Islam Frequantly Asked Questions

Q 1: Is it true that the religion of Islam is called Muhammadanism?

A 1: No! If anyone, who wants to insult a Muslim, he would state that Muhammadanism is the religion of Islam. Anyone who wants to submit willingly in peace to the One God (Allah), he or she is called a Muslim, and the religion is Islam. It is the religion of peace, harmony, concord and happiness with serenity.

Q 2: Is it true that Muslims are called Muhammadans?

A 2: No! The followers of the religion of Islam are called Muslims. They worship the Only One Creator, namely Allah. Muslims do not worship Muhammad, and the founder of Islam is Allah. Muhammad is not divine, the divinity belongs to Allah alone. Muhammad is not an immortal being. Allah alone is immortal. Therefore, Muslims are those individuals who submit to Allah willingly in peace. They are the ones who make their Pledge of Allegiance daily to Allah.

Q 3: What is the difference between Moslems and Muslims?

A 3: The Arabic word for the followers of Islam is Muslims. There is nothing called Moslems. The latter word may give a wrong information about Muslims. It may reflect Zulm and Zalam. The first means injustice, while the latter means darkness and medieval Muslims prefer to be called Muslims, and they do recommend that non-Muslims should try to pronounce these names of Islam and Muslims as good as possible.

Q 4: Is it true that all Arabs are Muslims, and that all Muslims are Arabs?

A 4: No! Any person who reads, writes and speaks the Arabic language is called an Arab. There are about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. 20% are considered Arabs while the rest are non-Arabs.

Among the Arab people there are about 8% who are non-Muslims, such as Christians, Jews, Assyrians, Atheists, Agnostics, etc.

However, every Muslim has to study and learn the Arabic language so that he/she will be able to pray daily and to read Qur'an and the Arabic language.

Q 5: Is it true that Muslims worship Muhammad?

A 5: Not at all! Muslims do worship Allah. For that reason they are not called Muhammadans. Christians do worship Christ, hence they are called Christians. Muslims do not worship any person at all. They obey Allah and they demonstrate their obedience to Him in all aspects of life. For that reason they are called Muslims.

Q 6: Is it true that the founder of Islam is Muhammad?

A 6: This is not true at all!... Muslims believe that the founder of Islam is Allah, the Creator of the whole universe. Islam is therefore is the religion of obedience to Allah.

Q 7: In secular countries, the Pledge of Allegiance is to the nag of the country that a person belongs to. How do Muslims look at such a pledge?

A 7: Any person who makes his Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of his country, he is legally responsible to defend that country according to what the political leaders decide. The leaders may decide to invade other countries and commit all types of injustices, atrocities, and crimes. As a citizen he has to follow their orders after drafting him in the Army.

A Muslim's loyalty is to Allah. He will never obey political leaders unless they themselves obey Allah. Allah will never allow any leader to commit atrocities, injustice, or crimes. Invading other countries and killing other people are among the biggest crimes. Therefore, the masses as well as the leaders should make a Pledge of Allegiance to Allah, the Creator of the whole universe.

Q 8: Since the Pledge of Allegiance of Muslims is only to Allah, so what is that Pledge, and what does it mean?

A 8:Yes, the Pledge of Allegiance of Muslims is only to Allah, the Creator of the Universe. Muslims have to say daily the Pledge in the language of the Qur'an, i.e., Arabic. They have to recite it vocally individually and collectively. They may pronounce it verbally, privately, and silently too.

The Pledge goes as follows:

"Ashhadu Anla ilaha Illa Allah...Wa Ashhadu Anna MuHammadan Rasoolu Allah."

"I bear witness that there is no one worthy of worship except God (Allah)... And I bear witness that Prophet Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

Q 9: Once I was talking to a Muslim saying to him that as Christians we believe in the Unity of God. He informed me that Muslims do not believe in the Unity of God but in the Oneness of God. I got confused. Would you kindly elaborate for me the difference.

A 9: Thank you very much for raising a very fundamental principle in Islam. Muslims believe in the Oneness of God. They do not believe in the concept of Unity of God.

The word unity may give a wrong impression about the concept of God. It may mean two gods in one, or three gods in one. As Christians, you believe in three gods in one: God the father, god the son and god the holy spirit. Three in One. This is the concept of Unity of God.

Muslims do not subscribe to this concept. God is the only One. He is One-in-One. He begets no one; and no one begotten Him. He is the Creator of the whole universe. No one shares with Him His Sovereignty.

Q 10: What are the legal sources of Islam?

A 10: The sources of Islam are the Qur'an, the Hadith, the Sirah, and the Unanimous decisions of the early Muslim Scholars.