10 Sunday July 8, 2007 ■ CatholicNews

RELIGION

ISLAM IS THE second largest
religion in the world (after
Christianity) with an estimated
1.3 billion followers.
Islam draws its name from
the Arabic terms for peace and
loving submission to Godʼs will.
Its followers consider it to be
both a religion and guidelines for
a complete way of life.
Islamʼs historic records date
from the time of the prophet
Mohammed, who was born in
Mecca, in what is now Saudi
Arabia, in 570. Beginning at age
40, he began receiving revelations
from Allah, the Arabic word for
God, through the angel Gabriel.
These revelations received over the
A Muslim boy kisses the Qurʼan, the sacred book of Islam
course of 23 years were compiled
(above). The Qurʼan affirms that “there is no God but God
during Mohammedʼs lifetime in a
and Muhammad is the messenger of God”.
book known as the Qurʼan.
Muslims believe the Qurʼan
contains the exact words of God,
conveyed in Arabic. Muslim
scholars around the world study its
text in Arabic, because translations
are not considered to be 100
percent accurate. (The Qurʼan
is not seen as presenting a new
revelation but rather as providing
a complete, accurate, and final
record of the message that had
already been revealed to prophets
throughout history.)
Islamʼs origins are generally the
same as those of Christianity and
Judaism. They share many of the
same prophetic revelations – for
instance, Abrahamʼs message that
there is but one God. Muslims
believe Islam was founded by
Allah and is a reiteration of
events known to Jews through
the Torah and to Christians in the
Bible through the time of Jesus.
Muslims recognize a chain of
many prophets – a great number of
them familiar to Christians and Jews.
The Qurʼan refers to 25 prophets,
and treats Noah, Abraham, Moses,
Jesus and Mohammed as the most
significant. (They do not regard
Muhammad as the founder of
Islam but as Godʼs final prophet.)
The Qurʼan considers Jesus
one of Godʼs greatest messengers
to humankind, acknowledging his
virgin birth and the miracles he
performed.
Islam does not recognize Jesus
as the son of God. However, it
regards his mother, Mary, as the
purest woman in all creation. In
fact, the Qurʼan contains more
passages about Mary than does
the New Testament. (A whole
chapter – Chapter 19: Surah
Maryam – is named after her.)

ALL BUT ONE of the 114 chapters whispering of a companion. The

(“suras”) of the Qurʼan begin with
the phrase, “In the name of God,
the compassionate and merciful.”
The opening “sura” lays out
for us the way for understanding
the Islamic image of God: “In the
name of God, the compassionate
and merciful: Praise to God, Lord
of the universe. The compassionate,
the merciful, master of the Day of
Judgement. You alone do we serve;
from you alone do we seek help.
Lead us along the straight path,
the path of those who experience
the shower of your grace, not of
those who have merited your anger
or of those who have gone astray.”
In Islam, as with the Jewish and
Christian traditions, hearing was
emphasized over seeing. Among
Muslims you will not find painted
images of God. Even images of the
prophet Muhammad are very few.
Rather the emphasis is on the word,
spoken, heard and written. With
Islam we are in the Abrahamic
family of faiths, where God speaks
and humankind hears. Prophets
speak for God. The word of God
is recited or preached and then
takes written form.
We are also in the same
linguistic family of faiths. The
word for God (actually “the God”)
in Arabic, Allah, is related
linguistically to the Hebrew
“Elohim” and the Aramaic “Elah”.
Allah is not the God of Muslims.
Allah is God. God is great and
above all; yet God can choose
to reveal himself intimately.
Throughout the Scriptures of the
Jewish, Christian and Muslim
traditions, we have two sets
of images of God, ruling and
thundering in majesty and as close
as the wind on oneʼs face or the
Islamic tradition has shown a
preference for images of divine
majesty.
Muslims often say “In
shaʼaʼllah”, “If God wills”. The
hiddenness of Godʼs particular
plan for us is emphasized because
it is Godʼs plan that is the bottom
line. The general outlines of this
plan are familiar. God created the
universe, directs it, chose to reveal
at certain times through prophets,
sealed this revelation with the
recitations to Muhammad now in the
Qurʼan and will judge at the end.
The Qurʼan makes it clear that
God begets not nor is begotten.
He is omniscient, and created
things know only what he allows
them to grasp. His throne is said to
stretch across heaven and earth;
his sovereignty tires him not, for
he is exalted and magnificent.
With these descriptions
of Godʼs awesomeness in the
Islamic tradition, we can also
understand the loving images
too of a gracious and wonderful,
loving and beneficent God that
has allowed humankind to know
his will and to know that he
desires our company.
Donʼt think that Muslims
stop and pray five times a day
or fast from sunup to sundown
during Ramadan out of fear or
obligation. Many have lapsed and 13th century enabled Islam to Islam marked the start of the
do not do these things, but those to spread in South East Asia Malacca Sultanate. However
who keep these practices do so through Muslim trading centres its rule was brief because, in
out of love and thankfulness. in the region. Islam preached 1511, Portuguese forces captured
SOME HISTORIANS BELIEVE moderation and social justice Malacca. Brunei then established
(Excerpts from “Who Is God for a that there were pockets of
and conversions to Islam were itself as the centre of Islam in
Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim?” by
John Borelli directs interreligious
Muslims in this part of the world voluntary and peaceful. South East Asia, and its sultanate
relations in the U.S. National as early as the 7th or 8th centuries. By the mid-15th century, remains even to this day.
Conference of Catholic Bishopsʼ But the collapse of the Islam had spread from Sumatra Today South East Asia is
Committee for Ecumenical and Buddhist Shrivijaya trading to Malacca and Brunei. The home to nearly 25 percent of the
Interreligious Affairs.) empire near the end of the conversion of the Malaccan ruler worldʼs Muslims.