What is Islam?

What is Islam?: the cards as text

Islam 101. Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review.

  1. Card 1

    One sentence, said in a desert town, now lived by a quarter of humanity.

  2. Card 2

    A word that means handing yourself over

    The message was called islam. In Arabic the word means submitting: handing yourself over to God, willingly. It grows from a root that also gives the words for peace and safety. A Muslim is someone who does that.

  3. Card 3

    Qur'an 3:67

    مَا كَانَ إِبۡرَٰهِيمُ يَهُودِيࣱّا وَلَا نَصۡرَانِيࣱّا وَلَٰكِن كَانَ حَنِيفࣱا مُّسۡلِمࣱا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ ٱلۡمُشۡرِكِينَ ۝٦٧

    67 Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a monotheist Muslim, and he was not one of the polytheists.

  4. Card 4

    Lesson: Islam is named after an act, not a person: handing yourself over to God.

  5. Card 5

    One God, and what that rules out

    The message itself fits in a sentence: God is one. No partner, no child, no equal. Allah is simply the Arabic word for God. Arabic-speaking Christians and Jews pray to Allah too.

  6. Card 6

    Qur'an 112:1-4

    قُلۡ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ۝١ ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ ۝٢ لَمۡ يَلِدۡ وَلَمۡ يُولَدۡ ۝٣ وَلَمۡ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدُۢ ۝٤

    1 Say: “He is Allah, the One; 2 Allah, the Eternal Refuge. 3 He neither begets nor is He begotten, 4 and there is none comparable to Him.”

  7. Card 7

    Lesson: Allah is not another god. It is the Arabic word for the one God of Abraham.

  8. Card 8

    Not the first messenger

    Muhammad never claimed to be the first. Muslims believe God sent messengers to every people: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and many more, all with the same core message. He is believed to be the last.

  9. Card 9

    Qur'an 2:136

    قُولُوٓاْ ءَامَنَّا بِٱللَّهِ وَمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيۡنَا وَمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَىٰٓ إِبۡرَٰهِـۧمَ وَإِسۡمَٰعِيلَ وَإِسۡحَٰقَ وَيَعۡقُوبَ وَٱلۡأَسۡبَاطِ وَمَآ أُوتِيَ مُوسَىٰ وَعِيسَىٰ وَمَآ أُوتِيَ ٱلنَّبِيُّونَ مِن رَّبِّهِمۡ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيۡنَ أَحَدࣲ مِّنۡهُمۡ وَنَحۡنُ لَهُۥ مُسۡلِمُونَ ۝١٣٦

    136 Say [O believers], “We believe in Allah and what has been sent down to us; and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the descendants [of Jacob]; and what was given to Moses and Jesus; and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we submit.”

  10. Card 10

    Lesson: To a Muslim, Moses and Jesus are prophets too.

  11. Card 11

    What it asks of an ordinary day

    Belief comes with practice: prayer five times a day, yearly charity, fasting in Ramadan, one pilgrimage in a lifetime. But the Qur'an itself warns that ritual alone is not the point. How you treat people is.

  12. Card 12

    Qur'an 2:177

    ۞ لَّيۡسَ ٱلۡبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّواْ وُجُوهَكُمۡ قِبَلَ ٱلۡمَشۡرِقِ وَٱلۡمَغۡرِبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱلۡبِرَّ مَنۡ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡيَوۡمِ ٱلۡأٓخِرِ وَٱلۡمَلَٰٓئِكَةِ وَٱلۡكِتَٰبِ وَٱلنَّبِيِّـۧنَ وَءَاتَى ٱلۡمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِۦ ذَوِي ٱلۡقُرۡبَىٰ وَٱلۡيَتَٰمَىٰ وَٱلۡمَسَٰكِينَ وَٱبۡنَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ وَٱلسَّآئِلِينَ وَفِي ٱلرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتَى ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَٱلۡمُوفُونَ بِعَهۡدِهِمۡ إِذَا عَٰهَدُواْۖ وَٱلصَّٰبِرِينَ فِي ٱلۡبَأۡسَآءِ وَٱلضَّرَّآءِ وَحِينَ ٱلۡبَأۡسِۗ أُوْلَٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ صَدَقُواْۖ وَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلۡمُتَّقُونَ ۝١٧٧

    177 It is not righteousness to turn your faces towards the east or the west, but righteousness is to believe in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Scriptures, and the prophets; and to give charity out of one’s cherished wealth to relatives, orphans, the needy, the wayfarer, beggars, and to free slaves; to establish prayer and give zakah; to fulfill the ratified pledges; to be patient at times of hardship, adversity, and during the battle. Such are the true believers, and such are the righteous.

  13. Card 13

    Lesson: The Qur'an itself says ritual without character misses the point.

  14. Card 14

    Who lives by it now

    Fourteen centuries on, about a quarter of the world's people are Muslim. Most are not Arab. The country with the most Muslims is Indonesia. In South Africa, Muslims have lived for more than three centuries.

  15. Card 15

    Lesson: Most Muslims are not Arab, and never have been since the faith spread.

  16. Card 16

    Reflect: What does the word islam mean?

    Answer: Submission to God. Submission: giving yourself over to God willingly. It shares its root with the Arabic word for peace.

  17. Card 17

    The end of What is Islam?.

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