| Revision as of 17:39, 3 June 2006 view sourceCltFn (talk | contribs)5,944 edits I did provide the sources in case you did not notice← Previous edit | Revision as of 17:42, 3 June 2006 view source Zora (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users, Pending changes reviewers17,728 edits Adding Ernst quote -- it's interesting and useful, I thinkNext edit → | ||
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| *] - neither professes nor believes | *] - neither professes nor believes | ||
| ==Muslim and mu'min== | |||
| One verse in the Qur'an makes a distiction between a ] and a '''Muslim''': | One verse in the Qur'an makes a distiction between a ]. a believer, and a '''Muslim''': | ||
| :(] 49:14) ''The Arabs of the desert say, "We believe." (tu/''']'''oo) Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" (a''']'''na) for the faith (]) hath not yet found its way into your hearts. But if ye obey God and His Apostle, he will not allow you to lose any of your actions: for God is Indulgent, Merciful. | :(] 49:14) ''The Arabs of the desert say, "We believe." (tu/''']'''oo) Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" (a''']'''na) for the faith (]) hath not yet found its way into your hearts. But if ye obey God and His Apostle, he will not allow you to lose any of your actions: for God is Indulgent, Merciful. | ||
| According to the Western academician Carl Ernst, contemporary usage of the terms "Islam" and "Muslim" for the faith and its adherents is a modern innovation. As shown in the Quranic passage cites above, early Muslims distinguished between the Muslim, who has "submitted" and does the bare minimum required to be considered a part of the community, and the mu'min, the believer, who has given himself or herself to the faith heart and soul. Ernst writes: | |||
| ⚫ | == Disagreements == | ||
| : "The Arabic term ''islam'' itself was of relatively minor importance in classical theologies based on the Qur'an. If one looks at the works of theologians such as the famous al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the key term of religious identity is not ''islam'' but ''iman'', or faith, and the one who possesses it is the ''mu'min'', or believer. Faith is one of the major topics of the Qur'an; it is mentioned hundreds of times in the sacred text. In comparison, ''islam'' is a relatively less common term of secondary importance; it only occurs eight times in the Qur'an. Since, however, the term ''islam'' had a derivative meaning relating to the community of those who have submitted to God, it has taken on a new political significance, especially in recent history." <ref>Ernst, Carl, ''Following Muhammad'', University of North Carolina Press, 2003, p. 63</ref> | |||
| ⚫ | == Disagreements == | ||
| There are some groups that claim to be Muslim, but are not accepted as Muslim by the majority of Muslims. For example, neither Sunni nor Shi'a Muslims accept ]s as fellow Muslims. Some Sunni regard the ] and the ] sects as non-Muslim. Adherents of the ] have been considered to be non-Muslim .There have also been numerous instances in which some Sunnis have declared other Sunnis to be unbelievers, some Shi'a have declared other Shi'a the same. The act of declaring other Muslims to be unbelievers is called '']''. | There are some groups that claim to be Muslim, but are not accepted as Muslim by the majority of Muslims. For example, neither Sunni nor Shi'a Muslims accept ]s as fellow Muslims. Some Sunni regard the ] and the ] sects as non-Muslim. Adherents of the ] have been considered to be non-Muslim .There have also been numerous instances in which some Sunnis have declared other Sunnis to be unbelievers, some Shi'a have declared other Shi'a the same. The act of declaring other Muslims to be unbelievers is called '']''. | ||
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A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish:Müslüman, Persian:مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. Literally, the word means "one who submits ". There are approximately 1.2-1.3 billion Muslims worldwide .
Most Muslims accept as a fellow Muslim anyone who has publicly pronounced the Shahada, which states, "there is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God."
Muslims believe that Islam existed long before Muhammad. Muslims describe many figures also found in the Bible, such as Adam, Moses (Musa) and Jesus (Isa) as Muslims because they are said to have submitted to God and preached his message as prophets.
The word Muslim did not make its appearance until the end of the 7th century , prior to that the term hagarenes or saracens was used.In 640 AD in the Syriac letters of the Bishop Isho’yabb III they are called mahgre or mahgraye. A Greek papyri of 642 AD. refers to them as magaritai. Athanasius in 684 AD. writing in Syriac used the name maghrayes. Jacob of Edessa in 705 AD. calls them hagarenes. The Doctrina Iacobi refers to them as saracens. The earliest mention of the word Muslim or Moslem was recorded in the inscriptions on the walls of the Dome of the Rock, which we know was constructed in 691 AD., 60 years after the death of Muhammad.
