jesus islam honors all prophets

Jesus
Islam honors all the prophets who were sent to mankind. Muslims respect
all prophets in general, but Jesus in particular, because he was one of the
prophets who foretold the coming of Muhammad. Muslims, too, await the
second coming of Jesus. They consider him one of the greatest of Allah's
prophets to mankind. A Muslim does not refer to him simply as "Jesus,"
but normally adds the phrase "peace be upon him" as a sign of respect.
No other religion in the world respects and dignifies Jesus as Islam does.
The Qur'an confirms his virgin birth (a chapter of the Qur'an is entitled
"Mary"), and Mary is considered to have been one of the purest women in
all creation. The Qur'an describes Jesus' birth as follows:
"Behold!' the Angel said, God has chosen you, and purified you,
and chosen you above the women of all nations. Mary, God gives
you good news of a word from Him, whose name shall be the
Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honored in this world and in the
Hereafter, and one of those brought near to God. He shall speak to
the people from his cradle and in maturity, and he shall be of the
righteous. She said: "My Lord! How shall I have a son when no man
has touched me?' He said: "Even so; God creates what He will. When
He decrees a thing, He says to it, 'Be!' and it is." [3:42-47]
Muslims believe that Jesus was born immaculately, and through the same
power which had brought Eve to life and Adam into being without a father
or a mother.
"Truly, the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam.
He created him of dust, and then said to him, 'Be!' and he was."
[3:59]
During his prophetic mission, Jesus performed many miracles. The Qur'an
tells us that he said:
"I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I make for you out
of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breathe into it and
it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal the blind, and the
lepers, and I raise the dead by God's leave." [3:49]
Muhammad and Jesus, as well as all other prophets, were sent to confirm
the belief in ones God. This is referred to in the Qur'an when Jesus is
reported as saying that he came:
"To attest the law which was before me, and to make lawful to you
part of what was forbidden you; I have come to you with a sign
from your Lord, so fear God and obey me." [3:50]
Prophet Muhammad emphasized the importance of Jesus by saying:
"Whoever believes there is no god but Allah, alone without
partner, that Muhammad is His messenger, that Jesus is a servant
and messenger of God, His word breathed into Mary and a spirit
emanating from Him, and that Paradise and Hell are true, shall be
received by God into Heaven. [Bukhari]
Knowledge
Islam urges people to read and learn on every occasion. The verses of the
Qur'an command, advise, warn, and encourage people to observe the
phenomena of nature, the succession of day and night, the movements of
stars, the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies. Muslims are urged to look
into everything in the universe, to travel, investigate, explore and
understand them, the better to appreciate and be thankful for all the
wonders and beauty of God's creations. The first revelation to Muhammad
showed how much Islam cares about knowledge.
"Read, in the name of your Lord, Who created..." [96:1]
Learning is obligatory for both men and women. Moreover, education is
not restricted to religious issues; it includes all fields of knowledge,
including biology, physics, and technology. Scholars have the highest status
in Islam, second only to that accorded to prophets.
Almost from the very beginnings of the Islamic state Muslims began to
study and to master a number of fields of so-called secular learning,
beginning with linguistics and architecture, but very quickly extending to
mathematics, physics, astronomy, geography, medicine, chemistry and
philosophy. They translated and synthesized the known works of the
ancient world, from Greece, Persia, India, even China. Before long they
were criticizing, improving and expanding on that knowledge. Centuries
before the European Renaissance there were Muslim "Renaissance" men,
men who were simultaneously explorers, scientists, philosophers,
physicians and poets, like Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Umar Khayyam, and others.
Main Pillars
• Shahadah
The first pillar of Islam is that a Muslim believe and declare his faith by
saying the Shahadah (lit. 'witness'), also known as the Kalimah:
La ilaha ila Allah; Muhammadur-rasul Allah. 'There is no god but
Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.'
This declaration contains two parts. The first part refers to God Almighty,
the Creator of everything, the Lord of the Worlds; the second part refers
to the Messenger, Muhammad (pbuh) a prophet and a human being, who
received the revelation through the Archangel Gabriel, and taught it to
mankind.
