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ISLAMIC OVERVIEW
Islam is one of the three major world religions belonging to the
Semitic family; it was promulgated by the Prophet Muhammad in Arabia in
the 7th century AD. The Arabic term islam, literally
"surrender," illuminates the fundamental religious idea of
Islam--that the believer (called a Muslim, from the active particle of islam)
accepts "surrender to the will of Allah (Arabic: God)." Allah
is viewed as the sole God--creator, sustainer, and restorer of the
world. The will of Allah, to which man must submit, is made known
through the sacred scriptures, the Qur'an (Koran), which Allah revealed
to his messenger, Muhammad. In Islam Muhammad is considered the last of a series of
prophets (including Adam, Noah, Jesus, and others), and his message
simultaneously consummates and abrogates the "revelations"
attributed to earlier prophets. Retaining its emphasis on an uncompromising monotheism and
a strict adherence to certain essential religious practices, the
religion taught by Muhammad to a small group of followers spread rapidly
through the Middle East to Africa, Europe, the Indian subcontinent, the
Malay Peninsula, and China. Although many sectarian movements have arisen within
Islam, all Muslims are bound by a common faith and a sense of belonging
to a single community.
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