...Research Essay: Ramadan In this descriptive research essay, I will outline the history, characteristics and purposes, and festivals immediately following Ramadan (Eid-al Fitar, and Shawwal), the Islamic month of fasting. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar- lasts 29 or 30 days- and all Muslims who can participate are expected to fully stop such activities as eating, drinking, smoking and having sexual relations from dawn until sunset. I will examine the historical aspects of Ramadan including how and when Ramadan first appeared in Islam. In addition, I will discuss the practices that are associated with the holy month of Ramandan and the significances of such practices. Finally, I will discuss the festivals that follow the completion of Ramadan. As previously mentioned, Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and all able Muslims who participate are expected to abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and having sexual relations from dawn until sunset. Ramandan is considered an holy month for muslims since it is considered the the month in which the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Mohammed by God through the archangel Gabriel. This is revealed in a passage in the Quran that states “ Ramadan is the month in which the Qur'an was sent down as guidance to humankind..” (Q. 2:183, 185). In addition, the Qur' an states that “fasting has been written down upon you (is mandatory), as it was upon those before you”. According to the...
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...Mosque A mosque is a place where Muslims meet to worship God (Allah). The word 'mosque' is linked to an Arabic word meaning 'prostrate oneself' and it is a place where Muslims bow before God (prostrate means bow down). Mosques are generally rectangular in shape and the walls define the sacred area inside the building however, whilst some mosques are purpose built others can be found in converted houses. A basic feature of all mosques is a tower called the minaret. In Islamic countries the muezzin (caller) enters the minaret and calls the people to prayer. In Britain this is not allowed so some Islamic communities broadcast the call to prayer on a radio frequency which Muslims can pick up in their homes and places of work using a small receiver. The call to prayer goes like this: 'God is great, God is most Great, (x3) I bear witness that there is no God but Allah, (x3) I bear witness that Mohammed is the messenger of Allah (x2) Come to prayer, (x2) Come to your good, (x2) God is most great, (x2) I bear Witness that there is no God but Allah [IMAGE]Muslims pray five times a day and prayer times are fixed by the sun and change daily. Because people lead busy lives it is the role of the muezzin to make sure people know when the correct time for prayer is. Each time for prayer has a special name and each time is separated by two hours. These times are Fajr (before dawn and sunrise), Zuhr (after midday)...
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...origins and histories, size, their view on the purpose of life and the roles that humans play, their beliefs of on the afterlife, specific practices they take part in, and the texts from which their religion can be applied from. First of all, the origins and histories of these two religions differ greatly. Islam is considered to be the youngest of the seven great world religions, dating back to its creation in seventh-century Saudi Arabia. The prophet Muhammad introduced Islam in 610 AD after experiencing an “angelic visitation.” Muslims believe that Qu’ran, which is the holy book of Islam, were the preexistent and perfect words from Allah. Muhammad dictated the Qu’ran. Muhammad is loosely credited with the origin of Islam, although many Muslims believe that Islam existed way before Muhammad was even alive. And although Muhammad dictated the Qu’ran, the Qu’ran states that Muhammad was not the originator. The Qu’ran instead states that God wrote the Qu’ran, who in turn had the angel Gabriel dictate it to the prophet Muhammad (“Origin”). In contrast, the church of Scientology was formed just 55 years ago, in 1954. The American author L. Ron Hubbard created the basis and teachings of the religion throughout his life. The beginning of Hubbard’s research into the purposes of life started in 1938, with the publishing of Excalibur, in which he hypothesized that the common denominator of existence was survival. In 1950, he published a book called Dianetics. At first, only 6,000 copies...
