The Muslim World Facts

Five Pillars of Islam:
1) Confession of faith: "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet."
2) Ritual prayer: Observed five times a day; directed toward Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
3) Almsgiving: The Zakat or purification tax (approximately 2.5% of one's wealth) for the poor.
4) Fasting: Observed during the holy month of Ramadan.
5) Pilgrimage: Every Muslim, if able, is expected to make at least one pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca during his or her lifetime.

Islamic Glossary
1) fatwa: legal ruling by a man of high standing in Islam that someone is in violation of Islamic principles and should be punished by faithful Muslims. Muslims debate who has authority to issue a fatwa.
2) imam: the leader of prayer in a Muslim mosque
3) Mecca: City in Saudi Arabia that was home to Muhammad and is now the center of Islam. Muslims bow toward Mecca when they pray.
4) mosque: House of prayer. Literal meaning: "place of prostration."
5) Ramadan: Ninth month of the Islamic calendar when Muslims fast from food, water, sex, cigarettes and all worldly pleasures during daylight hours in order to bring themselves into closer relationship with God and others.
6) hadith: The sayings from the life of Muhammad as recorded by trusted companions; second to the Qur'an in authority for Muslims.
7) jihad: Exertion of effort to advance Islam. Often equated with a holy war or a national struggle, but also refers to personal struggle to advance Islam within one's own soul. The Qur'an says a warrior who dies in jihad goes straight to paradise.
8) sharia: Rule of Qur'an and Hadith. Laws and religious regulations of Islam that govern all of daily life.
9) Qur'an (Koran): The holy book of Islam, considered the word of God existing from eternity to eternity.

Divisions of Islam
1) Sunni: Believe leadership of Islam should come from among Muhammad's tribe; considered the "orthodox" of Islam; emphasize the individual's direct relationship with Allah without any human mediation; are culturally and religiously diverse and do not insist on uniformity in every question of faith or religious practice; found from Africa to Indonesia, the Middle East to Asia, approximately 87% to 90% of the world's Muslims are Sunni.
2) Shi'a: Believe leadership of Islam should come from descendants of Fatima, Muhammad's only living offspring, and her husband; places a heavy emphasis on leaders called imams, regarded as successors of Muhammad who possess complete knowledge of the Qur'an; the last imam is unseen, having disappeared from human view in A.D. 878; all current Shi'a clerics derive their authority as deputies of this unseen imam; the majority of Shi'as live in four countries: Iran, Pakistan, India and Iraq; 10% to 13% of the world's Muslims are Shi'a.
3) Sufi: The mystics of Islam; often the prophetic voice of the faith and highly influential through the centuries; seek direct union with Allah through asceticism, contemplation and prayer; conservative Muslims view the movement with skepticism and at times see it as heretical; Sufis flourish in communities in various parts of the world by virtue of their sensitivity to and flexibility among local traditions and cultures; small in number, no reliable data exists on the global population of Sufi Muslims.

Other Recent Facts about Islam and Muslims (2010)

• 6.8 billion people on earth; 1.57 billion (1 in 4) are Muslim
• Islam is the world's fastest growing major religion
• 60% of the world's Muslims live in Asia; only 20% live in the Middle East and North Africa
• Arabs comprise only about 20% of the world's Muslim population
• Indonesia is home to the world's largest Muslim population: 202,867,000, or 12.9% of the global Muslim population
• Iran is home to more than 1/3 of the world's Shi'a Muslims
• The word Islam translates as "submission" (as in submission to Allah)
• The word Muslim means "one who submits"
• Muslims, like Christians and Jews, consider themselves children of Abraham. They trace their lineage through Ishmael, who is said to have settled in Mecca after he and his mother were ordered out of the tribe after the birth of Isaac
• Contrary to what many Westerners believe, Muhammad is not considered the originator of Islam by Muslims. He is considered God's final prophet - part of a long line of prophets that includes Abraham, Moses, Ishmael, and Jesus
• Muslim prayers are memorized recitations. When reciting them, they always face the holy city of Mecca. Their prayers are not directed to the city itself, but to Allah. In the United States, Muslims orient themselves toward the northeast when they say their prayers
• Islamic scholars have said the Qur'an is to Muslims what Christ is to Christians: God among us, the very personification of the divine.