Peace Justicia Manquera,
Welcome to Islam Forums. I'm glad to hear you've taken a positive interest about Islam and I hope you can learn alot here =) When you ask what is Islam, a person can honestly talk to you for a lifetime, there's so many amazing things about this way of life (Islam is a way of life).
I'll just try and sum some things up for you -
- Muslims fundemtal and basic beliefs are; There is One God (Allah means God in Arabic, you can call Him as either), Muhammad(peace be upon him) is the last messenger of God, we believe in All the messengers, we believe in All the scriptures revealed by Messengers of God, we believe in the Angels/Jins and finally we believe in the Last day (judgement day). If you don't believe these things, then you can't be a Muslim.
- We believe that Adam(pbuh) all the way to Muhammad(pbuh) were all Prophets of God. This includes Jesus(pbuh) and Moses(pbuh), we believed they all came with the message of the Oneness of God and to worship no one but Him alone. They are all Muslims (Muslim means submission to the One True God), all the Prophet's were Muslims. Even the Prophet's bow'd down in postration to God, check this video out -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDQ7VqSTMxc
- Jesus(pbuh) is regarded as one of the most blessed Prophets of God. And we Muslims believe that he will one day return, right before Judgement Day. We believe that he will come and lead the Muslims. On the day of Judgement, he will also clear all misconceptions about his divinity, in fact it's revealed in the Quran how the scene plays out.
- Mary(pbuh) is regarded as one of the Greatest women in creation. There's a WHOLE CHAPTER about Mary(pbuh) in the Quran, talking about her struggles and the birth of Jesus(pbuh). Chapter Mary(pbuh) -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLir0mDoaMo
- Nearly 2 billion people give Zakat (charity) every year. In the Quran and Hadith it's so strongly encouraged, as an organization Islam gives the most amount of Charity to the poor every single year.
- We believe in the Bible, but we also believe it is corrupt (changed/edited) etc.
O People of the Book! there has come to you Our Messenger who unfolds to you much of what you had kept hidden of the Book and passes over much. There has come to you indeed from Allah a Light and a clear Book. (Ch.5:V.16)
Any practicing Muslim would be one who Prays 5 times a day, an evironmentalist (were taught to not destroy plants/tree's etc.), animal carers, Human rights protectors, Charity, Educators (were encouraged to seek knowledge, not just in religion but in life aswell, take a look back in history in the Islamic Golden age which many Historians (non muslim historians aswell) have called it the Golden age of Humanity. Many great inventions that helped shape the modern era.),