Frequently Asked Questions about Islam

"Allah" is the Arabic name for the One God, the Creator — Arabic-speaking Christians use it too. Muslims believe He is the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus: One, without partner, and nothing is like Him.

Muslims believe in Jesus son of Mary as one of the greatest prophets and messengers, born miraculously to the virgin Mary without a father and supported by miracles. They do not believe he is God or the son of God. A person cannot be Muslim without believing in him.

The Quran is the word of Allah revealed to Muhammad ﷺ through the angel Jibril over 23 years, in Arabic. Muslims believe it is preserved exactly as revealed. It has 114 chapters (surahs).

No. Muslims worship Allah alone. The Kaaba is the direction (qiblah) all Muslims face in prayer, uniting them. Muhammad ﷺ is a servant and messenger of Allah — loved and followed, never worshipped.

In Islam, women and men are equal in humanity, dignity, and reward before Allah, each with rights and duties. Over 1,400 years ago Islam gave women the right to own property, inherit, learn and choose their husband.

No. Islam forbids killing innocent people and treats it as one of the gravest crimes: "Whoever kills a soul — unless for a soul or for corruption in the land — it is as if he had slain all mankind" (Al-Ma'idah 5:32, meaning). The actions of some individuals do not represent the religion's teachings.

Because Allah made it obligatory. It keeps a Muslim connected to their Lord throughout the day and reminds them of a purpose greater than daily concerns.

Fasting is an act of worship Allah prescribed to build God-consciousness. It trains self-control, builds empathy for the poor, and is a month for the Quran and prayer.

She wears it in obedience to Allah's command of modesty, and as an expression of her faith and identity. Men are also commanded to dress modestly and lower their gaze.

Halal means permitted. For food, it means what Allah allows: pork and alcohol, for example, are forbidden, and meat must be slaughtered in the Islamic way with Allah's name mentioned.

Muslims honour Jesus (ʿĪsā) as one of God’s greatest messengers, born miraculously to the Virgin Mary without a father. They believe God supported him with miracles, and that he called people to worship God alone. Muslims do not believe he is God or the Son of God, or that he was crucified, and they believe he will return before the end of time.

Yes. The word Islam comes from a root meaning peace and submission to God, and Muslims greet each other with “peace be upon you.” Islam forbids killing innocents and aggression, and permits self-defence under strict rules. Peace does not mean accepting injustice, and anyone who commits violence in religion’s name contradicts its own texts.

No. Muslims believe the Quran is preserved exactly as it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. It was memorised and written during his lifetime, gathered into one volume under Abu Bakr, and copied into standard codices under Uthman. It is still recited worldwide through unbroken chains of transmission, with one agreed text.

Islam is the religion of pure monotheism: belief in one God, Allah, the Creator of everything, and surrendering to Him through worship and obedience. Muslims believe it was the message of all prophets, from Adam, Noah and Abraham to Moses and Jesus, completed with Muhammad ﷺ and the Quran. About two billion people, roughly a quarter of humanity, are Muslim.

“Allah” is simply the Arabic word for the one God, and Arabic-speaking Christians use it too in their Bibles and prayers. Muslims believe the God of Abraham, Moses and Jesus is the God they worship, while differing with Judaism and Christianity about aspects of His nature, such as the Trinity and the sonship of Jesus, which are real points of theological disagreement.

The five pillars of Islam are: the declaration of faith (there is no god but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God), establishing the five daily prayers, paying zakat (obligatory charity), fasting in Ramadan, and pilgrimage to Makkah for those able to go. The Prophet ﷺ described them as the foundation of the religion, joining devotion to God, kindness to people and self-discipline.

You become a Muslim by sincerely declaring the Shahada: “I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” You do not need a witness, a special place or a particular language; you can say it privately to God. After that you learn prayer and the rules gradually, and it helps to connect with Muslims who can support you.

Muslims pray five times a day because God prescribed it, and it is the most direct link between a person and their Lord. The prayers are spread through the day (dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset and night), keeping a person mindful of God, bringing calm and order, and reminding them that all of life belongs to Him.

Halal means permitted by God, and in food the default is that things are permitted. What is forbidden: pork, carrion, flowing blood, meat offered to anything other than God, and intoxicants. Meat must be slaughtered mentioning God’s name. Muslims avoid the forbidden out of obedience to God, and for the care of body and mind.

