Muslim hall

Religious beliefs of the Arabs before the adoption of Islam

The Arabian Peninsula is where the ancient shrine for all the peoples of the peninsula is located - a sanctuary located in the ancient city of Mecca. Statues of all ancestral gods were installed here, and there was also a sacred Black Stone (scientists assume that it is of meteoritic origin), stored in a specially built room in the shape of a cube — a Kaaba.

The keepers of the sanctuary of Mecca from ancient times were representatives of the Quraysh family respected by all Arabs (Quraysh or Quraysh). It was from this family that the man who founded the youngest of the three world religions came. His name was Muhammad (years of life 26 Apr. 570 — June 8, 632), and the religion founded by him was called Islam (from the Arab. "worship") or Islam (from. Arab. "muslim" — "worshipper").

Muhammad is the founder of Islam
According to legend, Muhammad learned that an unusual fate awaited him as a boy when angels unexpectedly appeared to him, who took his heart out of his chest and removed a small black drop from there, and then washed his entire body from the inside with the purest white snow.
Muhammad grew up, began to conduct a successful trade, successfully and profitably married. He was an inquisitive person and liked to listen to the stories of Christians and Jews who sometimes met in his hometown of Mecca about their one and omnipotent God, and often thought about the "eternal questions" of existence. He spent a lot of time in such reflections, retiring on Mount Hira in the vicinity of Mecca.
On one of these nights, when Muhammad was already 40 years old, a wonderful guest appeared to him with a scroll in his hands, and ordered: "Read!". Surprised, Muhammad replied that he could not read. Then the guest squeezed his chest so hard that Muhammad began to choke, and the command sounded again: "Read!". Muhammad again tried to explain that he would not be able to do this, and again felt that he did not have enough air. It also happened a third time. And when Muhammad asked fearfully: "What should I read?" he heard the words uttered by an unknown messenger, and began to repeat them, feeling as if these words were imprinted forever in his heart: "Read, in the name of your Lord, who created... man from a clot. Read it! And your Lord is the Most Generous, who... taught man what he did not know." Then the alien said the following: "O Muhammad, you are the Messenger of Allah, and I am Jibril." After that, the angel (and this was the messenger of God, who is called Gabriel in the Bible) disappeared as suddenly as he appeared.
Since then, Muhammad often began to receive revelations from God through Jibril, which he remembered and told about them only to the closest people – his wife and several relatives. When there were too many revelations, he spoke for the first time in the main city square with words received from Allah himself — the only God, the Creator of all things, the Ruler of the World and destinies.
However, the Meccans did not accept the new teaching, they began to persecute Muhammad and his few supporters. Then the Prophet decided to leave his hometown and with a handful of followers went to Yasrib (now it is called Medina – "The City of the Prophet"). This event, which took place in 622, was called "hijra" and became the starting point of the chronology in the countries of Islam.
The inhabitants of Yasrib accepted not only Muhammad, but also his teachings. Within a few years, the Prophet had so many followers that a whole army was formed from them, with which he began to conquer neighboring territories, spreading Islam everywhere.
In the end, Mecca also submitted to Muhammad, where he ordered the destruction of the images of all the former idols and the destruction of the old pagan sanctuaries, with the exception of only the Kaaba, with the Black Stone stored in it, declaring it a Muslim shrine.