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...have gone through many trials and tribulations. Test on my faith has caused my spiritual confidence to falter, so I turned to reading, researching and asking questions. I’ve always had an interest in Islam. My eldest son recently converted from Christianity to Islam. I asked him why he converted and his answer was “because he always questioned the Jesus thing”. He said he never understood how Jesus died for our sins and we continue to sin. I found his statement very profound; it caused my own doubts and me to think about my many years of being a Christian. Muslims believe that Christians are committing shirk by referring to Jesus as the Son of God and believing in the Trinity (which, according to the Qu’ran, consists of God, Mary and Jesus – 5:116). The word “Muslim” means one who surrenders to the will of God; no matter what their race, nationality or ethnic background. If a person truly wants to become a Muslim their first step is to speak the “Shahada”, the testimony of faith. In Islam the Shahada is the first and most imperative of the five pillars of Islam. After speaking the Shahada with honest confidence and sincerity one enters the faith of Islam. When a person enters the life of Islam, they ask forgiveness from the sins of their previous life. They do not need to worry about those sins because their slate is wiped clean. But it is their duty to keep their record clean...
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...Michael Moore History paper unit 2 10/16/2014 The Islamic religion is the youngest of the three great monotheistic religions. Our views on the Islamic religion can be miss lead by the media in today’s society. The truth is the Islamic religion originated in the Arabian Peninsula around the seventh century. This religion is heavily based on the economy of the Arabian Peninsula. At this time the Arabian Peninsula was very diverse. Framing was mainly located in the southwest mountains and tribes formed around oasis. The city with the greatest economic power was Mecca. This was the center for trade where artisans, merchants, and religious leaders came. Even though the Bedouin's had small numbers they were an important military and political power because of their ability to survive in the desert. As an Arab you belonged a family in a clan and in a tribe. The prophet Muhammad was recognized as the last in a series of prophets. There is not much about Muhammad's child hood but it is thought that he was raised like most children of this time. It was said that Muhammad was born in a well-liked family which was a part of the Quraysh tribe. He would herd the sheep to help his father. As Muhammad grew older he entered the caravan trade. He later married a woman named Khadija. After this he started to turn to the spiritual side of his life. At the age of forty it is said that he started to see visions which said that he was to be the prophet of God. Since having lived in Mecca...
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...population. There are also small groups of Buddhist Christians Parsis and Hindus. The Muslim religion was founded by the Prophet Muhammad in seventeenth century, when, according to the Islamic belief, he received messages from God and wrote them down in what became the Qur'an, the Islamic book that instructs Muslims on how to conduct their lives. Feroza explains how her family celebrates their religious ceremonies and how religion plays a mammoth role in Feroza’s life. Throughout An American Brat, Feroza explains her religious beliefs and her family’s traditions. Feroza covered her head with a scarf, daubed her eyes with water from a silver jar, and performed her kusti in the lobby, As she unwound the sacred thread girdling her waist and retied the knots in the front and the back, she asked Ahura Mazda’s forgiveness for every ignoble thought, word, and deed she was guilty of and prayed that she might have the good thoughts, the eloquent tongue, and the strength to...
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...Islam and Christianity are similar in their commitments to their God , but different in culture systems and reading scriptures. The commitments to faith include the Five Pillars of Faith and The Ten Commandments. Also the commitments to faith are the rules of being in that religion. Cultural systems includes places of worship to their Gods and different branches of religion that belongs to religion. The Scriptures text from the Islam Qu’ran and Christian Bible includes beliefs and what happens to a person when they die if the are a follower of a religion. Islam and Christianity have similar commitments to their God. Islam commitments to their god is doing the Five Pillars of Faith. The Five Pillars of Faith for the Islam culture means following five rules which is: Acknowledgement that “there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Prophet.” The Islamic religion must pray five times a day facing “Mecca: at dawn, at noon, in the...
