Islam is comprised of three essential beliefs: The belief in God, obeying his moral laws, and believing in the after-life. Submission to God is directly followed by obeying the moral standards of everyday life. The Qur'an makes morality reign supreme and ensures that the affairs of life, instead of dominated by selfish desires, be regulated by norms of morality. These laws are the standard by which God determines the life of the believers, and the disbelievers on the Day of Judgement.
The belief in life after death not only guarantees success in the Hereafter but also makes this world full of peace and happiness by making individuals responsible and dutiful in their activities. The Qur'an lays down a moral system which is the standard by which conduct a particular mode of conduct is judged and classified as good or bad. "It is not righteous that you turn your faces East or West; but it is righteous to believe in God and the Last Day and the Angels, and the Book, and the messengers; to spend the rest of your substance, out of love for Him, for you kin, for orphans for the needy, for the steadfast in prayers, and practice regular charity; to fulfill the contracts which you made; to be firm and patient in pain or suffering and adversity and throughout all periods of panic. Such are the people of truth, the God-conscious." (2:177)
Despite its huge following around the world and the growing Muslim
communities in the United States, Islam is foreign to most Americans who are
familiar with Christianity or Judaism. Because most Americans know little or
nothing about Islam, they have many misconceptions about Muslim beliefs and
rituals. The negative image many people in the United States and Europe have
of Islam and the Muslim wor ...