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Islam according to MS Bookshelf 95
Islam (îs-läm´), [Arab., = submission to, or having peace with, God], the religion of which MUHAMMAD was the prophet. An adherent of Islam is a Muslim [Arab., = one who submits]. The youngest of the three great monotheistic world religions (the others being JUDAISM and CHRISTIANITY), Islam is the dominant religion throughout large portions of Asia and Africa, especially North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia (the world's largest Muslim country).
In 1990 there were some 935 million Muslims worldwide, less than one fifth of whom were Arab; there are an estimated 6 million Muslims in the U.S. Its salient feature is its devotion to the Koran, or Qur'an, a book believed to be the revelation of God to Muhammad .

Since the Koran is in Arabic, this language is used in Islam all over the world; hence the custom of referring to God as Allah, His name in Arabic. The ethos of Islam is its attitude toward God: to Him Muslims submit; Him they praise and glorify; and in Him alone they hope. He is awesome, transcendent, almighty, just, loving, merciful, and good. No creature may be compared to Him, and to Him alone do Muslims pray. Muhammad is the last and greatest of God's prophets, who also include ADAM, NOAH, ABRAHAM, MOSES, and JESUS. According to the Muslim eschatology, there will be a judgment at the end of the world; heaven awaits the believers and hell the nonbelievers.

The ordinary pious Muslim does not distinguish faith from works; both are indispensable and mutually supplementary. There are five essential duties in Islam. (1) A Muslim must affirm that "There is no god but God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." (2) Five times daily he must pray facing MECCA: at dawn, at noon, in midafternoon, at dusk, and after dark. (3) A Muslim must give alms generously. (4) A Muslim must keep the fast of RAMADAN, which is the ninth month of the Muslim year. (5) Once in his life a Muslim must, if he can, make the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca. There are also a prohibition of alcohol and pork and injunctions against gambling, usury, fraud, slander, and the making of images.

The Sunna, the way or example of the Prophet, supplements the Koran. It consists of the collected sayings and anecdotes of Muhammad. The Ijma, or the agreement of Islam, is expressed in Muhammad's saying "My community will never agree in an error" and is the principle that has enabled Islam to resolve apparent contradictions and maintain both a flexibility and its unity with the past.
The Koran, the Sunna, and the Ijma are the three foundations of Islam. Islam does not recognize a priestly class, but religious and legal officers have acquired an authority similar to that of the clergy in Christian and Jewish communities.
............. [see the full text in MS BookShelf 95] The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1995 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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