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Islam is the religion founded by the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in Arabia in the 7th century CE.
>>Childhood
>>Marriage
>>Revelation
>>Conflict with Makkans
>>Migration
>>Consolidation
>>Battle of Badr
>>Battle of the Ditch
>>The Taking of Makkah
>>Death of the Prophet
>>The Spread of Islam
>>Shahadah (Declaration of Faith)
>>Salat (Prayer)
>>Zakat (Charitable Giving)
>>Sawm (Fasting)
>>Hajj (Pilgrimage)
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The essence of Islam is submission to the will of Allah (God). Allah, is the one God, the creator of all that exists, made known to man by the Prophets (including Ibrahim, Moses and Jesus, peace be upon them all). The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who was God's last and final messenger, delivered God's complete and perfect message in the words of the Holy Qur'an.
The world into which the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was born was one in which polytheism had supplanted belief in the one true God. Pagan rites desecrated the House of God (the Kaaba) which the Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and his first born son Ishmael (peace be upon him) had built in Makkah. Muhammad (peace be upon him) purged the Holy Places of idolatry and taught a strict monotheism in which all must submit to the will of God.
With extraordinary speed, the new religion of Islam spread out from the Arabian peninsula, across the whole of the Middle East, west across the north of Africa and into Europe, east into India and the Far East.
Central to the success of Islam in a society was the commitment to the brotherhood of man. All Muslim belong to the Ummah (the community of Islam), a concept that transcends all distinctions of colour, race and gender. To join the Ummah, individuals simply have to assert wholeheartedly their belief in Islam and conduct their lives according to the word of God, as revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
A Muslim is a person who has submitted his or her whole being to Allah and to the acceptance and fulfilment of His will. Allah, the God of the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham, peace be upon him), the forbear of the Arabs, is omnipotent, omniscient and, above all, compassionate.
The will of Allah, as revealed in the Holy Qur'an, is that people should worship Allah, put their trust in Allah, avoid sins, and treat one another with justice, compassion and generosity. Islam permeates every moment and every aspect of a Muslim's life.
Today, Islam has more than one billion adherents and is the fastest growing of the world's major religions.
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The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was born around 570 CE.
At the age of 40, Muhammad received his call to become a prophet. He received the word of God through the Angel Gabriel and the divine message was recorded in the Holy Qur'an
The God that spoke to Muhammad was the God of Ibrahim (Abraham). Islam is thus essentially part of the great monotheistic movement that emerged and developed in the Near East. In Muhammad, regarded as the "seal of the prophets", the message of God for man was finally comprehended and Islam (submission to the will of Allah) is seen by Muslims as the apotheosis of the Judaeo-Christian tradition.
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The Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, was born in Makkah on the west side of the Arabian peninsula about 570 CE into a prosperous family of the Quraysh tribe. His father Abdullah died before his son was born so, from birth through his early years, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was brought up by his grandfather, Abdul Muttalib, the father of Abdullah. As an infant, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was taken out of Makkah to benefit from the healthier climate of the desert and placed in the care of a Bedouin wet nurse, Halima.
At the age of six, Muhammad (peace be upon him) lost his mother Aminah and, two years later, his grandfather who had been his guardian also died.
The young Muhammad (peace be upon him), who had now lost both his parents and his grandfather, came under the care and protection of his uncle Abu Talib who succeeded Abdul Muttalib as head of the Hashem clan of the Quraysh tribe. Abu Talib, a prominent figure in Quraysh society, was a successful merchant. As soon as Muhammad (peace be upon him) was old enough, he began to gain experience of Makkah's commercial life, accompanying his uncle on business trips to Syria
The world into which Muhammad (peace be upon him) had been born was a pagan world of polytheism. Pagan rites desecrated the Kaaba(the House of God) which, long before, the Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) and his first-born son Ishmael (peace be upon him) had built in Makkah as the House of the one true God. While the young Muhammad (peace be upon him) led the life of a typical young Qurayshi male, he distinguished himself quickly in two respects. First, his honesty and sincerity in all his dealing with others soon earned him the soubriquet Al Amin (the trustworthy one). Secondly, he showed an untypical revulsion at the pagan rites of idolatry which were the focus of Makkah's religious life at this time.
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At the age of 25, Muhammad (peace be upon him) married Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her), a wealthy Makkan widow. At her invitation, Muhammad (peace be upon him), whose reputation for integrity was widely recognised amongst the Makkans, had taken care of some of her business and, on one trip to Syria, had succeeded in providing his employer with a much better than expected return. The trust between the two quickly developed and very soon the noble Khadijah expressed interest in marrying Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the wedding was arranged.