Etymology
The word Muslim is an Arabic agent noun formed from the causative (Form IV) of the tri-consonantal root S-L-M سلم (be at peace), which is أَسْلَمَ meaning "to submit" or "to surrender". The plural form is "Muslimeen" (مسلمين) in Arabic and "Muslims" in English. The word Islam is the corresponding abstract noun, meaning "submission ." "Moslem", an old-fashioned transliteration generally avoided at present, approximates the Persian pronunciation of the word; "Musulman" (with various spellings) is based on the corresponding Urdu form.
The Qur'an offers several illustrations of the word's usage, and of the resulting ambiguity in English translation, as exemplified in two translations of verse :
- Pickthall: "And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House, (Abraham prayed): Our Lord! Accept from us (this duty). Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower. Our Lord! And make us submissive unto Thee and of our seed a nation submissive unto Thee, and show us our ways of worship, and relent toward us. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Relenting, the Merciful."
- Yusuf Ali: "And remember Abraham and Isma'il raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing. Our Lord! make of us Muslims, bowing to Thy (Will), and of our progeny a people Muslim, bowing to Thy (will); and show us our place for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn unto us (in Mercy); for Thou art the Oft-Returning, Most Merciful."
Pronunciation and spelling
Until around the late 1980s, the word was commonly spelled Moslem, a spelling which has since fallen into disuse. Muslims do not recommend this spelling because it is often pronounced "mawzlem" /mɒzlɛm/ which sounds somewhat similar to an Arabic word for "oppressor" (Za'lem in Arabic). The word is pronounced /muslem/ in Arabic, but often /mʊślɪm/ in English. The word is now most commonly written "Muslim".
Other words for Muslim
Many English-language writers used to call Muslims Mohammedans or Mahometans. Muslims consider this terminology offensive, as it suggests that they worship the prophet Muhammad rather than God. It is also seen as too similar to Christians as followers and worshippers of Christ.
English writers of the 19th century and earlier sometimes used the words Mussulman, Musselman, or Mussulmaun. Variant forms of this word are still used by many Indo-European languages. These words are similar to the French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese words for "Muslim."
Arabic terms used in discussions of Muslim identity
When discussing whether or not someone is a real Muslim, the following terms may be used by those arguing:
- Mu'min - believer
- Fasiq - shameless sinner
- Munafiq - hypocrite; professes Islam but does not believe in it (one who professes but does not practice is a fasiq)
- Kafir - neither professes nor believes
Muslim and mu'min
One verse in the Qur'an makes a distiction between a mu'min. a believer, and a Muslim:
- (Rodwell 49:14) The Arabs of the desert say, "We believe." (tu/minoo) Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" (aslamna) for the faith (al-eemanu) hath not yet found its way into your hearts. But if ye obey God and His Apostle, he will not allow you to lose any of your actions: for God is Indulgent, Merciful.
According to the Western academician Carl Ernst, contemporary usage of the terms "Islam" and "Muslim" for the faith and its adherents is a modern innovation. As shown in the Quranic passage cites above, early Muslims distinguished between the Muslim, who has "submitted" and does the bare minimum required to be considered a part of the community, and the mu'min, the believer, who has given himself or herself to the faith heart and soul. Ernst writes:
- "The Arabic term islam itself was of relatively minor importance in classical theologies based on the Qur'an. If one looks at the works of theologians such as the famous al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the key term of religious identity is not islam but iman, or faith, and the one who possesses it is the mu'min, or believer. Faith is one of the major topics of the Qur'an; it is mentioned hundreds of times in the sacred text. In comparison, islam is a relatively less common term of secondary importance; it only occurs eight times in the Qur'an. Since, however, the term islam had a derivative meaning relating to the community of those who have submitted to God, it has taken on a new political significance, especially in recent history."
Disagreements
There are some groups that claim to be Muslim, but are not accepted as Muslim by the majority of Muslims. For example, neither Sunni nor Shi'a Muslims accept Ahmedis as fellow Muslims. Some Sunni regard the Shi'a and the Alawī sects as non-Muslim. Adherents of the Nation of Islam have been considered to be non-Muslim .There have also been numerous instances in which some Sunnis have declared other Sunnis to be unbelievers, some Shi'a have declared other Shi'a the same. The act of declaring other Muslims to be unbelievers is called takfir.
Notes
- About Islam and American Muslims cair-net.org, retrieved on May 2, 2006.
- Religions and Ethics adherents bbc.co.uk retrieved on May 2, 2006. Statistic taken from adherents.com, October 20, 2005.
- Ernst, Carl, Following Muhammad, University of North Carolina Press, 2003, p. 63