Muslim women who wear the hijab do so out of obedience to God’s command to dress modestly, and as an expression of faith, identity and dignity. The majority of Muslim scholars hold it is obligatory, while a few contemporary voices differ. Islam also insists faith cannot be forced: the measure of belief is the heart, not a garment.

The Quran is the word of God revealed to Prophet Muhammad ﷺ through the angel Jibril over about 23 years, in Arabic, and Muslims believe it is the final scripture and is preserved. It has 114 chapters (surahs), is recited as an act of worship, and is guidance for belief, ethics and law.

The Sunnah is what is authentically reported from Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in word, action, approval or description, and a hadith is the narration that carries it. It is the second source of Islamic guidance after the Quran, explaining and detailing it. Hadith were recorded with chains of narrators and graded by scholars as sound, good or weak.

Sunni and Shia Muslims share belief in one God, the Quran, the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ and the pillars of Islam. They differ historically over who should lead after the Prophet ﷺ: Sunnis hold the community chose Abu Bakr, while Shia believe Ali, may God be pleased with him, and a line of imams from the Prophet’s family had the right. Pew estimates Shia at about 10–13% of Muslims.

Muslims believe this life is a test, that every person dies and will be resurrected on the Day of Judgment and judged justly for their deeds. Those with faith and righteous deeds enter Paradise by God’s mercy, while those who chose disbelief and injustice face Hell. Details such as the barzakh, the scale and the bridge are established in authentic texts.

Muhammad son of Abdullah ﷺ is the final prophet and messenger in Islam. Born in Makkah around 570 CE, he received revelation at forty, called people to worship God alone for 23 years, migrated to Madinah and passed away in 632 CE. Before prophethood he was known as “the Truthful, the Trustworthy,” and the Quran describes him as a mercy to the worlds.

Muslims face the Kaaba in Makkah because God commanded it, which unites them worldwide in one direction. The Kaaba is not worshipped: it is the House of God built by Abraham and Ishmael, peace be upon them, and Muslims worship God alone wherever they are.

Linguistically, jihad means striving. In Islam it includes striving against the self to obey God, striving with knowledge, words and wealth, and defensive fighting bound by strict conditions: repelling aggression under legitimate authority, never harming non-combatants. It is not a name for killing innocents, and those who do so contradict Islam’s texts.

No. The Quran states plainly that there is “no compulsion in religion”: faith is a conviction of the heart and is not valid if forced. Followers of other religions lived under Muslim rule for centuries while keeping their faith, and any compulsion in history or today contradicts Islam’s texts.

Zakat is a pillar of Islam: an obligatory share of wealth owed by those who have enough to the poor and the other categories named in the Quran. It is 2.5% of savings, cash, gold and trade goods once they reach the nisab (the value of 85 grams of gold) and have been held for a lunar year, after deducting due debts.

Hajj is a pillar of Islam: travelling to Makkah to perform set rites in the days of Dhul-Hijjah, required once in a lifetime for those able. Umrah is a visit to Makkah for ihram, tawaf and sa‘i that may be done at any time of the year. The central day of Hajj is Arafah, the ninth of Dhul-Hijjah.

It is established in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet ﷺ contracted the marriage with Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, when she was six and the marriage began when she was nine. It was common in her time and none of his opponents objected to it. It should be understood in its historical context, not by today’s standards.

Islam does not permit harming a wife. The verse most often cited is An-Nisa 4:34, which many scholars explain as a last, symbolic step that leaves no mark and causes no pain. The Prophet ﷺ never struck a woman and said, “The best of you are the best to their families.”

The Quran permits up to four wives on the condition of justice, restricting a practice that had no limit before Islam. A single wife is the norm in Muslim families; polygyny is an exception with conditions, and many countries regulate or restrict it.

Surat at-Tawbah 9:5 was revealed about idolaters who broke their treaty and started fighting; its context is war, not a general call. It excepted those who keep treaties and those who seek safety, and orders that they be escorted to security. The Quran also commands kindness and justice toward peaceful people, so the verse must not be read apart from its context.

Slavery was a worldwide institution before Islam. Islam did not originate it; it restricted its sources, made freeing slaves one of the greatest acts of worship, opened many routes to freedom and commanded kind treatment. It also forbade enslaving free people outside of war. Today slavery is outlawed in international and Muslim-country laws.

