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Islam: The second largest
world religion...and growing.

Quotations:

	"The messenger of Allah said: "Islam is to testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah, to perform the prayers, to pay the zakat, to fast in Ramadhan, and to make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do so." He said: " You have spoken rightly", Jebreel (Gabriel) from Number 2 of "Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths." 1
	"If anyone harms (others), God will harm him, and if anyone shows hostility to others, God will show hostility to him." Sunan of Abu-Dawood, Hadith 1625.
	"Those who believe (in the Quran), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians...and (all) who believe in God and the last day and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."  The Qur'an, 2:62
	"Jim Jones, David Koresh and Meir Kahane do not typify Christianity and Judaism in the eyes of the civilized West, but those same eyes are prone to see Osama bin Laden and Mullah Muhammad Omar as typifying Islam," Richard Bulliet 2

About Islam:

Estimates of the total number of Muslims range from 0.7 to 1.2 billion worldwide and 1.1 to 7 million in the U.S.  ₃ About 21% of all people on Earth follow Islam. The religion is currently in a period of rapid growth.

Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world. It is followed by about 33% of all people -- a percentage that has remained stable for decades. If current trends continue, Islam will become the most popular world religion sometime in the mid-21^st century.

Topics included in this section:

	Information about Islam: "The Truth About Islam": A description in about 600 words The character and attributes of Allah Introduction to Islam: Part 1: Its origin, Muhammad, texts, beliefs,  etc. Part 2: Its practices, schools, holy days, etc. Comparing the beliefs of Islam and Christianity  Comparing their growth rates How many Muslims are there in the U.S. and in the rest of the world?
	Muslim information sources Muslim books, web sites, forums, and web rings Links to web sites featuring clothing, cards, etc.
	Quotations: Quotations from the Qur'an About the Hadith: sayings of Muhammad Examples of Hadiths Comparison of Qur'an verses with the Hebrew Scriptures' Ten Commandments
	Beliefs and Practices: Apostasy  (Irtidad) -- abandoning Islam The environment and global warming The Hajj -- pilgrimage to Mecca The significance of Eid-Ul-Adha Holy days of Islam -- seasonal days of observance and celebration Homosexuality Reasons why same-sex marriage is bad, as given on Aljazeera's web site The concept of Jihad Sharia law Punishment for non-marital sex Sharia law in Ontario, Canada Sharia law in the UK When is killing innocent humans permitted? Terrorist attacks and the principle of tattarrus Paradise: life after death The fast during Ramadan Determining the dates of Ramadan Status of women: Female genital mutilation among Animists, Christians, and Muslims The role of women in predominately Muslim countries Corporal punishment of women
	Tolerance items: Accommodation for and by Muslims in North America Islamic prayers in public schools Senate/House resolutions promoting religious tolerance towards Muslims. Why do "they" hate the West? "Terror has no faith" An essay by Ibraham Hooper of CAIR Religious intolerance in Florida against Muslims
	Peace: A prayer for peace and unity Appeal for peace by Muslim scholars, sent to Christian leaders
	Conflicts: Verbal attacks on Muslims by Fundamentalist and other conservative Christian leaders Attacks on Muslims by Roman Catholic leaders Beliefs about Islam by the American public Is Islam a religion of violence or peace? Hate crimes against Muslims and mosques A book about Islam on the University of Northern California reading list Terrorist attacks in America 2001-SEP-11, not by typical Muslims, but by extremist, radical, fundamentalist, Muslim terrorists. The Washington-area sniper Al Qaeda's beheading of Paul Johnson in Saudi Arabia An excerpt about Iran from a book by Reza Aslan titled "No god but God" A sampling of fatwas and other statements during 2005 condemning terrorist acts Radical Muslim group(s) in U.S. Prisons 2006 conference in Iran of Nazi Holocaust deniers
	Religious terms: Can a person be both a Christian and a Muslim? "Fundamentalism" within Christianity and Islam Names given to the "Holy Land" Religious terms used to refer to Islam and Muslims

In addition to the above, we have short passages on:

	Virgin birth of Jesus (pbuh)
	Jesus' (pbuh) sinlessness

Amazon.com provides these books on Islam:

If you see a generic Amazon.com ad here, click on your browser's refresh button to get a book list.

Online translations of the Qur'an:

GuidedWays has a number of translations of the Qur'an available for free:

	For an English translation, go to http://www.guidedways.com/. Click on the "Quran" button underneath the graphic; select "translation;" select "English" (or any of eight other languages), and select from one of up to four translations. You can select any of the chapters and display the translation.
	A Qur'an reader for Java-enabled mobile phones is available at: http://www.guidedways.com/
	For a Qur'an reciter in many languages, see: http://www.guidedways.com/

References used:

The following information sources were used to prepare and update the above essay. The hyperlinks are not necessarily still active today.

1. Yahya bin Sharaf Ul-Deen An-Nawawi , "Al-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths." This is a compilation of 43 sayings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). See: http://www.dartmouth.edu/
2. Richard Bulliet, "The case for Islamo-Christian civilization," Columbia University Press, (2004). Read reviews or order this book safely from Amazon.com online book store
3. The estimate of 1.1 million Muslim in the U.S. was derived from the American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) of 2001. It was based on a telephone survey. See: http://www.gc.cuny.edu/The seven million estimate was obtained from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) website. It was based on the number of immigrants from Islamic countries. See: http://www.cair-net.org/

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Copyright © 1995 to 2009 by Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance
Last update: 2009-MAY-31
Author: B. A. Robinson

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