Monday, October 22, 2007

Practices

Islam Teachings

Muslims believe that God is perfect, all-knowing and the ruler of all things. They focus on the oneness of God and believe that obedience to Him, and Him only, should be the most important thing in their life.

They follow the teachings in the Qu’ran which contains revelations sent by God to gude humans.

Muslims also believe that everyone is born without sin and that with God’s help, everyone can find salvation. To achieve salvation you must follow the revealed books of the prophets found in the Qu’ran.


The Five Pillars of Islam
Every action carried out to obey God is thought to be an act of worship in the Islam faith. Muslims are taught to respect their elders, be nice to all humans and animals, and to put their best effort into everything they do, even small daily tasks. The official acts of worship are known as the Five Pillars of Islam and serve as guidelines for Muslim’s daily life. They include Shahada (faith), Salat (prayer), Zakat (donation obligation) , Saum (fasting) and Hajj (Pilgrimage).
Major Holidays
There are two unique holidays that Muslims celebrate. The first one is called `Id al-Fitr (the Feast of Fast-Breaking) and the second is `Id al-Ad-ha (the Feast of the Sacrifice). `Id al-Fitr happens on the day after Ramadan and celebrates the end of the month long fast. Families get together and have a huge feast and kids are given lots of candy and sweets. `Id al-Ad-ha happens on the 10th day of Dhul-Hijja, the month of the hajj. During this celebration, Muslims choose and animal to sacrifice. They eat a small fraction of the animal and then give the rest of it to the less fortunate.
In some countries, Muslims also celebrate Muhammad’s birthday on the 12th day of the third Islamic month. They spend the day praying, reading the Qu’ran and other poems and stories that have been written in Muhammad’s honor.

Posted by Caitlin M

3 comments:

Ari said...

this is definitely a really interesting religion! i didn't know the holidays that muslims celebrated before reading this. I remember hearing somewhere that fasting was part of their religion, but I didn't know how it tied in. It's also awesome to know that in some countries muslims celebrate Muhammed's birthday!

Andrea D. said...

It really interesting to see how all the different religons cross over. Its really cool to see how similar they are. they are not as different as i thought.. this religon is so interesting! i want to learn more!

Judaism said...

This is a very interesting religion, I did not know that they chose an animal sacrafice to eat. I also was really interested in reading about their holiday's, and when they fasted. It would be really hard to fast, because most people are kind of set on a schedule where they eat at certain times throughout the day, and fasting would completely alter that, and make life very difficult.

Hailey C.