It is impossible to overestimate the importance of this union. Although Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) was fifteen years older than Muhammad (peace be upon him), their marriage was fruitful, happy and enduring. Khadijah bore Muhammad's (peace be upon him) six children. There were two boys, Qasim and Abdullah, neither of whom survived infancy; and four daughters, Zainab, Ruqaiyyah, Umm Kulthum, and Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with them all). The marriage lasted until Khadijah's death and, throughout the twenty five years of the marriage, Muhammad (peace be upon him) took no other wife.
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Although Muhammad (peace be upon him) followed the pursuits of a successful trader in a busy commercial centre, he exhibited from an early age a contemplative frame of mind which, from time to time, required solitude. At such times Muhammad (peace be upon him) would retreat from the city to a cave (Hira cave) on al Noor Mountain at the outskirts of Makkah.
In 610 CE, Muhammad (peace be upon him) received his first revelation. He was alone, within his cave on the mountain side, when an Angel visited him, and called on him to recite in the name of God. Twice Muhammad (peace be upon him) declined, declaring that he was not a reciter. But a third time, the Angel spoke and said: 'Recite in the name of thy Lord who created! He createth man from a clot of blood. Recite!; and thy Lord is the Most Bountiful, He who hath taught by the pen, Taught man what he knew not.'
Muhammad (peace be upon him) recited these words, whereupon the Angel departed. As Muhammad (peace be upon him) descended from the mountain, he was halted by a voice which said: 'O Muhammad, thou art the Messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.' When he looked, in whichever direction, for the source of the voice, he beheld his visitor, standing astride the horizon.
That night, in Ramadan in the year 610, was to become known as the "Night of Ordainment", a night declared in the Holy Qur'an to be worth a thousand months.
On his return home, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was clearly shaken by the overwhelming experience of the Archangel's appearance and the announcement of his calling as Messenger of God. Khadijah (may Allah be pleased with her) immediately reassured him of the reality of the vision and the authenticity of his calling as Prophet. Thus Khadijah became the Prophet's (peace be upon him) first follower.
Further revelations followed, passing to mankind the word of God in the wondrous language of the Holy Qur'an. And yet, in the first two years, Muhammad (peace be upon him) kept his own council, telling only those closest to him of the message the Archangel Gabriel (peace be upon him) had delivered to him.
In 612 CE, the time had come for Muhammad (peace be upon him) to announce his mission. He began to preach the uncompromising message of the one true God, of the urgent need to abandon paganism and idolatry and to replace the materialism and greed of much of Qurayshi society with the God-given values of justice, charity and compassion.
Gradually, the number of converts to Islam increased. His cousin Ali bin Abu Talib, his close friend Abu Bakr, and Uthman bin Affan, a wealthy merchant of the Umayyad family, were amongst the first. Others began to accept Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a prophet and the verses of the Holy Qur'an as divine revelation. The message he brought resonated with those who were disillusioned with the gross inequalities in Makkan life. Those who accepted Islam joined the Prophet (peace be upon him) in common worship, prostrating themselves on the ground which they touched with their foreheads in acknowledgement of God's absolute supremacy and their submission to His will.
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As the number of converts grew, it was inevitable that the message of the Prophet (peace be upon him) would bring him into conflict with the Qurayshi establishment. It seemed to many of the wealthy Makkan merchants that revulsion of Muhammad (peace be upon him) at idolatry undermined one of the factors that made Makkah a place of pilgrimage for so many pagans who could pick which god to worship from amongst the pantheon of idols in the House of God (the Kaaba). The reaction of the Qurayshi, Muhammad's own tribe, was particularly hostile since, at the time, they were the guardians of the Kaaba and all the idols therein. These same merchants felt that Muhammad's (peace be upon him) uncompromising message that they should acknowledge that their prosperity ensued from the beneficence of God and that they should show more generosity to those less fortunate than themselves was an overt criticism of their way of life and their values.
An essential part of the message that Muhammad (peace be upon him) brought was a call for social justice. Muslims were enjoined, as a first duty, to form a community (ummah) based on social justice, compassion and, through regular acts of charity, a fair distribution of wealth. In this respect, Islam endorsed all earlier prophets (peace be upon them all) who had based their exhortations on the same principles (belief in and the worship of the one supreme God and social justice on earth), acknowledging that their revelations came from the same source. The Holy Qur'an makes it clear that there should be respect for other monotheistic heavenly religions and that there should be no coercion in matters of faith.
