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Hum/130 "Five Pillars of Islam"

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HUM/130 Checkpoint: “Five Pillars of Islam” Date: April 6, 2012 Instructor: Rebecca MacArthur By: Sue McClease

Checkpoint: Five Pillars of Islam

In this assignment, the more I read the more my head spins. As an American and born into the Christian faith, it is hard to grasp the concepts of some of the other religions of the world; however, I would like to try to understand the faith systems of a lot of our neighbors. If there is one thing I know is that it takes a lifetime to understand fully any religious belief, because we are forever learning. If I can understand this correctly, according to Mary Fisher (2005) Islam is an Arabic word meaning peace, purity, acceptance and commitment. This religion calls for complete acceptance of the teachings and guidance of God. Wow! That sounds enough like any other faith, except that the Islam do not believe that Jesus has the authority to pardon sins, the idea that anyone else has the power to atone or forgive is blasphemous to the Muslim, this power belongs to God alone. This is a monotheist’s religion, believing in one god and in their personal moral accountability before God on Judgment Day. In the Muslim view, the Qur’an was sent as a final corrective in continuing the monotheistic tradition. They also believe that Jesus prophesied the coming of Muhammad when he promised that an advocate would come after him, to assist humanity. As for the easiest of the Five Pillars to be fulfilled; if you truly believed that there is only God and that Muhammad is the true messenger of god, then the first should not be hard at all.

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