The main belief of Islam - Book Report/Review Example

I belong to the Islamic religion. The main belief of Islam is that there is only one God, Allah, and that he sent the prophet Mohammed to deliver his message to his people. All of his people should band together as an Umma, or community, and live according to his message. The way Muslims should live is outlined by the five pillars of faith, which are Shahada, Salat, Sawm, Zakat, and Hajj. Shahada, says that Muslims should praise Allah as our only God and Mohammed as his messenger. Salat is how Muslims pray.

Salat is made up of five daily prayers. The first, Fajr, is said at dawn. The second, Dhuhr, is recited at noon. The next, Asr, is said in the afternoon. The fourth, Maghrib, is said at sunset. The last, Isha’a is said in the evening. Salat also says that all prayers must be recited while facing the Ka’bah in Mecca. Sawn, the next pillar, discusses when Muslims are supposed to fast, particularly during a month long holiday called Ramadan. Next, Zakat, says that Muslims should give 2.5% of one’s wealth to the poor in the interest of eliminating inequality.

The last pillar of faith is Hajj, which discusses the pilgrimage to Mecca that every Muslim must make once in their lifetime to Mecca during the last 10 days of the 12th lunar month of the year. Throughout my life, I have learned extensively about these practices. I believe that my religion has been a major part in shaping who I am today. One way it has is that it has made me feel truly close to Allah in a way that some people of other religions that I know do not seem to feel. I attribute a great deal of the closeness I feel to God to the fact I am required by my religion to pray 5 times a day.

The people who I know from other religious backgrounds, I have found, pray very rarely, such as when things are going wrong for them. They do not feel the obligation or desire to pray in times when all is well. I feel lucky to know that my relationship with God does not depend on other events in my life. It is consistent no matter what. I also believe religion has bought me closer to my family, with whom I practice my religion. It may not be a large amount of time, but the time we get together and pray is more time we spend together.

It is something we all have in common that binds us together, and I am grateful for it. Because of these feelings, I have never considered veering away from Islam. Unlike some people, I do not feel obligated to stick to my religion just because it was what I was raised to believe. I have ideas and feelings of my own on certain topics, naturally. I also respect the religious beliefs of others greatly. I continue to be a Muslim, however, because I feel that the Islamic religion fits my life. The five pillars of my religion will bring me closer to the type of person I want to be.

They will also help shape my priorities so that I do not get caught up in trivial things, but stick to what really matters. In other words, I really feel Islam helps keep me on the right track in life, making good decisions for myself and consequently, those around me. I do believe that being such a concrete believer of my own religion will very much make me subject to prejudice in the study of other religions. This may be because I simply do not know enough about other religions to understand them entirely.

Also, because the beliefs of other religions seem to, to this point, seem so much more relaxed than those of my own; I feel as though I understand why many people are so quick to convert religions or to write off religion all together. I feel this exercise in self-exploration will give me enough knowledge to understand other religions more thoroughly, therefore helping me make more well-rounded opinions than those I already have. By knowing more and understanding more, I can be more tolerant of other religions.

I also think the opportunity to hear people speak about their religion will help in this. I think this is very important in today’s world, specifically in how others view my own religion. I feel that with the opportunity to learn more about religions, people would not feel a certain way about one religious group and categorize them as “bad” or “wrong,” which is how Muslims are perceived by many at this time. I’m also aware that Muslims aren’t the only ones this has happened to, and am interested to know how other religions which underwent persecution because of select groups of people were shaped by the events which occurred.

The important thing to remember is that everyone has their own beliefs and like it or not, no one is able to change that. I believe this experience will allow us to become tolerant and understanding of the ways of others and open our own eyes to similarities so we may see that we all aren’t entirely different.