format_quote Originally Posted by
Robrog8999
Well.. Basically at the moment I'm just reading, learning and researching as I was born and raised Christian. The last 5 or 6 years or so, I've been seeking answers and to kind of build my spiritual side. So I begun with Christianity of course. Researching the different denominations and trying to find out which one best answers my questions. As they all teach different things. And the doctrine of the trinity never made sense to me and in a way, kind of always made me feel like I couldn't get to know who God truly is because I couldn't even wrap my mind around what the doctrine even was saying, let alone understand and comprehend it . so I started looking at churches who did not teach the trinity and found a couple. Reseached them and fast forward a few years, I've been learning about the LDS church (mormon) church and felt like I really found answers to many of my questions. I finally felt like I knew who God is.. And everything made sense.
So that's kind of where I am today. I feel like I found a church that truly feels real and have even begun to feel a lot closer to Jesus.
However, I never researched Islam and always skipped past it and I was thinking one day, how can I know what is true or who's even right if I don't even look into other religions. So from that moment on I felt obligated to learn about all the religions and make sure I give them all a shot. Read their scriptures and history.. Pray to God etc. Because if I dont, ill never be able to really feel as though I searched God out. And I must do so by looking at all the teachings.
And here I am....
I am curious about Islam and learning more about its teachings, history and scripture. To read and pray about it and then kind of go from there.
So right now I've been reading a lot about its history, prophet and read bits of the Quran. And I intend to continue this journey and pray about the Prophet Muhammad and search it out.
But yes, I am familiar with Shahada. And briefly looked over it.
Thank you for sharing this with us, it will really help all of us here inform you better.
As Muslims, we believe that Jesus was one of the mightiest messengers of Allah (God). His teachings are mentioned in the Qur'an. We believe that all of the Holy Books (Torah, Gospel, Psalms, and the Scriptures of Moses and Abraham) were all Revelations from Allah, with the Qur'an being the Final Revelation and Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, being the Final Messenger. We believe in all of the Prophets (Moses, Abraham, Noah, Jesus, and many others) peace be upon them. In Islam, we only have one Divine Book and that is the Qur'an. Apart from that, we also have what we call 'Ahadeeth', these are the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, preserved by his companions and future pious generations. We have scholars of Ahadeeth who determine if the line of transmission of these Ahadeeth make them authentic or not, so that is how they have been preserved. And in them, we find many teachings (and some other revelations that are not in the Qur'an) revealed to the Prophet Muhammad and passed down to the Ummah (the nation of Muslims). As Muslims, we follow both the Qur'an and the Authentic Ahadeeth of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
We have a very important concept in Islam, called 'Tawheed', this is basically the 'Oneness of God'. Islamic Monotheism. Allah has no sons or daughters, no partners, He cannot be made into creation (idols, etc.), He is the One and Only Creater.
And we have the 5 pillars of Islam:
1. The Shahada (to be a Muslim you must sincerely believe that there is no god except Allah (One God) and that Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is His Final Messenger)
2. Salah (the prayer) - Muslims pray 5 times a day at specified times and this is obligatory.
3. Zakat (obligatory charity) - If you have a source of income (and there are exceptions and rules to this) you are obliged to give 2.5% of it to charity annually (and the charity is of your choice, you could feed the poor, or give it to orphans, etc)
4. Fasting the month of Ramadan
5. Hajj - Performing the pilgrimage to Makkah, Saudi Arabia
So, these are the basics, and I hope this information can get you started on your journey to gain knowledge about Islam. I know you said you have many questions and that is what started your journey, don't hesitate to ask, big or small.