Questions fréquentes sur l’islam

« Allah » est le nom arabe du Dieu unique, le Créateur — les chrétiens arabophones l’utilisent aussi. Les musulmans croient qu’Il est le Dieu d’Abraham, de Moïse et de Jésus : Unique, sans associé, et rien ne Lui ressemble.

Les musulmans croient en Jésus fils de Marie comme l’un des plus grands prophètes et messagers, né miraculeusement de la Vierge Marie sans père et soutenu par des miracles. Ils ne croient pas qu’il soit Dieu ou fils de Dieu. On ne peut être musulman sans croire en lui.

Le Coran est la parole d’Allah révélée à Muhammad ﷺ par l’ange Jibril sur 23 ans, en arabe. Les musulmans croient qu’il est préservé exactement tel qu’il a été révélé. Il compte 114 chapitres (sourates).

Non. Les musulmans n’adorent qu’Allah. La Kaaba est la direction (qibla) vers laquelle tous les musulmans se tournent pour prier, ce qui les unit. Muhammad ﷺ est un serviteur et messager d’Allah — aimé et suivi, jamais adoré.

En islam, la femme et l’homme sont égaux en humanité, en dignité et en récompense auprès d’Allah, chacun avec des droits et des devoirs. Il y a plus de 1 400 ans, l’islam a donné aux femmes le droit de posséder des biens, d’hériter, d’apprendre et de choisir leur mari.

Non. L’islam interdit de tuer des innocents et le considère comme l’un des crimes les plus graves : « Quiconque tue une âme — sans que ce soit pour une âme ou pour une corruption sur la terre — c’est comme s’il avait tué tous les hommes » (Al-Ma’ida 5:32, sens). Les actes de certains individus ne représentent pas les enseignements de la religion.

Parce qu’Allah l’a rendue obligatoire. Elle garde le musulman lié à son Seigneur tout au long de la journée et lui rappelle un but plus grand que les soucis quotidiens.

Le jeûne est un acte d’adoration prescrit par Allah pour développer la piété. Il entraîne la maîtrise de soi, éveille l’empathie envers les pauvres, et c’est un mois consacré au Coran et à la prière.

Elle le porte par obéissance à l’ordre d’Allah de pudeur, et comme expression de sa foi et de son identité. Les hommes aussi sont tenus de s’habiller modestement et de baisser le regard.

Halal signifie permis. Pour la nourriture, c’est ce qu’Allah autorise : le porc et l’alcool, par exemple, sont interdits, et la viande doit être abattue selon le rite islamique en mentionnant le nom d’Allah.

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.

Il signifie se soumettre à Allah seul par l’obéissance, et vient de la même racine que « salam », la paix.

Cinq : l’attestation de foi, la prière, la zakat, le jeûne du Ramadan, et le Hajj pour ceux qui en ont les moyens.

Six : la foi en Allah, en Ses anges, en Ses Livres, en Ses messagers, au Jour dernier et au destin.

Non. Les musulmans croient qu’il s’agit du même message du Dieu unique apporté par tous les prophètes et parachevé avec Muhammad ﷺ.

Pas pour que votre islam soit valide. Vous aurez peut-être besoin plus tard d’un certificat officiel pour le mariage ou le Hajj, qu’une mosquée ou un centre islamique peut délivrer.

Non — sauf si son sens est contraire à l’islam, comme un prénom signifiant « serviteur » d’autre chose que Dieu.

Avec bonté et respect. Allah dit au sujet des parents : « … et accompagne-les dans ce monde de façon convenable » (Louqman 31:15, sens).

Pas du tout. L’islam s’adresse à tous les peuples, et vous apprendrez progressivement l’arabe nécessaire à la prière.

À La Mecque, l’« Année de l’Éléphant », vers 570.

C’est l’abréviation de « sallallahou ‘alayhi wa sallam » — qu’Allah l’honore et le salue — une prière que les musulmans font pour lui comme Allah l’a ordonné.

Non. Il était illettré, ce que les musulmans voient comme l’un des signes que le Coran vient d’Allah.

Une personne qui a rencontré le Prophète ﷺ en croyant en lui et qui est morte musulmane.

Abou Bakr as-Siddiq, Omar ibn al-Khattab, Othman ibn Affan et 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.

Parce que de nombreux récits circulent sur les Compagnons et que certains n’ont aucun fondement. Nous distinguons l’établi du reste afin que rien ne soit faussement attribué à la religion.

Ils font partie des signes de sa véracité, mais la plus grande preuve est le Coran lui-même, avec la guidance, le caractère et la loi qu’il apporta. La foi repose sur la réflexion et la preuve, non sur des événements extraordinaires seuls.

Un miracle est un événement extraordinaire qu’Allah accomplit par la main d’un prophète pour le confirmer ; une karama est un événement extraordinaire dont Allah honore l’un de Ses proches pieux.

Parce que certains récits rapportés ne sont pas établis. Nous séparons l’authentique du reste afin que rien ne soit faussement attribué à la religion.

Non. C’est un témoignage personnel qui présente l’islam et montre son effet sur les gens ; la preuve se trouve dans le Coran, la Sunna et la réflexion raisonnée.

Nous n’incluons que ce qui a une source publiée connue et évitons les citations qui circulent sans source, car beaucoup sont fabriquées ou mal attribuées.

Priez du mieux que vous pouvez en disant « SubhanAllah, Alhamdulillah, La ilaha illallah, Allahu Akbar » à sa place jusqu’à ce que vous l’appreniez — et continuez à travailler à sa mémorisation.

La qibla est la direction de la Kaaba à La Mecque. Vous pouvez la trouver avec la boussole du téléphone, une application de qibla ou en demandant aux gens du lieu.