Question – What is Shariah? Shariah is an Arabic word meaning “a road to the watering place.” In a religious context, it means “the righteous path.” Shariah consists of broad principles, which are derived from the Quran and the traditions (teachings, sayings, actions, approvals and disapproval) of Muhammad during the 23 years of his...

Question – What is the difference between Islam and Muslims? Islam is a religion or faith. Muslims are the people who follow the religion or faith of Islam. As an analogy consider this – Christianity is the faith. Christians are the people who follow the religion of Christianity. Judaism is the faith. Jews are the people who follow the religion of...

Question – On what basis do today’s terrorists justify their actions as Islamic? Justifying acts of violence in the name of religion has been part of human history since the dawn of civilization. The history of Muslims is no exception. In contemporary times we find al-Qaeda, in general, and Osama bin Laden, in particular, conflating political rhetoric...

Question – What is the global distribution of Muslim population? The Pew Forum has completed an interesting study on the Muslim population worldwide. Muslims make up 1.57 billion of the 6.8 billion people worldwide. Muslims make-up 1 in 5 people in the world. More than 300 million Muslims live in countries where Islam is not the majority religion. In India...

Question – Is it possible to practice Islam without knowing Arabic? People who speak Arabic as their primary language make up fewer than 20% of the Muslim population worldwide. The adjacent map shows, in green, places around the world where Arabic is spoken as the primary language. A person is regarded as an Arab if they meet one of the following three...