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A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم, Persian and Urdu: مسلمان, Turkish: Müslüman, Albanian: Mysliman, Bosnian: Musliman) is an adherent of Islam. The feminine form of Muslim is Muslimah. Literally, the word means "one who submits to Allah (God)". Most Muslims accept as a fellow Muslim (brother/sister) anyone who has publicly pronounced the Shahada, which states, "There is none worthy of worship except Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger." This is often translated as, "There is no god except Allah," however "Allah" is the Arabic word for "the God". Muslims believe that the basics of Islam existed long before Muhammad, and describe many Biblical figures -- such as Adam, Noah (Arabic: Nuh), Moses (Arabic: Musa) and Jesus (Arabic: Isa) -- as Muslims, because they are said to have submitted to God and preached His message as prophets.
Other words for Muslim Until the late 1980s, the term Moslem was commonly used. Muslims do not recommend this spelling because it is often pronounced "mawzlem" // which sounds somewhat similar to an Arabic word for "oppressed" (Za'lem in Arabic). The word is pronounced // in Arabic, but often // in English. The word is now most commonly written "Muslim". Many English-language writers used to call Muslims Mohammedans or Mahometans. Muslims consider this terminology offensive, as it suggests that they worship the prophet Muhammad rather than God. It is also seen as too similar to Christians as followers and worshippers of Christ. English writers of the 19th century and earlier sometimes used the words Mussulman, Musselman, or Mussulmaun. Variant forms of this word are still used by many Indo-European languages. These words are similar to the French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese words for "Muslim." Muslim and mumin One of the verses in the Qur'an makes a distinction between a mu'min, a believer, and a Muslim: (Rodwell 49:14) The Arabs of the desert say, "We believe." (tu/minu) Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, "We profess Islam;" (aslamna) for the faith (al-'''iman'''u) hath not yet found its way into your hearts. But if ye obey Allah and His Apostle, he will not allow you to lose any of your actions: for Allah is Indulgent, Merciful. According to the Western academician Carl Ernst, contemporary usage of the terms "Islam" and "Muslim" for the faith and its adherents is a modern innovation. As shown in the Quranic passage cited above, early Muslims distinguished between the Muslim, who has "submitted" and does the bare minimum required to be considered a part of the community, and the mu'min, the believer, who has given himself or herself to the faith heart and soul. Ernst writes: "The Arabic term Islam itself was of relatively minor importance in classical theologies based on the Qur'an. If one looks at the works of theologians such as the famous al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the key term of religious identity is not Islam but iman(faith), and the one who possesses it is the mu'min (believer). Faith is one of the major topics of the Qur'an; it is mentioned hundreds of times in the sacred text. In comparison, Islam is a relatively less common term of secondary importance; it only occurs eight times in the Qur'an. Since, however, the term Islam had a derivative meaning relating to the community of those who have submitted to Allah, it has taken on a new political significance, especially in recent history." Disagreements There are some groups that consider themselves Muslims, but are not accepted as Muslim by the majority of Muslims. For example, neither Sunni nor Shi'a Muslims accept Ahmadis or adherents of the Nation of Islam as fellow Muslims. To reject another self-proclaimed Muslim as a non-Muslim is called takfir and in the abstract, is considered un-Islamic. However, in practice, many Muslim groups, sects, or political factions have labeled other groups, sects, or political factions as non-Muslims; thus, some Sunni will reject other Sunni, some Shi'a will reject other Shi'a, et cetera. In some Muslim-majority countries, the state itself takes a position on certain groups; for example, Ahmadis are not Muslims by the law of Pakistan. See also | ||||||||
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