After these events, Islam began a victorious march around the world, becoming one of the most widespread religions on the globe.
The main tenets of Islam
Islam belongs to the Abrahamic religions, and therefore has much in common with Judaism and Christianity. Muhammad himself recognized that in essence all these religions are one, because God himself is one, but the faith revealed to people through the prophets has been distorted for centuries by both Jews and Christians. Muhammad saw his own role in correcting these mistakes and bringing to mankind the true (undistorted) teaching entrusted to him by Allah.
The basis of the faith were six basic dogmas, partially borrowed from Judaism and Christianity, but supplemented (edited) in the spirit of Islam:
1. Faith in the one God, called Allah in Islam. Note that unlike Christianity, Muslims profess strict monotheism (Tawhid). They do not recognize the Christian dogma of the trinity of God. Jesus Christ is NOT considered the son of God and the incarnation of God in a human body, but he is treated as a revered prophet (in Islam his name is pronounced Isa), who was not crucified, as Christians claim, but was ascended alive to Heaven by Allah.
2. Belief in the existence of angels and demons, as well as the existence of Hell and Heaven;
3. Faith in the impending End of the World for humanity, the Day of Judgment and the coming resurrection for the righteous;
4. Faith in the prophets (messengers) of God (Muslims regard as such, among many others, the biblical Moses (Musa), Abraham (Ibrahim), Isaac (Ismail), David (Daud), Solomon (Suleiman), Jesus (Isa), etc.). The last and most revered of the prophets, according to according to Muslims, is Muhammad;
5. Faith in the Holy scriptures sent down by Allah to people in different periods of human history: Taura (the Torah of Moses), Zabur (the Book of Psalms of the biblical king David), Injil (the Gospel — books expounding the teachings of Jesus Christ) and some others. However, according to Muslims, all these messages were distorted by people. The most authentic revelation given by Allah to Muhammad contains the Koran, the holy book of Muslims.;
6. Faith in predestination. Muslims believe that the destinies of all things (Qadar) are predetermined and all events in the world occur according to the plan or with the approval of the Creator — Allah. However, a person is endowed with freedom of will, that is, the ability to make a choice in his actions between good and evil, thus he becomes an "accomplice" or "co-creator" of Allah in shaping his own destiny.