While Islam respected all those who sought social justice, there was no room for compromise with idolators who were driven by selfishness and greed. By 616 CE, the disquiet of the Makkan establishment had turned to anger against Muhammad (peace be upon him). They were particularly incensed by his insistence that, on the Day of Judgement, all would be judged on merit, not on the status, wealth and power they had acquired in life.
Despite Muhammad's (peace be upon him) denial that he had political ambitions, many members of the merchant class saw Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a threat to their power and prosperity. There was talk of offering Muhammad (peace be upon him) trade incentives to persuade him to moderate his criticisms but these were emphatically rejected by the Prophet (peace be upon him). Conflict became inevitable.
Abu Jahl, a leading figure in Qurayshi society, attempted to quarantine the band of Muslims, forbidding the Qurayshi tribe to marry or trade with any of the clan of Hashem, on the grounds that the clan had failed to rein in Muhammad (peace be upon him) and suppress his teachings. This boycott, which was sustained for two or three years, extended to the sale of food and undoubtedly caused the Muslims severe hardship. In 616 CE, on the advice of Muhammad (peace be upon him), a small group of Muslims left Makkah for Abyssinia where they were well-received despite the efforts of a Qurayshi delegation to persuade the Abyssinian ruler to hand them over to the Makkan authorities.
In 619 CE, Khadijah, Muhammad's (peace be upon him) wife of 25 years, and Abu Talib, the uncle who had protected him for some 40 years after the death of Abdul Muttalib, Muhammad's (peace be upon him) grandfather, died. Abu Talib was succeeded as head of the Hashem clan by Abu Lahab, another uncle. Abu Lahab was persuaded by other members of the Qurayshi to withdraw his protection from Muhammad (peace be upon him). Both of Muhammad's (peace be upon him) parents were dead and, without the support of a clan chieftain, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was unprotected and vulnerable. It had become impossible for the Prophet (peace be upon him) to preach and for the ummah to live securely in Makkah.
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In 621 CE, a small group of men from Yathrib (Madinah), a town 250 miles to the north, converted to Islam in the course of a pilgrimage to Makkah. These men undertook to carry the word of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to the citizens of Yathrib. Their mission succeeded to the extent that, in 622 CE, 72 people of Yathrib accepted Islam and took an oath to protect the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). They also swore to cease fighting amongst themselves, thus putting an end to the internecine strife that had riven the Yathrib communities in recent years. In accepting Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a Prophet, they acquired a man of undisputed integrity who they believed would be able to act as a powerful and effective arbiter in disputes
In 622 CE, the Muslim families living in Makkah slipped away to find new homes in Yathrib. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and Abu Bakr narrowly escaped assassination, taking refuge in a desert cave, before making their way safely to Yathrib as commanded by God.
This departure from Makkah is the hijrah (emigration), from which date the Muslim calendar begins. And from this date, Yathrib also became known as Al-Madinah Al-Munawwarah. Madinah was to become the model Islamic city. On arrival, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) built a mosque. This was a simple structure which made use of tree trunks to support the roof, a stone to indicate the direction for prayer and a tree stump as a platform from which the Prophet (peace be upon him) could preach. Around the courtyard of the mosque were huts to accommodate the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his wives. The mosque was a place to contain all of life, and, by encompassing all aspects of the temporal as well as the spiritual, to give some indication of the ultimate unity of God.
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In removing the growing Muslim community to Madinah, Muhammad (peace be upon him) sent a message to the tribes of Arabia - the message that Islam transcended all tribal and family loyalties. He quickly assimilated the warring Arab factions of Madinah into the ummah. The shedding of Muslim blood by another Muslim was forbidden. Initially Muhammad (peace be upon him) hoped the Jewish tribes, who also had settled in the environs of the oasis of Madinah, would recognise his prophethood but they refused to accept him. Following another revelation, the direction of prayer was changed from Jerusalem to Makkah, the site of the Kaaba, built by Ibraham. This reorientation indicated to all that Islam was centred on the worship of the one God whom Ibrahim had served so diligently, before that pure faith had been extended into Judaism and Christianity.
At about this time (622/623 CE) Muhammad (peace be upon him) drew up the 'Constitution of Madinah', a set of rules to define the rights and responsibilities of the various tribes. This remarkable document established the principle, observed by later Muslim rulers, that, on condition that taxes were paid to the Muslim authorities, the "People of the Book" (i.e. Jews and Christians) should be free to follow their own religions. This religious tolerance was to distinguish Islam as a political power from some other empires of the ancient world which had tended to persecute those who did not adhere to the state-sponsored religion.