By sincerely uttering the Shahadah the Muslim acknowledges Allah as the
sole Creator of all, and the Supreme Authority over everything and
everyone in the universe. Consequently the Muslim closes his/her heart and
mind to loyalty, devotion and obedience to, trust in, reliance on, and
worship of anything or anyone other than Allah. This rejection is not
confined merely to pagan gods and goddesses of wood and stone and
created by human hands and imaginations; this rejection must extend to all
other conceptions, superstitions, ideologies, ways of life, and authority
figures that claim supreme devotion, loyalty, trust, love, obedience or
worship. This entails, for example, the rejection of belief in such common
things as astrology, palm reading, good luck charms, fortune-telling and
psychic readings, in addition to praying at shrines or graves of "saints",
asking the dead souls to intercede for them with Allah. There are no
intercessors in Islam, nor any class of clergy as such; a Muslim prays
directly and exclusively to Allah.
Belief in the prophethood of Muhammad (pbuh) entails belief in the
guidance brought by him and contained in his Sunnah (traditions of his
sayings and actions), and demands of the Muslim the intention to follow his
guidance faithfully. Muhammad (pbuh) was also a human being, a man
with feelings and emotions, who ate, drank and slept, and was born and
died, like other men. He had a pure and upright nature, extraordinary
righteousness, and an unwavering faith in Allah and commitment to Islam,
but he was not divine. Muslims do not pray to him, not even as an
intercessor, and Muslims abhor the terms "Mohamedan" and
"Mohamedanism".
• Salah (Prayer)
Prayer (Salah), in the sense of worship, is the second pillar of Islam.
Prayer is obligatory and must be performed five times a day. These five
times are dawn (Fajr), immediately after noon (Dhuhr), mid-afternoon
('Asr), sunset (Maghrib), and early night (Isha'). Ritual cleanliness and
ablution are required before prayer, as are clean clothes and location, and
the removal of shoes. One may pray individually or communally, at home,
outside, virtually any clean place, as well as in a mosque, though the latter
is preferred. Special is the Friday noon prayer, called Jum'ah. It, too, is
obligatory and is to be done in a mosque, in congregation. It is
accompanied by a sermon (Khutbah), and it replaces the normal Dhuhr
prayer.
There is no hierarchical clerical authority in Islam, no priests or ministers.
Prayers are led by any learned person who knows the Qur'an and is chosen
by the congregation. He (or she, if the congregation is all women) is called
the imam. There is also no minimum number of congregates required to
hold communal prayers. Prayer consists of verses from the Qur'an and
other prayers, accompanied by various bodily postures - standing, bowing,
prostrating and sitting. They are said in Arabic, the language of the
revelation, though personal supplications (Du'ah) can be offered in one's
own language. Worshippers face the Qiblah, the direction of the Ka'bah in
the city of Makkah.
The significance of prayer lies in one's maintaining a continuous link to
God five times a day, which helps the worshipper avoid misdeeds if he/she
performs the prayers sincerely. In addition it promotes discipline, Godconsciousness
and placing one's trust in Allah alone, and the importance of
striving for the Hereafter. When performed in congregation it also
provides a strong sense of community, equality and
brotherhood/sisterhood.
• Sawm (Fasting)
The fourth pillar of Islam is fasting. Allah prescribes daily fasting for all
able, adult Muslims during the whole of the month of Ramadan, the ninth
month of the lunar calendar, beginning with the sighting of the new moon.
Exempted from the fast are the very old and the insane. On the physical
side, fasting is from first light of dawn until sundown, abstaining from
food, drink, and sexual relations. On the moral, behavioral side, one must
abstain from lying, malicious gossip, quarreling and trivial nonsense.
Those who are sick, elderly, or on a journey, and women who are
menstruating, pregnant, or nursing are permitted to break the fast, but
must make up an equal number of days later in the year. If physically
unable to do so, they must feed a needy person for each day missed.
Children begin to fast (and to observe the prayers) from puberty, although
many start earlier.
Although fasting is beneficial to the health, it is regarded principally as a
method of self-purification. By cutting oneself off from worldly pleasures
and comforts, even for a short time, the fasting person gains true sympathy
for those who go hungry regularly, and achieves growth in his spiritual
life, learning discipline, self-restraint, patience and flexibility.
In addition to the fast proper, one is encouraged to read the entire Qur'an.
In addition, special prayers, called Tarawih, are held in the mosque every
night of the month, during which a whole section of the Qur'an (Juz') is
recited, so that by the end of the month the entire Qur'an has been
completed. These are done in remembrance of the fact that the revelation
of the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was begun during Ramadan.
During the last ten days - though the exact day is never known and may not
even be the same every year - occurs the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr).