Scholars differ on this. The Quran affirms freedom of belief and names no worldly penalty for leaving Islam, while a hadith says, “Whoever changes his religion, kill him.” Some limit it to treason and rebellion against the community in wartime; others held a penalty for open apostasy. No one may be forced into Islam.

Judgment of individuals belongs to Allah alone. Muslims hold that whoever received a clear, true message and rejected it stubbornly is accountable to Allah, while the one it never reached, or reached distorted, is in the hands of the Merciful and Just. The Quran gives glad tidings of reward to the righteous of every community.

Muslims hold the Quran to be revelation from Allah. The Prophet ﷺ was unlettered, able neither to read nor write, and was not known before prophethood for eloquence or learning from books. The Quran challenged the Arabs, masters of eloquence, to produce its like and they could not, and its text has been preserved unchanged to this day.

No. The Quran treats killing an innocent person as killing all of humanity, and the Prophet ﷺ forbade killing women, children and those under a treaty. What extremist groups do in killing civilians contradicts the texts of Islam and has been condemned by leading Muslim scholars and institutions.

War in Islam is restricted: it is only to defend life and faith or to repel injustice. Civilians may not be attacked, the killing of women, children, the elderly and monks is forbidden, as are mutilating bodies and destroying crops and trees without need. Whoever seeks peace is answered with peace.

It is not a general rule in all cases: a woman inherits equal to a man in some cases, more in others and half in some. The reasoning is that a man is obliged to maintain his family, while a woman’s wealth is her own and she is not required to spend it even on herself. Before Islam women were deprived of inheritance altogether.

Islam prohibits sexual relations outside marriage between a man and a woman, which includes same-sex acts, and treats it as a sin like others between a person and his Lord. It does not permit assaulting, harming or despising anyone: all people are honoured, and judgment of deeds belongs to Allah alone.

Islam teaches that this world is a place of testing, not of final recompense: Allah created death and life to test people, and suffering carries wisdom we may or may not see. He is just and never wrongs anyone, and the Hereafter will redress every wrong and reward the patient.

There is no conflict between Islam and empirical science. The Quran calls for reflection on the universe and raises the rank of the learned, and the sciences flourished in Islamic civilisation for centuries. The Quran is a book of guidance, not an experimental science text, and matters of the unseen are taken from revelation.

It means submitting to Allah alone in obedience, and it comes from the same root as "salam", peace.

Five: the testimony of faith, prayer, zakah, fasting Ramadan, and Hajj for those able.

Six: belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree.

No. Muslims believe it is the same message of One God brought by all the prophets, completed with Muhammad ﷺ.

Not for your Islam to be valid. You may need an official certificate later for things like marriage or Hajj, which a mosque or Islamic center can provide.

No — unless its meaning goes against Islam, such as a name meaning "servant" of something other than God.

With kindness and respect. Allah says about parents: "…and accompany them in this world with kindness" (Luqman 31:15, meaning).

Not at all. Islam is for all people, and you will gradually learn the Arabic you need for prayer.

In Makkah in the "Year of the Elephant", around 570 CE.

It stands for "sallallahu alayhi wa sallam" — may Allah honor him and grant him peace — a prayer Muslims say for him as Allah commanded.

No. He was unlettered, which Muslims see as one of the signs that the Quran came from Allah.

Someone who met the Prophet ﷺ as a believer and died as a Muslim.

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, Umar ibn al-Khattab, Uthman ibn Affan and Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Most are in the Two Sahihs or the Sunan; anything reported only by historians is marked as such. All content awaits review by an Azhar scholar.

Because many reports about the Companions circulate and some have no basis. We separate the established from the rest so nothing is wrongly attributed to the religion.

They are among the signs of his truthfulness, but the greatest proof is the Quran itself and the guidance, character and law he brought. Faith rests on reflection and evidence, not on extraordinary events alone.

A miracle is an extraordinary event Allah brings about at the hands of a prophet to confirm him; a karamah is one with which Allah honours a righteous friend of His.

Because some of what is reported is not established. We separate the sound from the rest so nothing is wrongly attributed to the religion.

No. It is personal testimony that introduces Islam and shows its effect on people; the proof lies in the Quran, the Sunnah and reasoned reflection.

We include only what has a known published source and avoid quotes circulating without one, since many are fabricated or misattributed.

Pray as best you can, saying "SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar" in its place until you learn it — and keep working on memorizing it.

The qiblah is the direction of the Kaaba in Makkah. You can find it with a phone compass, a qiblah app, or by asking locals.