At its core, Islam is a religion of peace. Its very name implies Salaam, Shalom, and Peace. In its first 100 years Islam controlled Spain, all of North Africa, Arabia, and much of the Middle East. Most of its development was peaceful and centered on a "Most Merciful Creator of All Things" emphasis. Europe would have become Islamic if Charles Martel of France in the West and the City of Vienna in the East, had not halted the spread of Islam. Extremists in the Twenty-First Century have too often wrapped themselves in the flag of Islam while they have repeatedly violated many of the teachings of the Qur'an and of the Hadith. You will find that the stories in this book rarely appear in the headlines of Western news media. These stories and their knowledge will help you find peace. Armed with these facts and this inner peace and knowledge, may you help bring more peace to our planet. The vast majority of the followers of Islam want to live in peace and prosperity. Prosperity can only come through understanding and through peace. May the peace of the Loving Creator be with you always on your spiritual journey through life.

Islam, What You Need to Know in the Twenty-First Century

A Primer for PeaceBy Ronald Lee Cobb

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2011 Ronald Lee Cobb
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4634-1609-6

Contents

The Many Faces of Islam.......................................................................................................1Barak Hussein Obama and Islam.................................................................................................3Why do I need to know about Islam?............................................................................................4The Increase of Islamic Believers in the Midwest in the Twentieth Century.....................................................5Islam is an Abrahamic-based Faith.............................................................................................7Interesting DNA Studies of Arabs and Jews.....................................................................................8The Majestic Greatness of God.................................................................................................11Allah, the Name of God in the Qur'an as Related to Bogomill Faith.............................................................14Meditating on the Descriptions of Allah in the Qur'an.........................................................................16Rumi Mevlana, Poet, Sufi Mystic, and Holy Man of Islam........................................................................19Twenty-First Century Pakistan's Sufi History of Islam.........................................................................22Saladin (Salah al-Din) A Beloved Islamic Leader...............................................................................25Angels and Jinn (Demons) in Islam.............................................................................................30The Six Articles of Islamic Faith.............................................................................................32Mohammad and the Arian Controversy and Schism.................................................................................34Jews, Christians, Sabians, and Followers of Islam.............................................................................36The Respect of Islam for Jesus and Mary.......................................................................................39The Hadith, Issues That Have Risen in the Twenty-First Century................................................................41The Concept of Holy War (Jihad) in Islam......................................................................................43Suicide Bombers, a Twenty-First Century Reality...............................................................................49Mohammad's Origins, His Character, and His Overall Life.......................................................................52The Development of Spiritual Sensitivity in Mohammed..........................................................................53The Caravan Period of Mohammad's Life.........................................................................................54Fatima and "Our Lady of Fatima"...............................................................................................56The "Spoken" Qur'an...........................................................................................................58The Words of Allah in Our Own Language........................................................................................60Islam, the Arab Identity, and Islamic Nation-State Building...................................................................62Understanding the Arab "Peoples'" Movement....................................................................................63Mohammad of Medina Compared to Jesus of Nazareth..............................................................................68Islam and Internet Censorship in the Twenty-First Century.....................................................................71Mohammad through the eyes of the Ansary Family of Afghanistan.................................................................75Women in Twenty-First Century Islam...........................................................................................77Sham el Nessim (smelling the breeze) the Egyptian Spring Festival.............................................................79Ramadan, a Month of Fasting During Daylight Hours.............................................................................81The Festival of Sacrifice, Eid al-Adha........................................................................................83Anecdotal Twenty-First Century Stories of Islam Today.........................................................................85My Trip to Al Qaeda...........................................................................................................87Comments of UN's Sixth Secretary General Boutros Bourtros-Ghali...............................................................91The First US Congressman to Pledge His Allegiance on the Qur'an...............................................................93The Worldwide Growth of the Islamic Middle Class..............................................................................96Nicholas Sarkozy and the Burqa in France......................................................................................99A Common Word Between Us and You - from Islamic Scholars......................................................................101Muslim Brotherhood of Egypt ... Change Can Come Without Violence..............................................................104Hope for the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict.....................................................................................106The Deaths of Al-Qaeda Leaders and the "Arab Spring" Uprisings in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, and Syria.....................108

Chapter One

The Many Faces of Islam

Islam is frightening to many in the West. Islam seems full of violence, contradictions, beautiful architecture, mystical poetry, ancient wisdom, bombings, oil rich millionaires, ritual prayers, tribalism, devotion, and a labyrinth of ideas. To complicate this, Islamic culture expresses Islam in many different forms: Arabic Islam, Turkish Islam, Indonesian Islam, Egyptian Islam, Iranian Islam, Nigerian Islam, Kenyan Islam, and Pakistani Islam. All these forms of Islam are similar and yet vastly different. To add to these fears, thousands of new mosques are springing up in the United States, Canada, and Europe as their Islamic populations grow. After 9-11, the refurbishing of a well-established mosque just a few blocks from the World Trade Towers site, caused much consternation and fear within parts of the population of the United States.

The demographics of Islam are also changing rapidly in the world. As the European populations shrinks, the European culture shrinks with it. European families are not even replacing their own populations whereas large Islamic families with many children are the rule rather than the exception. As the Islamic population in Europe grows, the Islamitization of European culture increases. For some time the European population shift has been take place slowly, quietly, in inexorably. The Netherlands will be 50% Islamic by 2025. France will have over 50% of its population Islamic by 2035. In Germany over 50% of the population will be Islamic by 2050. The United States will have over 50 million followers of Islam by 2040.

Due to Mexican and Latino immigration into the United States and their...