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...Abstract This paper begins by going in depth into the lives on historical account of Jesus Christ and the Prophet Mohammed. It continues by discussing the impact of their deaths had upon their followers and worshippers. A continuation is made by detailing how each figure is worshipped and how their words are kept alive in present times. The Life of Jesus The religion of Christianity has a foundation that is based around the teachings of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whose life story is told in the New Testament in the Bible. Jesus of Nazareth also widely known as Jesus Christ is the son of God according to Christians. The exact date of his birth is not known, however he was born to a virgin named Mary who had a fiancée, a carpenter names Joseph. Before her pregnancy an angel named Gabriel appeared before Mary is a dream and prophesized she would give birth to a male child, upon her pregnancy the angel reappeared to Joseph and instructed him to Mary the pregnant virgin. “About 2000 years ago God sent an angel to Israel, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to Joseph, a carpenter. The angel told Mary that by God's power, she would conceive and bear a son.” (Palmer, 2008, para. 1) . Word of the Messiah’s birth soon traveled and got the attention of Three Wise Men who traveled from the Far East, the men wanted to worship Jesus and in an attempt to find him they visited a King named Herod who led Judea. In an effort to find Jesus and kill him, Herod tricked the Wise Men...
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...kinds of fruit. I later learned that these people were of the Islamic faith and commonly referred to as Muslims. At the time this is all I knew of the faith other than the fact that Muslims were not permitted to eat swine. Later, I learned that the Muslims selling The Final Call were Muslims in the Nation of Islam which is a sect of the Islamic faith. The Nation of Islam was considered a more radical group of Black Muslim which had gained more celebrity during the sixties and the Civil Rights Movement due to the teachings of Malcolm X. In this assignment, I chose to interview a member of the Islamic faith to get a personal point of view of understanding of the Muslim experience. This person is not a member of the Nation of Islam, but only a devout Muslim born of African heritage. His name is Mousa Adamou born in Karma Koira, Niger and was raised in Lome, Togo Africa. In preparing for our sit-down, I thought of what I already had known about the Muslim faith which was not as much as I thought prior to studying it in chapter 10 of our textbook. I did know of the ignorant and bigoted misconceptions that have plagued the Islamic religion especially after the September 11th attacks from Muslim extremists. Since then more people have educated themselves about the Islamic faith to become more aware of the beliefs, customs, and to also get a better understanding of the Muslim culture. I have met a number...
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...hundred martyrs.” What is Islam? For a fifth of the world's population, Islam is both a religion and a complete way of life. Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority have nothing to do with the extremely grave events, which have come to be associated with their faith through a biased media. For centuries, the Muslim faith has had a history of struggle to create a Qu’ranic civilization. The challenge of creating a “good” society on earth is the goal sought by Islam; one universal ideal for the entire world, It has been the mission of all Muslim prophets to see that humanity, through the spiritual and moral perfection taught by the Qu’ran, brings the establishment of a community built through the word of Allah and the message of Muhammad. However, it has not been an easy task. Many people have struggled and strived to follow their Faith as time and the way of things changed, all the while respecting the demands of moral values, socialization, family, and community found in the Qu’ran. The Qur'an cites that "A man receives but only that for which he strives; that his endeavors will be judged, and only then will he receive his recompense in full." (53:39-41). In other words, Muslims must continue to strive to earn their final blessing. How to maintain that faith by ruthlessly remaining a devout Muslim in this new, accepting, transforming 21st century has turned out to be quite a challenge. As we enter a new age ripe for reconsidering...
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...The word Islam means to follow one God named Allah. Within this the people that follow have to take responsibility for their own actions. The prophet Muhammad talked to the Angel Gabriel, he gave him the words of Allah and translated it to the Qu'ran. The Islamic religion started by this prophet who was a key factor in spreading the Qu’ran among Muslims. The Muslims were divided into Sunni and Shari’a, the group that followed Muhammed was Sunni and believed that it was the proper way of living. The Five Pillars of Islamic faith are: Shahada (statement of faith to Allah and to Muhammad as his prophet), Salat (prayer five times a day), Zakat (almsgiving to the poor), Sawn (fasting between dawn and sunset during Ramadan), and Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca at least once). Islam spread so quickly because of the trade center and of many routes, the religious loyalty, and the involvement in military conquest....
