Muslim
From ArticleWorld
Muslim sometimes also spelled as "Moslem", is the term used for people who adopt the Islam religion. In Arabic language a Muslim means submission or surrendering to the will of God.
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Definition
To be a Muslim, the first thing to do is to say the Shahada, a declaration that there is only one God and that Muhammad is God's messenger or prophet. It is important that declaring the Shahada is witnessed by a group of Muslims or even one person. Muslims believe that Moses "Musa", and Jesus "Isa", were also prophets chosen by God to preach his message to different nations.
Pronunciation and spelling
The word was spelled "Moslem" up until the late 1980s. Most Muslims do not, however, recommend using this spelling because when it is pronounced by non-Arabic speakers, it is similar to another Arabic word for "oppressor." The word is now usually written as "Muslim", though some English dictionaries have both words.
Some Western English-language used to call Muslims "Muhammadans", meaning the followers of Muhammad. However, this term is considered incorrect and is frown upon by the majority of Muslims because it might imply that Muslims worship Prophet Muhammad, which contradicts to the fundamental of Islam as Muslims should only worship God. Muslims also believe that all prophets before Muhammad are actually Muslims because they submitted to God's will. Some earlier writers during the 19th century used other words like Mussulman, or Mussulmaun. Different forms of this word are used till today by Indo-European languages.
Different terms
Some other terms could be used during a discussion if someone is a Muslim or not. These terms are as follows:
- Mu'min: this means a person who believes in God, his Prophets, Angels and the Day of Judgment.
- Fasiq: this means a sinner, which could be used for Muslims who commit sins and do not repent. It is also used sometimes to describe a Muslim who doesn't practice his religion.
- Munafiq: it means a hypocrite. A person who acknowledges Islam in public but in reality he doesn't believe in it.
- Kafir: it means a disbeliever or an atheist. It is used to describe any person who doesn't believe in God.
Disagreements
Some groups of people consider themselves Muslims, such as Ahmadis, but they are not considered Muslims by the majority of Islamic scholars and Muslims. Sufism is not regarded an Islamic School of Thought by many Muslims as well. Though many Sunnis consider the Shi'a fellow Muslims and vise versa, there have been many instances where some Sunni declared the Shi'a as disbelievers or heretics. The same also happened with some Shi'a declaring the Sunni disbelievers. The act of declaring someone as a disbeliever or a heretic is called "takfir" in Arabic.