The power of Islam: the true story behind the world's most misunderstood religion - Special Report

0 Comments | Current Events, Jan 25, 2002

THE RELIGION OF ISLAM has had a lot of bad press recently. The terrorists who destroyed New York's World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon have been described as "Islamic extremists." The Taliban, who until recently controlled Afghanistan and stomped on everyone's rights, did so in the name of Islam. A group called Islamic Jihad has taken credit for a series of recent terror bombings in Israel.

Are those examples representative of the religion of Islam? In no way, shape, or form, say most Muslims. To most of the world's almost 1.5 billion Muslims, those examples describe only a very tiny minority of the faithful. Muslims say to brand a whole religion with the crimes of a few is grossly unfair and hurtful--similar to blaming Christianity for the actions of terrorists in Northern Ireland.

To Muslims, Islam represents not the darkness of terrorism, but the light of faith. Here, in question-and-answer form, are some of the basic truths behind the world's second largest (only Christianity is larger) religion:

Q: What does Islam mean?

A: Islam is an Arabic word meaning "submission [to God]."'

Muslim is an Arabic word meaning "one who submits [to God's will]." The Arabic word for God is Allah.

A Man Named Muhammad

Q: How did Islam begin?

A: Islam began more than 1,300 years ago in what is now Saudi Arabia. According to Muslim belief, in the year 610 in the city of Mecca, a merchant named Muhammad was meditating in a cave in the hills above the city. Suddenly, he heard a thundering voice.

"Speak!" commanded the voice.

Muhammad saw nothing but felt as if powerful hands were gripping his body. He was terrified. Muhammad did not know what the voice wanted him to say.

Then--in a flash--Muhammad understood. The voice was that of the angel Gabriel. Muhammad asked Gabriel what he wanted. The angel commanded him to teach the true religion in the name of Allah, the compassionate, the merciful.

Muhammad rushed home to tell his wife what had happened. She called her cousin, a Christian, to find out what Muhammad's experience meant. The old Christian man said that Muhammad must have been chosen by Allah, as had prophets in earlier times, to deliver God's message.

Muhammad returned to the cave many times during the next 23 years. Each time he memorized, and had scribes later write down, the words of Allah as told through the angel Gabriel.

Q: What did Muhammad do with the words?

A: The words became the Koran, the holy book of Islam. Muslims believe that the Koran is the revealed word of God and use it as the prime source of their faith and way of life. The Koran teaches of a single, all-powerful God, Allah. It also teaches that Allah is just and merciful and wants people to repent their sins so they can enter paradise after death.

Not only does the Koran talk about the importance of belief but it also lays out detailed guidelines for proper human conduct. The Koran stresses charity and brotherly love among Muslims. It also teaches that Muslims must be humble in spirit, refrain from drinking alcohol, and be brave and just in their dealings with other Muslims.

Islam teaches that death is the gate to eternal life. The tortures of Muslim hell resemble those in the Christian Bible. The Muslim heaven is often described as a beautiful garden with flowing waters and luscious fruits.

Q: How did the influence of Islam spread?

A: Muhammad soon began to preach the words of the Koran to the people of Mecca. But he at first attracted only a small group of followers. The rest of the people, who worshiped idols, persecuted the Muslims. This persecution grew so severe that in the year 622, Muhammad and his followers fled Mecca for the city of Medina, 260 miles to the north. This event, called the Hegira, marks year one in the Muslim calendar.

In the year 630, Muhammad and his followers returned to Mecca with an army and conquered the city. Shortly thereafter, just about all of Mecca's population converted to Islam.

Conquest by War

When Muhammad died in 632 at the age of 63, most of the people of Arabia had already converted to the new religion. Muhammad's followers elected Abu Bakr caliph, or successor, to Muhammad as the leader of the faith. Abu Bakr declared the first in a series of jihads, or holy wars, in which Muslim armies exploded out of Arabia to conquer much of Asia, North Africa, and parts of Europe.

Within a century after Muhammad's death, Islam had spread all the way to Spain in the west and as far as China in the east. Only military defeat at Tours, France, in 732 kept the Muslim armies from conquering large parts of Europe.

The Koran allows jihads against unbelievers who threaten the Muslim faith. Today, almost all Muslim clerics, however, interpret this part of the Koran to apply only to major wars between countries, not terrorist acts.

Many books credit the rapid spread of Islam to the fighting abilities of Muslim armies. But many Muslims themselves say that at least as much credit must be given to the great appeal of Islam as a new religion for millions of converts.