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Relations between Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the Makkan establishment went from bad to worse. The Makkans seized all the property left behind by the Muslims when they had migrated to Madinah. In 624 CE, Muhammad (peace be upon him) led an attack party against a heavily laden caravan belonging to the eminent Makkan trader and head of the Umayyah clan, Abu Sufyan. The caravan escaped unharmed but a punitive expedition of some 800 men, under the command of Abu Jahl, was sent against Muhammad (peace be upon him). The two sides met at near a place called Badr and, in the ensuing battle, although the Muslims were outnumbered, they were victorious. Abu Jahl was amongst those who fell. The battle of Badr was a major turning point in the history of Islam.
This success strengthened the resolve of the Muslims for, against the odds, they had won a decisive victory. Through military success and the astute use of marriage relationships (he had married A'ishah, the daughter of Abu Bakr and his own daughter Fatimah married Ali, who was to become the fourth Caliph), he increased cohesion amongst his followers and strengthened his position in Madinah.
But the ummah was still far from secure. There were pagan enemies in Madinah who rejected Islam and resented the power of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his followers whom they saw as interlopers. There was a still more serious threat from the Makkans who, under Abu Sufyan, decided to expunge the humiliation they had suffered at Badr by wiping out the Muslim community. In 625 CE at Uhud, the Makkans joined battle with the Muslims and, although things went well for the Muslims initially, the Makkan gained the upper hand and defeated them.
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The turning point came at the Battle of the Ditch. A large force of some 10,000 men, under the command of Abu Sufyan advanced towards Madinah, determined to put an end to Islam and its Prophet (peace be upon him). Muhammad (peace be upon him), with a mere 3,000 men at his disposal, ordered the digging of a defensive trench. He himself joined in the strenuous work. The trench rendered the Makkan cavalry useless and the confusion in the Makkan ranks that ensued, combined with the unflinching determination of the Muslims to defend their faith, their Prophet (peace be upon him) and their city, gave Muhammad (peace be upon him) a great victory. A Prophet of the one God, who could defeat a large army with the whole pantheon of pagan gods to support it, was a leader worthy of respect, even, perhaps especially, amongst his enemies.
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In 628 Muhammad (peace be upon him) embarked on an audacious but dangerous mission. He announced he was going on pilgrimage to Makkah. Since it was forbidden for pilgrims to bear arms in Makkah, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was proposing to walk, unarmed, into the heartland of his bitterest enemies. More than a thousand of his followers decided to walk with him. The Makkans were not yet ready to concede to the Prophet of Islam (peace be upon him), but equally they knew that they must find some accommodation with him. At the border town of Hudaybiyah, the Makkans refused to allow the Muslims to complete their pilgrimage but agreed that all hostilities between Muslims and Makkans should end and that the Muslims should be allowed full pilgrimage the following year.
Two years later, the Makkans broke their agreement. The Prophet (peace be upon him), now even stronger following further conversions to Islam in the wake of the Hudaybiyah agreement, marched on Makkah at the head of an army of 10,000 followers. The city yielded without a fight; and Muhammad (peace be upon him) took Makkah, as he wished, without bloodshed. He destroyed the idols that so offended him, and reconsecrated the Kaaba to the one God. He adapted the pagan rites of pilgrimage by tying it to the story of Ibrahim, Haajar (Ibrahim's wife), and Ibrahim's first born son, Ishmael (peace be upon him).
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Muhammad (peace be upon him) died in 632 CE. He had founded a new world religion. He had also presented the world with a concept, the ummah (or community), which stood for social justice, compassion and tolerance. Out of the incorrigible warring factions of the tribes of the Arabian peninsula, Muhammad (peace be upon him) had, with God's help, forged a coherent force capable of spreading out from the Arabian peninsula to the rest of the world.
