This page focuses on Islam and it’s teachings. Islam refers to the monotheistic religion revealed by God (Allah) to all the Prophets, including Moses, Jesus and Mohammad (peace and blessings be upon them). Those who submit to the teaching of Islam revealed by Allah are called Muslims.

Islam is not just a religion but a complete way of life for Muslims. The most important teaching in Islam is faith or believe in only one God, that is Allah. Believe in Allah is not complete until one worship in total submission to Him. Worshipping directed to any person, place or thing other than Allah is forbidden because everything other than Allah is Allah’s creation. That is the basic message of Islam.

The United Nations declared November 15, 2022 as the “Day of Eight Billion.” {Refer: Earth now has 8 billion people—and counting. Where do we go from here (nationalgeographic.com) – extracted 1/1/23}

According to Pew Research Center, while the world’s population is projected to grow 32% in the coming decades, the number of Muslims is expected to increase by 70% – from 1.8 billion in 2015 to nearly 3 billion in 2060. In 2015, Muslims made up 24.1% of the global population.

Muslims make up a majority of the population in 49 countries around the world. The country with the largest number (about 209 million) is Indonesia, where 87.2% of the population identifies as Muslim. India has the world’s second-largest Muslim population in raw numbers (roughly 176 million). (Refer: Why Muslims are the world’s fastest-growing religious group | Pew Research Center – extracted 1/1/23)

Islam is truly a misunderstood religion. Misunderstanding and misconception of Islam is rampant in this modern era may be due to bad behaviours and aggressiveness portrayed by certain Muslims, understanding Islam from weak and unauthentic sources, and negative portrayals of Islam by certain writers, leaders and influencers in the society.

However, Professor T.W. Arnold in The Preaching of Islam, used a more balanced approach in presenting Islam. He wrote: “The rationalistic character of the Muslim creed, and the advantage it reaps therefrom in its missionary efforts, have nowhere been more admirably brought out than in the following sentences of Professor Montet: ‘Islam is a religion that is essentially rationalistic in the widest sense of this term considered etymologically and historically.. A creed so precise, so stripped of all theological complexities and consequently so accessible to the ordinary understanding, might be expected to possess and does indeed possess a marvellous power of winning its way into the consciences of men..’ On the whole, unbelievers have enjoyed under Muhammadan rule a measure of toleration, the like of which is not to be found in Europe until quite modern times. Forcible conversion was forbidden, in accordance with the precepts of the Quran.. The very existence of so many Christian sects and communities in countries that have been for centuries under Muhammadan rule is an abiding testimony to the toleration they have enjoyed, and shows that the persecutions they have from time to time been called upon to endure at the hands of bigots and fanatics, have been excited by some special and local circumstances rather than inspired by a settled principle of intolerance.” {Refer: Professor TW Arnold, The Preaching of Islam (Conclusion), New Delhi, 2002}

Misconception also occurred concerning the Quran. Some stooped so low as to suggest that Muhammad copied the Bible and wrote the Quran. Dr. Maurice Bucaille, an eminent French surgeon, had a different opinion. In his book, What Is The Origin of Man, he wrote: “Mistaken ideas  regarding the Quran have been common in Christian countries for a very  long  time. They still persist, as far as the history and content of the  Quran are concerned. Because of this, the data in the Quran on the  subject of man’s origin must be preceded by a description of the way in  which the Quran was communicated to man. The assertions on the  origins of man to be found in the Quran will undoubtedly astonish many  people, just as they astonished me when I first discovered them. The  comparison of the Biblical and Quranic texts is moreover highly  revealing. Both of them speak of God the Creator, but the scientifically  unacceptable detail in the Biblical description of the Creation is absent  from  the Quran. In fact, the  Quran contains statements concerning man  that are astounding. It is impossible to explain their presence in human terms, given the state of knowledge at the time the Quran was communicated. In the West, such statements had never before formed  the  subject of a scientific communication until November 9, 1976, when I  presented a paper to the French National Academy of Medicine on the  physiological and embryological data present in the Quran, roughly  fourteen centuries ahead of modern discoveries.”  (Refer: What  is  the  Origin  of  Man? by Dr  Maurice Bucaille, translated  from  French by  Alastair  D.  Pannel, New Delhi, 1983)

Written by:
Dato Dr. Danial Zainal Abidin,
Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia.
1/1/2023

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