Islam: Part 1

General Facts

• Islam means “submission to god”.
• Islam believes in one god, Allah, and many prophets. 
• Approximately 1.9 billion people practice Islam, making up the second-largest world religion. 
• The founder of Islam is Muhammed. 

History

• Islam believes that Jesus was a prophet.
• Islam believes that Ishmael, not Issac, was the heir to Abraham’s promise.
• Muhammad believed that Jews and Christians got critical passages in the Bible incorrect, and he claimed that the angel Gabriel clarified it for him.

Muhammed, the Quran, and Allah

• Muhammed 

• The earliest prophet of Islam. 
• He believed while on a spiritual journey that, he received revelations from Allah and the angel Gabriel. 
• According to this encounter, Muslims believe that Muhammed was one of God’s chosen messengers. 

• The Quran
  • The revelations from God to Muhammed make up Islam’s holy book. 
  • The Quran was formed from companions hearing the revelations Muhammed recited and writing them down.
  • The book is believed to be the last divine book with the last prophet, Muhammed. 
  • The Quran contains no narrative structure and is intended for Muslims to memorize. 
• Allah
  • The name of the one and only god they worship is Allah. 
  • They believe that this is the same god others worship but is called someone different in other religions. 

Lineage of Islam

• In the Bible, Abraham and Sarah are the head of the family tree from which Jesus came. 
• Abraham fathered Isaac, who fathered Jacob, and so on for many generations until the birth of Jesus (Matthew 1). 
• As the story goes, Abraham had another child before Isaac, Ishmael, with his servant Hagar. 
• In the Islamic worldview, Muhammad is a descendant of Ishmael, from whom many Arabs have come.