The path of Allah: perhaps, few concepts are more misunderstood in the world than those of Islam, which shares a common heritage with Judaism and Christianity. With about 1.4 billion followers, Islam is the second-largest religion in the world.

Islam focuses on a belief in God, His messengers, His books, the Angels, and the Last Day (the Day of Judgement). Under its teachings, God has guided humans through His messengers, the prophets. They began with Adam and ended with Mohammed. Each messenger was entrusted with a book: Moses with the Torah; Jesus with the Gospels; and, Mohammed with the Koran. However, Muslims believe the Koran is the only holy book that has not been corrupted by its followers.

The prophet Mohammed founded the Islamic faith in 622 CE. (Although, Muslims generally regard Islam as dating back to the time of creation.) Mohammed was a prosperous, 40-year-old, merchant living in the village of Mecca in the Arabian Peninsula. He started to have visions that he believed came from God, through the Angel Gabriel. These visions told him how the world should be, how society should function, and how people should live. He believed that God entrusted him with the mission of spreading Islam as the true religion of God, and he did so until his death at the age of 63.

After his death, the accounts of his visions were set down in the Koran; the foundation of Islam today. As with other prophets, Mohammed saw himself as the messenger, not the author of the writings.

As an instrument of divine revelation, Muslims believe Mohammed was the last and the greatest of the prophets, directly descended from the prophet Ishmael, the first son of the prophet Abraham. In their eyes, Mo hammed was sent to inform the world about the true mission of Jesus, Moses, Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham.

Muslims are monotheistic, believing in only one God, Allah the merciful, the compassionate, the supreme reality. To Muslims, God encompasses every aspect of existence. He is the creator and the lawgiver. He is a supernatural reality and takes no earthly form; He is not represented in Islamic art; to draw a picture of Allah is a terrible sin.

Mohammed's central teachings were the goodness, supremacy, and unity of God, and the need for generosity and justice in human relations. The Koran declares that "reforming the Earth" is the ideal of human endeavour. Its basic criticism of humanity is that it is too proud and too petty, narrow-minded, and selfish; it insists that individuals overcome their pettiness and enlarge themselves to develop an inner moral quality aimed at the ultimate benefit of humanity, not the immediate pleasures or ambitions of the self.

The Muslim faith recognizes no sacraments such as baptism or communion, and gives clergy no special spiritual powers. Even the Caliph, the head of Islam, cannot communicate with God on behalf of others. The Koran says, "All believers are alike in their utter subjection to the unapproachable divine majesty."

Islam is followed by about 21 percent of the world's population and is growing rapidly. If current trends continue, Islam will become the most popular world religion sometime in the mid-21st century.

Muslims live all over the world, but most are in a wide band stretching from Morocco on the Atlantic coast of North Africa through the Middle East and Asia to Indonesia. Large numbers of believers also are found from Nigeria in West Africa to Asian republics of the former Soviet Union. Increasingly, they are immigrating to North America and Europe as well.

While the Arabs are associated with the rise of Islam, (Arabic is Islam's sacred language) and the Arab countries of the Middle East have had a strong influence on the development of the Islamic civilization, most Muslims are not Arabs. The country with the largest Muslim population is Indonesia, and the most populous Islamic cultural zone is South Asia, comprising India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. According to one calculation, only 18 percent of the Muslims are Arabs, 30 percent are from the Indian subcontinent, 20 percent from sub-Saharan Africa, 17 percent from

Southeast Asia, 10 percent from the former Soviet Union and China, and the rest are from non-Arab Middle Eastern countries such as Iran.

For Muslims, their worship is simple: submit to the will of God (Allah). Unlike Christianity, Islam makes no distinction between day-to-day living and religious devotion. All aspects of life come under God's control.

All Muslims are required to perform certain rituals of worship. These involve five basic elements of worship, called the Five Pillars of Islam. They are:

* Shahadah--The following prayer is repeated daily: "I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, the One, without any partner. And I bear witness that Mohammed is His servant and His Messenger."

* Solat--At least five times a day the devout Muslim must pray. The prayers, preceded by washing, are performed without shoes, and involve standing, kneeling, and bowing. The ritual serves as a reminder to do good and strive for greater causes.

* Zakat--A gift usually assessed at 2.5% of a person's total assets. This is given to the poor, orphans, and widows. It is considered a personal responsibility intended to ease the economic hardship of others and eliminate inequality.

* Sawm--During the month of Ramadan (April-May), Muslims fast from dawn to dusk. This is said to bind the community together through shared deprivation.

* Hajj--Among believers who can afford it, a pilgrimage to Mecca (the holiest shrine of Islam) must be made at least once in a lifetime.

FACT FILE

Islam has 99 names for God, names such as the Most Merciful, the Most Just, and the Most Patient--each capturing his absolute and infinite essence.

FACT FILE

Most Muslims memorize at least some portion of the Koran in the original language (Arabic). Those who have memorized the entire Koran are known as hafiz (plural huffaz). There are believed to be several million huffaz alive today.

Branches of Islam

Islam has two major sects: the Sunnis and the Shi'ites, and most Muslims belong to one of these two groups. About 85 percent of Muslims are orthodox Sunnis. They are the mainstream of the Islamic religious community whose beliefs have changed little since their development more than 1,000 years ago.

The Sunni, which means majority, tolerates diversity and encourages its followers to worship Allah on an individual basis in keeping with the Five Pillars of Islam and the Koran. The Sunnis also believe that any Muslim can be a leader and that religious leaders don't have superior wisdom.

