MUSLIM
A Muslim (Arabic: مسلم pronounced Muslim, not Muzlim) is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah[1] (Arabic: مسلمة). Literally, the word means “one who submits (to God)”. Muslim is theparticiple of the same verb of which Islām is the infinitive.[2] Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allāh. Muslims believe that Islam existed long before Muhammad and that the religion had evolved with time from the time of Adam until the time of Muhammad and was completed with the revelation of verse 3 of Surah al-Maeda:
This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.
The Qur’an describes many Biblical prophets and messengers as Muslim: Adam, Noah (Arabic: Nuh),Moses (Arabic: Mūsā) and Jesus (Arabic: ˤĪsā) and his apostles. The Qur’ān states that these men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached his message and upheld his values. Thus, in Surah 3:52 of the Qur’ān, Jesus’ disciples tell Jesus, “We believe in God; and you be our witness that we submit and obey (wa ashahadu bil-muslimūna).”
Most Muslims consider making ritual prayer five times a day a religious duty (fard) (see the section on Ismāˤīlīs below for exceptions); these five prayers are known as fajr, dhuhr, ˤasr, maghrib and ˤishā’. There is also a special Friday prayer called jumuˤah. Currently, the number of Muslims is estimated to be 1.3 billion.
