Word: faithfulness
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Some observers believe that the Muslims have more freedom than any other religious group in the Soviet Union to practice their faith. The mosques are full on Fridays and holy days, and small delegations have been allowed to leave the country to take part in the hajj. Muslim leaders, the muftis, have apparently worked out a kind of modus vivendi with the government; in exchange for being allowed to practice their religion they often support the government on major policy questions. Any kind of Islamic resistance to the Soviet system would probably emerge from a large network of Sufi brotherhoods...
Eight words in Arabic sum up the central belief of the world's 750 million Muslims: "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." Five times a day, from Djakarta to Samarkand to Lagos, this shahada (confession of faith) is recited by the devout as muezzins (callers to prayer) summon them to worship...
...forbids shirk-that is, the association of anyone or anything with God's divinity. Along with Moses and Abraham, Jesus is revered by Muslims as one of the 25 scriptural prophets of God, and Islam accepts both his virgin birth and his miracles. But Muslims believe that Christian faith in the divinity of Jesus is polytheism. They resent being called "Muhammadans," which suggests that Muhammad's role in Islam is similar to that of Jesus in Christianity. The Prophet is revered as God's final Messenger to mankind, but is not worshiped as a divine being...
Because they accept the Bible, Jews and Christians have a special status in Islam as "People of the Book." Muslims also believe that the Bible in its present form is corrupt and that the true faith was revealed only to Muhammad. Those revelations are contained in the Koran, the Arabic word for recitation. Slightly shorter than the New Testament, the Koran has little narrative. There are evocations of divine grandeur in rhymed prose, florid descriptions of the harsh fate that awaits those who knowingly ignore God's will, and detailed instructions on specific ways that man must submit...
...basic spiritual duties of Islam are summed up in the so-called five pillars of faith. They are: 1) accepting the shahada; 2) the daily prayers to God while facing Mecca; 3) charitable giving; 4) fasting during the daylight hours of Ramadan, a 29-or 30-day month in Islam's lunar calendar;* and 5) making the hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca at least once in an individual's lifetime-if he or she is financially and physically able. Some Muslims argue that there is a sixth pillar of the faith, namely jihad. The word is frequently translated...