgrimage to Mecca is designated in Islam by the term "Hajj". In fact, most pilgrims visit not only Mecca (the city where Muhammad was born), but also Medina (the city where he died and was buried; 450 km from Mecca). But the only mandatory for pilgrims is a visit to Mecca.
The main idea of the teaching is in the requirement addressed to every Muslim: if he has physical and material capabilities, then at least once in his life he must either personally make a pilgrimage to Mecca, or send his deputy to Mecca. In the historical past, the requirement for personal pilgrimage was the only one. But as the number of Muslims in the world increased, its literal fulfillment became unrealistic. Then the idea of a deputy appeared. The Muslim is obliged to provide his deputy with the money necessary for the pilgrimage, and the deputy, in turn, is obliged to bring the one he replaces with a document: a certificate of the performed Hajj. Only one certificate is handed to one Muslim, so the deputy must be a person who has already participated in the Hajj in the past. The pilgrimage should be performed at a certain time of the year, namely in the last twelfth month of the lunar year (this month is called dhu-l-hijja). In the Hajj there is a mandatory part (these are the days of the calendar on which pilgrims should be in Mecca and its surroundings) and an additional part (these are the days "before" or "after" the obligatory part; during this time, pilgrims can visit Medina, as well as other sacred places Arabian Peninsula). Pilgrims should arrive in Mecca by the 7th of the Muslim month of Dhu-l-hijjjah, be in Mecca and its environs for 7 days and every day perform the rituals prescribed for this day by the Shariah. These are: bypassing the Kaaba (a sacred building in the courtyard of the main mosque in Mecca), drinking water from a sacred well, jogging seven times between two hills (the distance between them is about 300 meters),prayer standing in the valley near Mount Arafat (18 km. from Mecca) from 12 noon until sunset (about 7 hours), picking up 7 stones in another valley, throwing these stones in the third valley of a stone pillar, which symbolizes Shaitan, and and finally the sacrifice of livestock. Muslims have a lunar calendar, and therefore, in terms of the solar time, the pilgrimage can be in any month. More than 2 million Muslims have performed Hajj every year. On the obligatory days of the Hajj, every Muslim must wear ihram (specific clothing: two pieces of white cloth without seams; one must skillfully wrap oneself in these pieces of cloth) and recite the shahadah at least 100 times daily.throwing these stones in the third valley of the stone pillar, which symbolizes Shaitan, and finally the sacrifice of cattle. Muslims have a lunar calendar, and therefore, in terms of the solar time, the pilgrimage can be in any month. More than 2 million Muslims have performed Hajj every year. On the obligatory days of the Hajj, every Muslim must wear ihram (specific clothing: two pieces of white cloth without seams; one must skillfully wrap oneself in these pieces of cloth) and recite the shahadah at least 100 times daily.throwing these stones in the third valley of the stone pillar, which symbolizes Shaitan, and finally the sacrifice of cattle. Muslims have a lunar calendar, and therefore, in terms of the solar time, the pilgrimage can be in any month. More than 2 million Muslims have performed Hajj every year. On the obligatory days of the Hajj, every Muslim must wear ihram (specific clothing: two pieces of white cloth without seams; one must skillfully wrap oneself in these pieces of cloth) and recite the shahadah at least 100 times daily. On the obligatory days of the Hajj, every Muslim must wear ihram (specific clothing: two pieces of white cloth without seams; one must skillfully wrap oneself in these pieces of cloth) and recite the shahadah at least 100 times daily. On the obligatory days of the Hajj, every Muslim must wear ihram (specific clothing: two pieces of white cloth without seams; one must skillfully wrap oneself in these pieces of cloth) and recite the shahadah at least 100 times daily.
In the ninth month of the lunar calendar (the name of the month is Ramadan; in another pronunciation, Ramadan), Muslims are obliged to observe fasting (from Arabic - "saum", from Turkish - "Uraza"). Those who, due to objective circumstances, cannot observe it right now, are exempt from fasting in the month of Ramadan, subject to the condition of observing it at another time: those who participate in hostilities, are in captivity, are on the way, sick. Children, the elderly, pregnant and lactating women are exempted from fasting without any conditions. Fasting consists in complete abstinence during the daytime from food, drink, smoking, entertainment. For Muslims living in the northern regions, where there are so-called "white nights" (and closer to the Arctic Circle there is no light at all in winter, and darkness in summer), the hour of the beginning and end of the fast is set by the decisions of the Muslim clergy.
Islam is the second religion in the world and the second religion in Russia. This fact already requires any cultured person to study Islam.