*The meaning of "ISLAM":

                                         Islam is not a new religion, but the same truth that God revealed through all his Prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world’s population, Islam is both, a religion and a complete way of life. Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority has nothing to do with the extremely. The Arabic world ‘Islam’ simply means ‘submission', and derives from a word meaning ‘peace’.

*Is Islam strange?

                                  In a religious context it means complete submission to the will of God. Islam may seem exotic or even extreme in the modern world. Perhaps this is because religion does not dominate every day life in the west today, whereas Muslims have religion always uppermost in their minds, and make no division between secular and sacred. They believe that the divine law, the Shari’a, should be taken very seriously, which is why issues related to religion are still so important.

Estimates of the total number of Muslims range from 0.7 to 1.2 billion worldwide and 1.1 to 7 million in the U.S. 3 About 21% of all people on Earth follow Islam. The religion is currently in a period of rapid growth. Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world. It is followed by about 33% of all people -- a percentage that has remained stable for decades. If current trends continue, Islam will become the most popular world religion sometime in the mid-21st century.

Islam is a religion, which can be followed easily by everyone, everywhere, in a day to day life. Islam is a way of life. It is a simple and uncomplicated religion, giving one maximum freedom without encroachment on the freedom of others.

                                     It enjoins one to believe in One God, and do good; to keep up prayers and pay the poor-tax; to fast during the month of Ramadhan; to perform the Hajj and to fight for the sake of Allah, whenever necessary; to believe in the Justice of Allah, in the life after death, in the Prophethood of Muhammad and the teachings of the twelve Imams (Leaders). Islam forbids evil and tyranny, prohibits intoxicants and games of chance, adultery and indecencies, and blood and flesh of swine and dead animals.

                                 There is no compulsion in religion (2:256); and there is no harsh and hard rituals or unreasonable dogmas in Islam. Among many reforms, which the Holy Prophet of Islam, gave to the world, he taught, that all human beings whether brown, black, red, white or yellow, are sons of Adam, and no man has any superiority over another man, because of his color, rank or riches. He taught: The most honorable man, in the sight of Allah, is he, who is most careful of his duty to Allah and that man has rights only to the extent of the duties, he performs.

                                   In the Quran life in this world is an inseparable part of a continuum, a unified whole - life, death, life - which gives our life a context and relevance. In this context, the life of the individual is made meaningful and enriched inasmuch as it is full of 'good works'. Life in this world leads to the afterlife, a belief which is fundamental in the Quran. The afterlife is not treated in the Quran in a separate chapter, or as something on its own, for its own sake, but always in relation to life in this world.

                                Linguistically it is not possible in the Quran to talk about this life without semantic reference to the next since every term used for each is comparative with the other. Thus: al'ula and al-akhira (the First and the Last life), al-dunya and al-akhira (the nearer and the further/latter life). Neither has a name specific to itself, or independent of the other. Consequently, the frequency of the terms in the Quran is the same, in the case of dunya and akhira- each appears 115 times. There is a reference, direct or indirect, to one aspect or another of the afterlife on almost every single page of the Quran. This follows from the fact that belief in the afterlife is an article of faith which has a bearing on every aspect of the present life and manifests itself in the discussion of the creed, the rituals, the ethics and the laws of Islam.

                                       In discussing the afterlife, moreover, the Quran addresses both believers and non-believers. The plan of two worlds and the relationship between them has been, from the beginning, part of the divine scheme of things: It is God who created you, then He provided sustenance for you, then He will cause you to die, then He will give life back to you. Quran 30:40 It is We who give life and make to die and to Us is the homecoming. Quran 50:43 He created death and life that He might try you according to which of you is best in works. Quran 67:2 According to the Quran, belief in the afterlife, which is an issue fundamental to the mission of Muhammad, was also central to the mission of all prophets before him.