Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A monotheistic religion characterized by the doctrine of absolute submission to God and by reverence for Muhammad as the chief and last prophet of God.
  • noun The people or nations that practice Islam; the Muslim world.
  • noun The civilization developed by the Muslim world.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The religious system of Mohammed.
  • noun The whole Mohammedan world.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The religion of the Mohammedans; Mohammedanism; Islamism. Their formula of faith is: There is no God but Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet.
  • noun The whole body of Mohammedans, or the countries which they occupy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun An Abrahamic and monotheistic religion that originated with the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad; its followers are Muslim.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the monotheistic religious system of Muslims founded in Arabia in the 7th century and based on the teachings of Muhammad as laid down in the Koran
  • noun the civilization of Muslims collectively which is governed by the Muslim religion

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Arabic ’islām, submission, from ’aslama, to surrender, resign oneself, from Syriac ’ašlem, to make peace, surrender, derived stem of šlem, to be complete; see šlm in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Arabic إسْلام (‘islām, "submission (to the will of God)"). The root is the same as that of سَلام (salām).

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Examples

  • If the angry people on this site could use a few moments on islam and learn to see that Islam does not force religeon and religeon is not mandatory in Islam (Quran: Surah: 2: 257; Religeon is not compulosory).

    Rudy Surrogate: "I Don't Subscribe To The Principle That There Are Good Muslims And Bad Muslims" 2009

  • In short i wanna say that...one who dont know much about islam,should have to get knowledge about Islam first...but ya with open mind...

    TEXAS FAITH: Can the lamb and lion really lie down together? | RELIGION Blog | dallasnews.com 2009

  • If the angry people on this site could use a few moments on islam and learn to see that Islam does not force religeon and religeon is not mandatory in Islam (Quran: Surah: 2: 257; Religeon is not compulosory). domchi wrote on January 3, 2008 6: 59 AM:

    Election Central | Talking Points Memo | Rudy Surrogate: "I Don't Subscribe To The Principle That There Are Good Muslims And Bad Muslims" 2009

  • CHRISTOPHER BELKASRI, CONVERT TO ISLAM (through translator): What they're saying, that he wanted to blow up the airports, I don't believe that because in Islam, that's forbidden, to kill innocent people.

    CNN Transcript Sep 8, 2007 2007

  • Traditionally ISLAM divides the world into dar al-Islam -- the realm of Islam, and dar a-harb -- the realm of war: a notion which reflects the idea that war must continue until Islam is the UNIVERSAL RELIGION.

    Concise Dictionary of Religion 1993

  • You make me laugh Ricardo. there will be no revolution as islam waits to take control Al-Banna was quite clear that his goal was not solely an anti-colonialist struggle in Egypt nor the refurbishment of Islam, but rather a world revolution that would establish Islam as the dominant religion of the entire world: we will not stop at this point i.e., ?

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2011

  • NOT ISLAM .. portraying incorrect concepts of Islam and Jihad.

    WN.com - Photown News 2010

  • My muslim neighbor want's to leave islam, but he is afraid his fellow muslims will kill him, is it true? no its not true if any one wnats to do it he or she can do it. but Islam is so beautiful religion that nop one wants to leave it if ur neighbor so den he can but i dint understand ISLAM.

    Yahoo! Answers: Latest Questions 2010

  • I was laughing really hard when I heard the ex-mubarak saying, I spent thirty years in serving Egypt and Egyptions, I'm pretty sure that he made a mistake, he should say 30 years in helping Israel and US ... there will be no revolution as islam waits to take control Al-Banna was quite clear that his goal was not solely an anti-colonialist struggle in Egypt nor the refurbishment of Islam, but rather a world revolution that would establish Islam as the dominant religion of the entire world: we will not stop at this point i.e., ?

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2011

  • Report Abuse wherever ISLAM is present, so is murder, death, genocide, mayhem, misery, cunning. deceit, treachery, evil and all around ill intent. no good can come from Islam or any Muslim!!! from our experience in India I can see that these Muslim Murderess attacks in Africa or wherever there is a population mix between Islam and Christianity the results are a deadly murderess genocide against the Christians. and the fraudulent world doesn't say a word, but if a Christian or a Hindu fights back to defend themselves and kills Muslims in self defense all the Western countries are totally controlled and run by leftist pieces of $hit governments are up in arms over the loss of

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2010

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  • (Arabic: ??????? ); al-’isl?m?; pronounced ?islæ?m) is a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion originating with the teaching of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure. The word Islam means "submission", or the total surrender of oneself to God (Arabic: ?????, All?h). An adherent of Islam is known as a Muslim, meaning "one who submits to God". The word Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Isl?m is the infinitive. There are between 1 billion and 1.8 billion Muslims, making Islam the second-largest religion in the world, after Christianity.

    Muslims believe that God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad, God's final prophet, through the angel Gabriel, and regard the Qur'an and the Sunnah (words and deeds of Muhammad) as the fundamental sources of Islam. They do not regard Muhammad as the founder of a new religion, but as the restorer of the original monotheistic faith of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. Islamic tradition holds that Jews and Christians distorted the revelations God gave to these prophets by either altering the text, introducing a false interpretation, or both.

    Islam includes many religious practices. Adherents are generally required to observe the Five Pillars of Islam, which are five duties that unite Muslims into a community. In addition to the Five Pillars, Islamic law (sharia) has developed a tradition of rulings that touch on virtually all aspects of life and society. This tradition encompasses everything from practical matters like dietary laws and banking to warfare and welfare. Almost all Muslims belong to one of two major denominations, the Sunni (85%) and Shi'a (15%). The schism developed in the late 7th century following disagreements over the religious and political leadership of the Muslim community. Islam is the predominant religion in much of Africa and the Middle East, as well as in major parts of Asia. Large communities are also found in China, the Balkan Peninsula in Eastern Europe and Russia. There are also large Muslim immigrant communities in other parts of the world, such as Western Europe. Of the total world Muslim population, about 20% live in the Arab countries (where Muslims comprise majority populations, with Christian and other religious minorities of differing sizes by country), 30% in the countries of the Indian subcontinent, and 15.6% in Indonesia alone, which is the largest Muslim country in absolute numbers.

    June 8, 2009