Fast Facts on Islam
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What are the facts of the Mulsim religion?
This section provides "just the facts" on Islam in a quick, at-a-glance format. Here you can get a general sense of the Muslim faith before exploring it in greater depth, get the basics in order to compare Islam to other religions, study for a test on Islam, or just learn something new. For the basics in paragraph form, see Overview of Islam.
Important note: Muslim beliefs differ between sects and individual believers. Those listed below are believed by the majority of Muslims, but not all.
Also see: The Big Religion Chart to compare Islam to other belief systems.
Date founded
622 CE
Place founded
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Founder
Muhammad (born c.570), a trade merchant from Arabia
Adherents
1.3 billion {Adherents.com}
Size rank (religion statistics) second largest in the world
Main location
Middle East and North Africa
Major sects and denominations
Sunni and Shiite Twelvers - Majority Shi'ite denomination that reveres the Twelve Imams Seveners - Shi'ite denomination holding that the legitimate line of imams ended with the seventh
Sufi is a mystical branch
Sacred text
Qur'an (Koran)
Original language
Arabic
Religious professionals sheikh; imam (Shi'ite)
House of worship mosque Ultimate reality
God (Allah in Arabic); the same God revealed (imperfectly) in the Jewish and Christian Bibles
Type of theism strict monotheism (see Islamic Beliefs About God)
Human nature
Born in a state of purity, imperfect yet capable of seeking God and doing good (see Islamic Beliefs about Human Nature)
Purpose of life
Submit to the will of Allah and attain paradise after death (see Purpose of Life and Salvation in Islam)
How to live
Follow the Qur'an, Hadith and Five Pillars of Islam
Afterlife
Resurrection of body and soul followed by eternal paradise or hell (see Muslim Beliefs about the Afterlife)
Symbols
crescent moon and star (see Islamic Symbols)
Major holidays
Ramadan - month long
Eid al-Fitr - Festival of Breaking the Fast
Hijra - week long; begins 1 Muharram
Eid al-Adha - Festival of Sacrifice
Five Pillars
1. Confession of faith (shahada)
2. Daily prayer (salat)
3. Alms tax (zakat)
4. Pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj)
5. Fasting during Ramadan (sawm)
Twelve Imams
1. Ali
2. Al-Hasan
3. al-Husain
4. Ali Zayn al-Abidin
5. Muhammad al-Baqir
6. Ja'far al-Sadiq
7. Musa al-Kazim
8. Ali al-Rida
9. Muhammad al-Taqi
10. Ali al-Naqi
11. al-Hasan al-Askari
12. Muhammad al-Mahdi
Books of the Qur'an (link goes to the text of the Quran)
The Opening
The Heifer
Al-'Imran
The Women
The Table Spread
The Cattle
The Heights
The Spoils of War
Repentance
Yunus
Hud
Yusuf
The Thunder
Ibrahim
The Rocky Tract
The Bee
The Israelites
The Cave
Maryam
Ta Ha
The Prophets
The Pilgrimage
The Believers
The Light
The