To spend that night in worship is equivalent to a thousand months of
worship, i.e. Allah's reward for it is very great.
On the first day of the following month, after another new moon has been
sighted, a special celebration is made, called 'Id al-Fitr. A quantity of staple
food is donated to the poor (Zakat al-Fitr), everyone has bathed and put on
their best, preferably new, clothes, and communal prayers are held in the
early morning, followed by feasting and visiting relatives and friends.
There are other fast days throughout the year. Muslims are encouraged to
fast six days in Shawwal, the month following Ramadan, Mondays and
Thursdays, and the ninth and tenth, or tenth and eleventh of Muharram, the
first month of the year. The tenth day, called Ashurah, is also a fast day for
the Jews (Yom Kippur), and Allah commanded the Muslims to fast two
days to distinguish themselves from the People of the Book.
While fasting per se is encouraged, constant fasting, as well as monasticism,
celibacy, and otherwise retreating from the real world, are condemned in
Islam. Fasting on the two festival days, 'Id al-Fitr and 'Id al-Adha, the feast
of the Hajj, is strictly forbidden.
• Zakah (Charity)
The third pillar of Islam is the alms-tax (Zakah). It is a tax on wealth,
payable on various categories of property, notably savings and investments,
produce, inventory of goods, salable crops and cattle, and precious metals,
and is to be used for the various categories of distribution specified by
Islamic law. It is also an act of purification through sharing what one has
with others.
The rationale behind this is that Muslims believe that everything belongs to
God, and wealth is held by man as a trust. This trust must be discharged,
moreover, as instructed by God, as that portion of our wealth legally
belongs to other people and must be given to them. If we refuse and hoard
this wealth, it is considered impure and unclean. If, for example one were
to use that wealth for charity or to finance one's pilgrimage to Makkah,
those acts would also be impure, invalid, and of course UN-rewarded.
Allah says:
"Of their wealth, take alms so you may purify and sanctify them."
[9:103]
The word Zakah means purification and growth. Our possessions are
purified by setting aside that portion of it for those in need. Each Muslim
calculates his or her own Zakah individually.
For most purposes this involves the payment each year of 2.5% of one's
capital, provided that this capital reaches a certain minimum amount that
which is not consumed by its owner. A generous person can pay more than
this amount, though it is treated and rewarded as voluntary charity
(Sadaqah). This amount of money is provided to bridge the gap between
the rich and the poor, and can be used in many useful projects for the
welfare of the community.
Historically the pillar of Zakah became mandatory on Muslims form the
second year after the Hijrah, 622 CE. It is mentioned more than thirty
times in the Qur'an, usually in the same breath as Salah. So important is
this pillar that one is not considered a part of the Islamic brotherhood if
one ignores this obligation.
• Hajj (Pilgrimage)
The fifth pillar of Islam is to make a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Makkah, in Saudi
Arabia, at least once in one's lifetime. This pillar is obligatory for every
Muslim, male or female, provided that he/she is physically and financially
able to do so. Prerequisites for performing the Hajj are to be a Muslim, to
be free, to be an adult or mature enough, to be of sound mind, and to have
the ability to afford the journey and maintain one's dependents back home
for the duration. The reward for the Hajj is nothing less than Paradise.
The Hajj is the ultimate form of worship, as it involves the spirit of all the
other rituals and demands of the believer great sacrifice. On this unique
occasion, nearly two million Muslims from all over the globe meet one
another in a given year. Regardless of the season, pilgrims wear special
clothes (Ihram) - two, very simple, UN-sewn white garments - which strips
away all distinctions of wealth, status, class and culture; all stand together
and equal before Allah (God).
The rites of Hajj, which go back to the time of Prophet Abraham who built
the Ka'bah, are observed over five or six days, beginning on the eighth day
of the last month of the year, named Dhul-Hijjah (pilgrimage). These rites
include circumambulating the Ka'bah (Tawwaf), and going between the
mountains of Safa and Marwah, as Hajjar (Abraham's wife) did during her
search for water for her son Isma'il. Then the pilgrims stand together on
the wide plain of Arafah and join in prayers for God's forgiveness, in what
is often thought of as a preview of the Last Judgment. The pilgrims also
cast stones at a stone pillar which represents Satan. The pilgrimage ends
with a festival, called 'Id al-Adha, which is celebrated with prayers, the
sacrifice of an animal, and the exchange of greetings and gifts in Muslim
communities everywhere.