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Abu Bakr succeeded the Prophet (peace be upon him) and, in his short period as Caliph, completed the unification of the Arabs of the peninsula. Under the command of the second Caliph, Umar bin Al-Khattab, the Arabs, now united and a formidable, battle-hardened force, swept north into Iraq and Syria, and west into Egypt. In 636 CE, at the Battle of Yarmuk, the Muslims defeated the Byzantine army and Muslim control of Palestine was established. The fate of the Persian Empire, under the Sassanids, was determined in 637 CE at the battle of Qadisiyyah where another Muslim victory led to the fall of the Sassanid capital Ctesiphon. In the period 639 to 641 CE, Muslim rule was extended to Egypt. By 641 CE, the Muslim empire covered the whole of the Arabian peninsula, Syria, Palestine and Egypt. Muslim armies then marched on along the north African coast. In 642 CE, the Muslim commander Amr bin al Aas conquered Cyrenaica. By the end of the decade, Muslim control extended across all of Libya. In 670 CE, the Muslims swept into Tunisia, finally taking Carthage in 693 CE. By 710 CE the Muslims had reached Morocco. Two years leter, the victorious Muslim army crossed the Meditarranean into Spain and, in three years, extended the Muslim writ to all of Spain except for the mountainous northern region.
In one hundred years, the Muslims had grown from a small band of committed followers of the Prophet (peace be upon him) into masters of a massive empire which extended from the Atlantic in the West to the Himalayas in the east.
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The Holy Qur'an is the word of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, by the Angel Gabriel. It is for Muslims the uncreated word of God.
The utterances of God were vouchsafed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who committed the words to memory and dictated the word of God to his Companions.
There are 114 Suras (chapters) which vary in length. Part of the Holy Qur'an was revealed before Hijra (migration) to Madinah and the rest was revealed after Hijra to Madinah. The former part deals with the proof of oneness of God, while the latter contains guidance on all aspects of life.
The Holy Qur'an, as it is now, was compiled shortly after the Prophet's death.
The Holy Qur'an is the basis for the faith of every Muslim and his guide to living. It provides guidelines for personal conduct within a just society. It provides guidance on all aspects of life, covering personal, social, military and legal matters, as well as religion.
For more than one fifth of the world's population, Islam is then a way of life, as well as a religion. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the holy land of Islam, charged with guardianship of the two holiest sites of Makkah and Madinah, plays a central role in the world of Islam.
The Holy Qur'an is one of the earliest surviving documents in Arabic. The language of the Holy Qur'an is of outstanding beauty and is considered to be the direct utterance of Allah. It teaches that there is only one God, that God is above all comprehension and that, in relation to God, the right path is total submission (Islam) to the will of the Creator. It avers that there is a day of judgment for all, when the righteous shall be rewarded and the unjust punished.
Because of its divine origin, the Holy Qur'an is treated with great reverence by all Muslims.
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Every Muslim must fulfill the obligations imposed by the five pillars of Islam. These obligations must be performed assiduously and wholeheartedly. These rituals and duties are woven into the lives of Muslims and give order and coherence to each and every day, taking precedence over all secular considerations. This means that, for a Muslim, Islam, submission to the will of God, is in the fullest sense, a way of life, not merely a part of life.
Observation of the five pillars of Islam involves a direct relationship between the Muslim and God. There is no need for a priestly intermediary. Because the Muslim's communication with God is direct and unmediated, the relationship is essentially honest and pure.
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The first of the five pillars of Islam is the profession of faith in pronouncing of the words that "There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His Prophet". This Shahadah, or testimony, when recited by a person of sincerity, sound capacity and without any mental reservations, constitutes the first major requirement for being a Muslim. Through this public profession of faith, the individual becomes part of the Islamic community. To become a Muslim, one need only repeat the Shahadah three times before witnesses.
Of parallel importance and in accordance with the Shahadah is the The Six Articles of Faith. These are belief in unity of one God, belief in Angels of God, belief in Scriptures of God, belief in all the Prophets of God, belief in a general Resurrection and the total submission to the will of the Creator and acceptance of fate - be it good or bad.
The Shahadah appears on the flag of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, a powerful and ubiquitous reminder of the role of the Kingdom as the birthplace of Islam and the Guardian of Islam's holiest sites.
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Prayers are of such great significance that some leading scholars of the religion describe them as the backbone of Islam.
Each Muslim is required to pray five times daily, in a prescribed manner. The first prayer (Salat al-Fajr) is at dawn; the next (Salat al-Zuhr) is at high noon; then in the afternoon (Salat al-Asr); after sunset (Salat al-Maghrib); and finally at night (Salat al-Isha').
The regular sequence of prayers every day sets the rhythm of the Muslim's life. It forms a bond between all fellow Muslims around the world today and all the generations of Muslims who have lived and prayed since the time of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.
When praying, it is important that Muslim's mind is clear of all trivial and ephemeral thoughts, so that he or she can give God his undivided attention. As the Holy Qur'an (107: 4-6) says: "Woe to those who pray but are unmindful of their prayer, or who pray only to be seen by people".
