Review 1: Religion of Peace? Islam’s war against the world - Islam 101

Islam 101 is meant to help people become better educated about the fundamentals of Islam and to help the more knowledgeable better convey the facts to others. With the aim of lending clarity to the public understanding of Islam and of exposing the inadequacy of prevailing views.

Table of Contents

The Basics

a. The Five Pillars of Islam
b. The Quran -- the Book of Allah
c. The Sunnah -- the " Way" of the Prophet Muhammad

i. Battle of Badr
ii. Battle of Uhud
iii. Battle of Medina
iv. Conquest of Mecca

d. Sharia Law

Jihad and Dhimmitude

a. What does " jihad" mean?
b. Muslim Scholar Hasan Al-Banna on jihad
c. Dar al-Islam and dar al-harb: the House of Islam and the House of War

i. al-Taqiyya -- Religious Deception

ii. How al-Taqiyya is a central part of the Islamisation of Europe

iii. Quranic abrogation (Naskh)

d. Jihad Through History

i. The First Major Wave of Jihad: the Arabs, 622-750 AD
ii. The Second Major Wave of Jihad: the Turks, 1071-1683 AD

e. The Dhimma
f. Jihad in the Modern Era

Conclusion

Frequently Asked Questions

a. What about the Crusades?
b. If Islam is violent, why are so many Muslims peaceful?
c. What about the violent passages in the Bible?
d. Could an Islamic " Reformation" pacify Islam?
e. What about the history of Western colonialism in the Islamic world?
f. How can a violent political ideology be the second-largest and fastest-growing religion on earth?
g. Is it fair to paint all Islamic schools of thought as violent?
h. What about the great achievements of Islamic civilisation?

Further Resources

The Basics

A. The Five Pillars of Islam

The five pillars of Islam constitute the most basic tenets of the religion. They are:

1. Faith (iman) in the oneness of Allah and the finality of the prophethood of Muhammad (indicated by the declaration [the Shahadah] that, " There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah").

2. Keeping of the five scheduled daily prayers (salah).

3. Almsgiving (zakat).

4. Fasting (sawm).

5. Pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca for those who are able.

The five pillars in and of themselves do not tell us a lot about the faith or what a Muslim is supposed to believe or how he should act. The second through fifth pillars -- prayer, almsgiving, fasting, pilgrimage -- are aspects shared by many religions. The finality of the prophethood of Muhammad, however, is unique to Islam. To understand Islam and what it means to be a Muslim, we must come to understand Muhammad as well as the revelations given through him by Allah, which make up the Quran.