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A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Turkish:Müslüman, Persian:مسلمان, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. Literally, the word means "one who submits ". There are approximately 1.2-1.3 billion Muslims worldwide .
Most Muslims accept as a fellow Muslim anyone who has publicly pronounced the Shahada, which states, "there is no god but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God."
Muslims believe that Islam existed long before Muhammad. Muslims describe many figures also found in the Bible, such as Adam, Moses (Musa) and Jesus (Isa) as Muslims because they are said to have submitted to God and preached his message as prophets.
The word Muslim did not come into use until the 8th century , prior to that the term hagarenes or saracens was used.
Etymology
The word Muslim is an Arabic agent noun formed from the causative (Form IV) of the tri-consonantal root S-L-M سلم (be at peace), which is أَسْلَمَ meaning "to submit" or "to surrender". The plural form is "Muslimeen" (مسلمين) in Arabic and "Muslims" in English. The word Islam is the corresponding abstract noun, meaning "submission ." "Moslem", an old-fashioned transliteration generally avoided at present, approximates the Persian pronunciation of the word; "Musulman" (with various spellings) is based on the corresponding Urdu form.
The Qur'an offers several illustrations of the word's usage, and of the resulting ambiguity in English translation, as exemplified in two translations of verse :
- Pickthall: "And when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the foundations of the House, (Abraham prayed): Our Lord! Accept from us (this duty). Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower. Our Lord! And make us submissive unto Thee and of our seed a nation submissive unto Thee, and show us our ways of worship, and relent toward us. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Relenting, the Merciful."
- Yusuf Ali: "And remember Abraham and Isma'il raised the foundations of the House (With this prayer): "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: For Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-knowing. Our Lord! make of us Muslims, bowing to Thy (Will), and of our progeny a people Muslim, bowing to Thy (will); and show us our place for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn unto us (in Mercy); for Thou art the Oft-Returning, Most Merciful."
Pronunciation and spelling
Until around the late 1980s, the word was commonly spelled Moslem, a spelling which has since fallen into disuse. Muslims do not recommend this spelling because it is often pronounced "mawzlem" /mɒzlɛm/ which sounds somewhat similar to an Arabic word for "oppressor" (Za'lem in Arabic). The word is pronounced /muslem/ in Arabic, but often /mʊślɪm/ in English. The word is now most commonly written "Muslim".
Other words for Muslim
Many English-language writers used to call Muslims Mohammedans or Mahometans. Muslims consider this terminology offensive, as it suggests that they worship the prophet Muhammad rather than God. It is also seen as too similar to Christians as followers and worshippers of Christ.
English writers of the 19th century and earlier sometimes used the words Mussulman, Musselman, or Mussulmaun. Variant forms of this word are still used by many Indo-European languages. These words are similar to the French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese words for "Muslim."
Arabic terms used in discussions of Muslim identity
When discussing whether or not someone is a real Muslim, the following terms may be used by those arguing:
- Mu'min - believer
- Fasiq - shameless sinner
- Munafiq - hypocrite; professes Islam but does not believe in it (one who professes but does not practice is a fasiq)
- Kafir - neither professes nor believes
One verse in the Qur'an makes a distiction between a Mu'min and a Muslim:
- (Rodwell 49:14) The Arabs of the desert say, "We believe." (tu/minoo) Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" (aslamna) for the faith (al-eemanu) hath not yet found its way into your hearts. But if ye obey God and His Apostle, he will not allow you to lose any of your actions: for God is Indulgent, Merciful.
Disagreements
There are some groups that claim to be Muslim, but are not accepted as Muslim by the majority of Muslims. For example, neither Sunni nor Shi'a Muslims accept Ahmedis as fellow Muslims. Some Sunni regard the Shi'a and the Alawī sects as non-Muslim. Adherents of the Nation of Islam have been considered to be non-Muslim .There have also been numerous instances in which some Sunnis have declared other Sunnis to be unbelievers, some Shi'a have declared other Shi'a the same. The act of declaring other Muslims to be unbelievers is called takfir.
Notes
- About Islam and American Muslims cair-net.org, retrieved on May 2, 2006.
- Religions and Ethics adherents bbc.co.uk retrieved on May 2, 2006. Statistic taken from adherents.com, October 20, 2005.