Welcome to our celebration of Ramadan 2008. Join us as we countdown this week before Ramadan which begins next Monday, September 01st.*

In our countdown to Ramadan we’ve explored - what exactly is Ramadan and a look at the Five Pillars of the Muslim Faith? Today we’re going to take a look at the Muslim Faith and what it menas to be a Muslim.

Islam
Islam is a monotheistic world religion practiced by 1 billion people around the globe, of which less than 1/5th are Arab. Islam, which in Arabic means peace or submission to God, began in the 7th century CE when Allah (God, in Arabic) revealed the holy book of the Qur’an to the Muslim prophet, Muhammad.

While less than one-fifth of Muslims are Arab, the language of Islamic practice is Arabic, since that is the language used by Allah to reveal the Qur’an to Muhammad. There are Five Pillars, or essential tenets, of the Islamic faith, including the belief in God (Allah), five-times daily ritual prayer, alms-giving, fasting during Ramadan, pilgrimage to Mecca.

Islam is the third of the three major monotheistic religions, including Judaism and Christianity. Muslims believe that Allah revealed the Qur’an to his prophet Muhammad as the final holy book. The faith also accepts the prophecy of the Jewish Bible and the Christian scriptures.

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Stop by tomorrow for our continuing countdown to Ramadan 2008. And for more information visit our holiday celebration - Ramadan on the Net.

*(according to Saudi Ummul-Qura calendar, Fiqh Council of North America, and European Council for Fatwa and Research, the first day of Ramadan is on Monday, September 1, 2008 - source: Moonsighting.com)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 1:00 am and is filed under General, Ramadan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.