Islam means submission to Allah. An adherent to Islam is a Muslim >> one who submits. After 300 years, Islam expanded to three continents, across 10,000 km, and had joined people from North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia. Today Islam embraces more than a billion people with diverse ethnic, languistic and cultural backgrounds. It has hundreds of variations across the world, in Asia (Including China, Indonesia and Philippines, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzebekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyszstan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, the Arab States and Turkey ), Africa (Including Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, Djibouti, Gambia, Guinea, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Morroco, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Chad, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania), and significant communities in multi-cultural and multi-ethnic settings in Europe (Including Albania is predominantly Muslim, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Macedonia, and Georgia have had Muslim populations. Elsewhere in Europe, immigrant communities of Muslims from N. Africa, Turkey, and Asia exist in France, Germany, and Great Britain). In the Americas the Islamic population has substantially increased in recent years, both from conversions and the immigration of adherents from other parts of the world. In the United States, the number of Muslims has been estimated at 5-6 million; 20% of the population of Suriname is Muslim.

Islamic Beliefs
     At the core of Islam is the Qur'an and the Sunnah of Prophet Mohamed (peace upon him). Muslims believe in Final reward and punishment, and the unity of the umma. Muslims submit to Allah through arkanul-islam, the five basic requirments or pillars: Shahaddah, the affirmation that there is no one to worship but Allah, and Muhammed is the Messenger of Allah. Salah the five daily ritual prayers. Zakat the giving of alms. Sawm the down to sunset fast during the luner month of Ramadan. Hajj the pilgrimage to Mecca. The importance of the Hajj can hardly over estimated: this great annual pilgrimage unites Islam and it's believers from around the world.

     The ethos of Islam is in its attitude toward Allah: to His will Muslims submit; Him they praise and glorify; and in Him alone they hope. Islam views the Message of Muhammed as the continuation and the fulfillment of a lineage of Prophecy that includes figures from the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, notably Adam, Noah, Ibrahim, Moses, Da'ud, and Issa. Islamic law reserves a communal entity status for the ahl al-kitab, People of the Book those with revealed religions, including Jews and Christians.

     Other Islamic obligations include the duty to commend good and reprimand evil, injunctions against usury and gambling, and prohibtions of alcohol and pork. Meat is permitted if the animal was ritually slaughtered; it's then called halal. Jihad, the exertion of efforts for the cause of Allah, is a duty satisfied at the communal and the individual level. it denotes the personal struggle to be righteous and follow the path ordained by Allah.

Islam and Science

• Is it not a fact that there was a time when the human being was nothing to be mentioned? We created the human from a liquid mixture, from two parents, in order to test him. Thus, we made him a hearer and seer.   [Qura'n 76: 1-2]

• And God created every living creature from water. Some of them walk on their bellies, some walk on two legs, and some walk on four. Allah creates whatever He wills. Allah is Omnipotent.    [Qura'n 24:45]