about Islam

The prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him ), who was born in A.D. 570 at Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, is often regarded as the founder of Islam. He was the last prophet to be sent by Allah. There were many prophets before Muhammad (pbuh) including: Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and Isa (Jesus).

Islam means peace, submission and obedience.

Islam is based on the ministry of a man named Muhammad (peace be upon him), and on the words that Allah gave to the world through Muhammad.

Muslims have 6 main beliefs

1. Belief in Allah as the one and only God.
2. Belief in angels.
3. Belief in the holy books.
4. Belief in the Prophets (special messengers).
   e.g. Adam, Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Dawud (David), Isa (Jesus).
   Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the final prophet.
5. Belief in the Day of Judgement...
   The day when the life of every human being will be assessed to decide whether they go to heaven or hell.
6. Belief in Predestination...
   That Allah has already decided what will happen.
   Muslims believe that this doesn't stop human beings making free choices

Friendship and Culture

Love is a life-long willing entanglement of hearts. It is a natural concern for other beings. It may be a genuine concern of a mother for her child, a lover for his love, a friend for his friend and a leader for the mankind. Friendship is a particular name for the relationship between man and man, woman and woman, man and woman and so on. It is a chosen entanglement on agreeable terms among like minded persons. It is considered to be another form of love. The deep friendship is what we call as intimacy. Of course, lastly, if two persons are known to each other, they are considered to be acquaintances. So, these are the relationships we come across in our life.

Along with the themes like love, ambition, jealousy and so on, the great genius Shakespeare has dealt with friendship also giving due importance to it in his plays like Julius Caesar, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet. Charles Dickens has also given a prominent place for it in his novels like The Pickwick Papers, The Great Expectations and Our Mutual Friend. The list of such authors on friendship grows endlessly. Because of friendship many authors have earned name and fame such as Addison and Steele, Swift and Pope, Coleridge and Wordsworth and T.S. Eliot and Pound. Friendship has brought immortal fame for them and generation after generation people’s esteem for these authors is scarcely diminishing in the world.

Not only English literature but all the language literatures of the world have given an esteemed place for friendship, because its benefit is invaluable to mankind. In the great Hindu Epic, Mahabharata, the divine poet, Vyasa has depicted a wonderful picture on friendship not only between man and man (Karna and Duryodhana) but also between God and Man (Lord Krishna and Arjuna). The love and respect of the people for God has increased more mainly due to this aspect of life in this single epic than in any other religious literatures of the world. This is the highest place any literature can give to friendship.