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...argument, Muslims point to the following verse in the Qu’ran, "[Abraham] said to his father and his people: 'What are these images to whose worship you cleave?' They said: 'We found our fathers worshipping them.' He said: 'Certainly you have been, you and your fathers, in manifest error.'" Yet there's no ruling in the Qu’ran explicitly forbidding the depiction of the Prophet, according to Prof Mona Siddiqui from Edinburgh University. Instead, the idea arose from the hadiths - stories about the life and sayings of Muhammad gathered in the years after his death. Siddiqui points to depictions of Muhammad - drawn by Muslim artists - dating from the Mongol and Ottoman...
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...(Benchmark Assessment) Heritage Assessment Paper Michelle U. Ghitkammanee Grand Canyon University: NRS-429V March 8, 2015 Maintaining, Protecting and Restoring Health among Filipino American Culture The health maintenance among the Filipino Americans characterized by bodily awareness of the sign and symptoms related to their chronic illnesses. Three major chronic illnesses that the majority of the Filipino Americans have are diabetes, hypertension and cerebrovascular accident or stroke. Diet posed a significant challenge because Filipino Americans believed that the importance of food maintains social relationships and camaraderie. Food is important to Filipino culture it symbolizes sharing and blessings to the family. In the Filipino American Culture the importance of balance or “timbang” is a centralized concept of health and balance is desired in all social relationships. Filipino Americans affirms that being healthy shows the balance in the body and being ill is the result of imbalances in the body. Filipino Americans have a strong belief that health and illness are interrelated with social affairs. Health, happiness and sociality are all linked together to build up wellness. Filipino Americans that were interviewed states that imbalances of the body due to being worried and overworked are also seen in building up stress that causes illnesses. Filipino Americans are closed knit family ties. Expressive in nature, they expressed the sense of responsibility for maintaining...
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...Pornography’s Effect on Sexual Crime Rates Overview: Our Research Topic Be it in film, magazines or even fiction, pornography has always been a controversial topic. It is many things to many people: a guilty pleasure, a shameful addiction, a stress relief, foreplay, an obscene creation or even a vulgar pastime. However, as time passes, pornography is becoming decreasingly taboo, and this could result in a significant impact on societal values and perceptions. Introduction: Questions and Objectives Long has there been war between those who are for pornography and those against it. Is pornography harmful or harmless? Just what are the effects of pornography on society? Is it just simply a harmless way to release pent-up lust or does it play a big role in shaping society? Could minutes of watching pornography a day affect society in a big way - say for instance, the rates of sexual crimes like rape, molest and sexual harassment? In this essay, we will attempt to prove that there is a strong and direct correlation between pornography and sexual crimes by critically examining the arguments provided before we draw a conclusion. Our hypothesis is that, indeed, increased pornography viewer-ship will cause a rise in sexual crimes. This is an easy conclusion to draw, as one would expect those who frequent pornography to be more sexually imaginative, active and accepting as compared to people who would normally not watch pornography. We are tackling...
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...criminal procedure follows an adversarial system, which is based under English Common Law. The people of Iran and many other countries and governments in the Middle East, follow Islamic law, also known as Sharia Law. Sharia Law is the underlying influence of the legal code in many Muslim countries. What is Sharia Law? Sharia law, also known, as Islamic law is a movement derived from the Holy Quran that allows such countries as Iran to govern personal status laws, regulations that pertain to divorce and marriage, inheritance and custody. In the Middle East, Sharia law contains major controversy when it comes to influence status law as well as criminal law. The Holy Quran and some of its interpretations are used to justify what Americans would describe as cruel and unusual punishments like death by stoning and the unequal treatment of women in their dress, status, inheritance and independence (Johnson, 2010). The Iranian government follows and sets forth laws under Sharia and the ways of the Holy Quran and prophet Mohammed. Sharia developed in 632 CE after the death of the prophet Mohammad and passed down by scholars as the ways of “Allah”, the ways of the one and only God. People of the Muslim faith follow a school called the Ja’fari, which is most notable in Iran as Shia-dominant (Johnson, 2010). Elements Under Sharia Law: The primary element of Sharia is the Holy Quran. There are not other appeals that go against the Quran. The Sunna is the second element of Sharia...
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