Holy Books of Muslims
These tenets of faith are fixed in the Holy Book of Islam, mentioned earlier — the Koran (from the Arab. "al-Quran" — "reading aloud"). Muhammad himself, receiving God's revelations, transmitted them orally.
After his death, all these messages were recorded by those who personally heard them from the Prophet himself.
The Quran is written in Arabic in a special rhymed prose, in verse. It consists of 114 chapters, which are called surahs (Arabic. "row", "rank"). Surahs, in turn, are divided into verses — verses (Arabic. "sign", "miracle")..
Because Muslims believe that everything written in the Quran is not a product of human creativity, but the words of the God, then this book is treated not as a source of information, but as an object of religious worship. That is why, for many centuries of the existence of Islam, the Koran was forbidden to be translated into national languages, since translation is a distortion of the word of God.
It should be noted that the Koran is not only a book of religious content and a Muslim shrine, but also a magnificent example of Arabic literature — a monument of world literature.
An example of a hadith:
"Fear Allah, wherever you are, and let every bad act of yours be followed by a good one that will make up for the previous one, and treat people well!".
Sharia. The Five Pillars of Islam
On the basis of the Koran and the Sunnah, legal norms regulating all aspects of a Muslim's life were developed in the countries of Islam, which were called sharia (literally, "deep knowledge"). It regulates not only the rules of the hostel in the ummah (Muslim community) and the degree of responsibility for certain actions, but also the personal attitudes (motives and goals of actions) of each believer, following which can become a kind of "road" to paradise.
For example, it is desirable for a man to have one wife, but polygamy is not prohibited (the Koran legalizes the presence of four wives), if a man is able to provide for all of them, and will treat everyone equally.
The most recommended food for a Muslim is honey and milk. It is not recommended, but it is not prohibited to eat horse meat, as well as garlic and onions. A follower of Islam can only eat pork under the threat of starvation.
Sharia categorically prohibits gambling, smoking, the use of alcoholic beverages, drugs, etc.
In addition to moral and legal prescriptions, Sharia approved certain duties for all professing Islam, forming the basis of faith, which were called the five pillars of Islam.:
1. Shahada — "testimony of faith" is a phrase that contains the essence of Islam as a religion and which every believer should know by heart: "La ilaha illa-l-lahu wa Muhammadun Rasulu-l-lahi" ("There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger"). The shahadah contains two most important dogmas of faith: the recognition of monotheism (tawhid) and the prophetic mission of Muhammad. Since the shahada served as a battle cry in the Muslim army, the soldiers who fought under the banners of Islam were called shahids.
2. Salat (Arabic). or Namaz (Persian) is a daily five—fold prayer. It takes place at a certain time of day, according to the position of the sun in the sky. When performing namaz, there is a special ritual - a certain sequence of movements, inclines and verbal formulas that a believer must adhere to. According to Sharia, prayer cannot be performed without taking a ritual ablution, since Islam pays special attention not only to the spiritual, but also to the physical purity of a person and is sensitive to personal hygiene issues.
3. Zakat is a mandatory tax paid by Muslims in favor of the poor and needy. It is charged only from adults once a year in the amount of 2.5% of any income or 10% of agricultural products (harvest). In addition, Muslims are encouraged to make sadaqah — voluntary (optional) donations in favor of the poor and the state.
4. Saum (Arabic) or Uraza (Persian) is a fast that every Muslim must observe during the holy month of Ramadan. It consists in refusing to eat and drink, as well as abstaining from any entertainment and pleasures during the daytime (from dawn to dusk). After dark, these prohibitions are lifted, but believers are not recommended to indulge in excesses, this time should be spent in meditation, prayer and reading the Koran.
5. Hajj is a pilgrimage to Mecca, which every believer must perform at least once in his life (provided that his state of health and material capabilities allow him to do so). If a person cannot perform the Hajj himself, then it is allowed to send a "substitute" in his place with payment of all his expenses.
Hajj takes place at a certain time of the year (in the month of zu-l-hijjah) for several days, when it is prescribed to perform a number of ritual actions and rituals sanctified by tradition. Among them: dressing in white clothes (ihram rite), prayer at Mount Arafat, throwing stones at a pillar symbolizing the devil in the Mina Valley, animal sacrifice, drinking water and washing from the Zamzam well, a seven-time circumambulation of the Kaaba, a run between the Safa and Marva hills. Those who have performed all these rituals receive the right to wear a white turban and the honorary title of hajj.
The concept of jihad ("effort") is also important in Islam — the struggle for faith. Representatives of various faiths and trends of Islam interpret it in different ways: from armed struggle and waging war against infidels (non-Muslims) to constant and tireless work on self-improvement of their own personality and elimination of any vices in themselves that are condemned by Islam.
The main currents of Islam
It remains to add that Islam has not formed the same structured organization that controls matters of faith and the actions of believers, similar to the Christian church. Therefore, literally immediately after the death of the Prophet, Islam began to split into various branches and directions, from which three main denominations stand out today: Sunnis (about 80% of all Muslims in the world adhere to it), Shiites and Sufis. The most aggressive are Wahhabis, most of them are in Saudi Arabia, it is forbidden even to import crosses, the gospel, etc., they say that they were created and sponsored by English immigrants.
В заключение параграфа следует отметить, что ислам (как и другие мировые религии) не одобряет неоправданного применения силы по отношению к иноверцам или атеистам, выступает против национальных и этнических распрей, учит, что для Бога важна не расовая, этническая или племенная принадлежность человека, а его внутренний мир и морально-этические жизненные установки.
Пророк Мухаммад говорил: «Нет разницы между арабом и неарабом, между белым и черным, и люди равны между собой как зубцы гребня». В Коране же написано от лица Аллаха: «Воистину, Мы создали вас мужчинами и женщинами, сделали вас народами и племенами, чтобы вы знали друг друга [творили друг другу добро]. Ведь самый благородный из вас перед Аллахом — наиболее благочестивый». Таким образом, важно не только во что и как ты веришь, а какой ты человек, каковы твои мысли и поступки по отношению к себе и окружающим.