The Shi'ites took a different path after the death of the prophet Mohammed. The split resulted from a dispute about who should lead Islam. The Shi'ites claim that Mohammed passed on his hereditary rule to his son-in-law Ali and his descendants, and through him to a series of "imams" or spiritual leaders. Sunnis do not recognize these claims,

Orthodox Shi'ites, called Twelvers, believe that there were 12 imams, the last of whom disappeared in the ninth century. Contemporary Shi'ite spiritual leaders claim to be able to communicate with this imam who exists in the spiritual realm. Only they can interpret Islamic law and rule the believers. Most Shi'ites live in Iran, where this branch of Islam has been the official religion since the 16th century. But, there are substantial numbers of Shi'ites in Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, and Yemen, although they are sometimes seen as second-class citizens in these areas.

The religious differences between the Shi'ites and the Sunni have fuelled conflict in Lebanon, and a war between Sunni Iraq and Shi'ite Iran. Saudi Arabia and Iran have taken the leading role in this religious competition for souls and minds. Saudi Arabia provided economic resources to the fight. It also has financed mosque-building through the Muslim League. The Iranians have supported Islamic fundamentalist groups throughout the Middle East.

Salafis are a smaller, more recent Sunni group. The word Salaf means ancestors and refers to the Companions of the Prophet Mohammed (the Sahaba), the early Muslims who followed them, and the scholars of the first three generations of Muslims. Salafis feel their beliefs represent pure Islam as practised by their predecessors and their goal is to restore Islam to the form of its earliest followers.

WOMEN IN ISLAM

In an online article at Islam For Today, Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood, who converted from Christianity to Islam in 1986, poses some questions that a lot of people ask. For example, how can anyone respect a religion that forces women into polygamous marriages, mutilates their genitals, forbids them to drive cars, and subjects them to the humiliation of "instant" divorce (whereby a Muslim man can divorce his wife simply by repeating "I divorce you" three times)? "In fact," she writes, "none of these practices are Islamic at all.

"Anyone wishing to understand Islam must first separate the religion from the cultural norms and style of a society. Female genital mutilation is still practiced in certain pockets of Africa and Egypt, but viewed as an inconceivable horror by the vast majority of Muslims. Forced marriages may still take place in certain Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi communities, but would be anathema to Muslim women from other backgrounds."

She adds: "While the spirit of Islam is clearly patriarchal (leadership by men), it regards men and women as moral equals. Moreover, although a man is technically the head of the household, Islam encourages matriarchy (leadership by women) in the home.

"Women may not be equal in the manner defined by Western feminists, but their core differences from men are acknowledged, and they have rights of their own that do not apply to men."

However, there is confusion surrounding the issue of women in Islam. Those who say Islam favours women select quotes from the Koran and Hadith (traditions relating to the words and deeds of Mohammed) to support their argument. However, those who say Islam discriminates against women can also find quotes from the same sources that confirm their beliefs.

Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, knows the dangers facing women who fight for their rights. An Iranian lawyer, human rights activist, and founder of the Association for Support of Children's Rights in Iran, she was the first Iranian and the first Muslim woman to receive the prize. The Nobel committee praised her efforts in support of democracy and human rights, especially for the rights of women and children.

In an article in The Globe and Mail after she received the prize, Ms. Ebadi wrote that "Women constitute half of the population of every country. To disregard women and bar them from active participation in political, social, economic, and cultural life is tantamount to depriving the entire population of every society of half its capability. The patriarchal culture and the discrimination against women, particularly in the Islamic countries, cannot continue." But, she agrees that the discriminatory plight of women in Islamic states "has its roots in the male-dominated culture prevailing in these societies, not in Islam. This patriarchal culture does not tolerate freedom and democracy or equal rights of men and women, because it would threaten the traditional position of the rulers of that culture."

SUFISM

slam also has a mystical dimension known as Sufism. It originated in the 8th century, when small circles of pious Muslims reacted against the growing worldliness of the Islamic community. These devotees started to emphasize the inner life of the spirit and moral purification. During the 9th century, Sufism developed into a mystical doctrine, with direct communion or even ecstatic union with God as its ideal.

Sufism goes beyond performing the duties prescribed by the Islamic faith to seek direct knowledge of God through islamic teachings. The Sufi path is concerned with the nature of the Divine Reality, how it can be attained, and how to purify the human soul from all imperfections so it can reflect the Divine Reality.

The life of a Sufi is modelled after the life of the Prophet, who they believe passed on their teachings to a select group of Muslims. Sufism can be found in Sunni, Shi'ite, and other Islamic groups, rather than as a distinct sect.

BAHA'I

The Baha'i faith has been described as a offshoot of Islam as Christiantiy is an offshoot of Judaism. Its founder, Baha'u'llah (1817-1892), followed the Shi'ite sect known as Babism. In 1852, while in prison in Persia (now Iran), Baha'u'llah received a vision about God's plan for humanity, For the next 40 years, he wrote a body of scriptures that form the core of what is now the Baha'i faith. Followers believe there is only one religion and that Bah'u'llah is the most recent great messenger from God.

Baha'i supports gender and race equality, world government, freedom of expression and assembly, world peace.

Also, unlike many other religions, it embraces the findinqs of science. It is one of the fastest growing religions in the world today.

SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES:

1. Write a profile on Iranian Nobel Prize winner Shirin Ebadi.

2. Compare Mohammed's last sermon in Mecca (http://www.ancient-history.nl/Islam/Prophet%20Mohammed's%20Last%20Sermon.htm) with the Sermon on the Mount given by Jesus (http://www.biblepath.com/beatitudes.html).

3. Compare Islam and Christianity and Judaism.

Websites

Educational Site on Islam--http://www.islam101.com

Islam, Culture and Women, by Ruqaiyyah Waris Maqsood--http://www.islamfortoday.com/ruqaiyyah09.htm