The formalized prayer consists of a sequence of obeisances made first from a standing position and then from a kneeling one. Muslims may pray in any place, alone or in the company of others. It is especially good to pray in the company of others in the mosque. When praying, the Muslim faces in the direction of the Kaaba in the Holy City of Makkah.
Inseparable from prayers in Islam is the Tahara, that is, the complete cleanliness of clothes, body and place. Without the Tahara, a Muslim's prayers will be rendered null. It is the Muslim's obligation, therefore, to be clean at the time of each prayer before facing his Creator. When Muslims pray, it is as though they are standing in the presence of God.
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In various parts of the Holy Qur'an great stress is laid on the Zakat, that is, almsgiving to those who deserve it. Each able Muslim should give a certain percentage of his annual income, either in money or kind, to the poor and the indigent. In Saudi Arabia, the religious obligation of Zakat has been officially recognized by the establishment of the Department of Zakat under the auspices of the Ministry of Finance. Zakat on the individual's annual income from any legal source amounts to almost 2.5%, subject to strict conditions.
It is believed that one of the reasons for the imposition of Zakat is that Islam calls for the purity of both the soul and the body. (Zakat means purification, and the payment of Zakat is regarded primarily as an act of worship of God.) Since it is required of the rich that they satisfy the needs of the poor, the paying of Zakat no doubt enhances amity and caring within society and strengthens the relationship between the wealthy and the indigent. It reflects fulfillment of an early concept of social justice, as it is taken from each person according to his capacity. The Book of God, the Holy Qur'an, says "Take of their wealth a portion (as charity) to purify them by it".
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The imposition of fasting, which means complete abstention from food and drink and sexual intercourse from sunrise until sunset during the month of Ramadan, is the third basic tenet of the Islamic religion.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Arabian calendar, which consists of twelve lunar months. Therefore, the Arabian lunar month is either twenty-nine or thirty days but never thirty-one days.
Fasting in Ramadan, besides being a religious duty, is no doubt of great benefit as it trains one to be patient, wise, well disciplined and to share the feelings of others. In particular, it reminds all Muslims of the hardships faced by those less fortunate than themselves.
Ramadan, traditionally held to be the month in which the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, received his first revelation and the month in which the Holy Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet, is considered particularly holy by Muslims. Ramadan and, with it, the period of abstinence ends with the festival of Eid ul-Fitr. With a sense of achievement that ensues from submission to the will of God, families and friends gather together to share celebratory meals.
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The fifth and last Pillar of Islam is the Hajj. It is explicitly stated in the Holy Qur'an that every physically and financially able Muslim should make the Hajj to the Holy City of Makkah once in his or her lifetime.
The Hajj is considered the culmination of each Muslim's religious duties and aspiration. Muslims from all over the world seek to make the Hajj to the Holy City of Makkah, which occurs between the eighth and thirteenth days of the last month of the Islamic calendar - Dhu'l-Hijjah - of each year. Muslims travel thousands of miles to reach the Holy City of Makkah for the Hajj and perform the rituals in the same manner as the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) almost fourteen centuries ago.
According to the Department of General Statistics at the Planning Ministry, the number of pilgrims for 2004 (1424 AH) amounted to 2,164,469. There were 1,534,759 pilgrims from outside the Kingdom, while 629,710 were from inside the Kingdom.
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Ramadan, the ninth month of the Islamic year, was the month in which the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, received his first divine revelation from the Angel Gabriel. For this reason it was chosen by the Prophet as a month of fasting, a time in which every Muslim could "cultivate piety".
Throughout the month, fasting and abstinence begin at sunrise and last until sunset. No food or water may pass the Muslim's lips during the hours of daylight, neither may the Muslim engage in sexual intercourse. (Smoking is also prohibited.)
During Ramadan, Muslims are exhorted to read the whole of the Holy Qur'an. The "Night of Ordainment", the night during which Muhammad received his first revelation, falls towards the end of Ramadan. On this night, the Holy Qur'an tells Muslims that Allah sets the course of the world and all human affairs for the coming year.
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| DEPARTURES |
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GROUP: 1
Onward
6th July 2009
Return
20th July 2009 |
GROUP: 2
Onward
16th July 2009
Return
30th July 2009 |
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1st Half of Ramazan
Onward - 20th August 09
Return - 6th September 2009
2nd Half of Ramazan
Onward - 06th September 09
Return - 21st September 2009
Full Month of Ramazan
Onward - 20th August 09
Return - 21st September 2009
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