Islam is one of the major world religions belonging to the Semitic family founded by the Prophet Mohammed in Arabia in the 7th century AD. Muslims are monotheistic and believe that idol-worship is a sin.
Allah which means God in Arabic is viewed as the sole god --- the creator, the sustainer, and restorer of the world.
Muslims form the largest religious minority of India and number almost 10% of the population or 105 million people. India has the largest Muslim population in the world.

Core
The founder of the religion, Prophet Mohammed was born at Mecca, now part of Saudi Arabia in 570 AD. Till the age of 25 he lived a nomadic life with his relatives and then married a wealthy widow called Khadijah.
Mohammed had a reflective mind and in 610 AD his first revelation from Allah occurred. He had a vision of a majestic being (later identified as angel Gabriel) and heard a voice saying to him, You are the messenger of God. As his purpose in life was revealed to him he began to teach against idolatry of which Mecca at that time was the centre. This marked the beginning of his career as an apostle of God called Rasul Allah or Nabi.
From time to time, at frequent intervals until his death, he received more revelations or verbal messages that he believed came directly from God. All these revelations were collectively written down in the Muslims holy book the Koran around 650 AD.
Mohammed spread his message of the Goodness and power of Allah. He was persecuted by the rich merchants of Mecca and had to immigrate to Medina in 622 AD. This flight is called the Hijirah and marks the beginning of the Muslim New year.
He created a federation of Arab tribes and united them under one religion. Gradually Islam spread and became the basis of Arab unity. It spread through the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Indian subcontinent to the Malay Peninsula and China.
Arabs made the first Muslim raids in India on the Western coast and Sindh during the 7th and 8th centuries and there have been Muslim trading companies since then. The religion spread and gained popularity when it was brought later to India by the Afghan invaders starting with Mahmud of Ghazni and spread during the reign of the great Mughals in the medieval period. The Indian Muslims follow the religion as it is followed world-wide.

Faith & Practices
Islam believes in universal brotherhood and a bond of faith among its followers. Its doctrines, laws and thinking are based upon four sources, fundamental principles or Usul

• Quran
• Sunnah (traditions)
• Ijma (consensus)
• Ijtihad (individual thought)

1. Shahadah: It is the profession of faith. There is no god but Allah and Mohammed is his Prophet.
2. Namaaz: Five daily congregational prayers. First prayer is offered in the morning before sunrise, the second just after noon, third in the late afternoon, fourth immediately after sunset and the last before retiring to bed.
3. Zakat: It is the obligatory tax that each muslim has to pay
4. Roza: Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan (ninth month of the Muslim lunar calender). These fasts are known as Roza.
5. Hajj: It is the annual pilgrimage prescribed for every muslim once in a life time.

Sects
The muslims are mainly divided into Shiahs and Sunnis.
The Shiahs or soldiers of Ali were the followers of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet.
The Sunni are the orthodox Muslims.
Another sect is Sufism or Islamic mysticism and is a practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct, personal experience of God.
Other sects are the Khawarij who believed in rebellion and dissent; the Mutazilah dissociated themselves from the extreme views of faith and recognised two powers --- God in nature and man in moral human action.

Holy Places
Friday is a day when one must visit the mosque to offer prayers. The main mosque in any city is called the Jama mosque or Friday mosque.
The sacred places of the Muslims are the Kabah sanctuary at Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and the shrines of the Sufi saints. The mosques also function as religious schools and colleges.
In India Jama masjid, the shrine of Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi, the shrine of Kwaja Ali in Fatehpur Sikri, Moinuddin Chishti in Ajmer Sharif are important religious places. The cities of Hyderabad, Aurangabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Aligarh, Kashmir and Sirhind in Punjab hold special significance for the Muslims.

Festivals
The holy days are

• the Hijrah
• two days of Id
  • ID-ul-Fitr at the end of the month at Ramadan
  • Id-ul-Zuha (feast of sacrifice) at the end of Hajj
• The Shiah celebrate 10th of Muharram (first month of lunar calender) to mark the matyrdom of Hussayn, the nephew of the prophet.