Salam wa'alikum,
Now that you have a brief overview of the five key concepts, sometimes called the 'Pillars of Islam' the next thing is to understand what each one means.
The first Pillar is "belief in the unseen." You could probably guess that this part of the verse is talking about belief if God, but how does the Muslim/Islam concept of God differ from other religions?
For now I'll use Christianity and Judaism for comparison.
Like in both Judaism and Christianity, Islam holds that Allah (God) created the entire universe and everything in it. Islam also teaches that because of this Allah should get our praise and worship. And just like with both Christianity and Judaism, Islam tells that Allah is omnipresent, knows all, and helps guide humans who ask for help. There's a lot more in common, in fact; Islam actually says that Allah is the same as the God of the Israelites and the God that Jesus spoke of.
Even with all those things in common, there are some key differences. The biggest difference between Christianity and Islam is that Islam believes Allah is not begotten or begets, meaning; Allah was not born or created, and He does not have any children. While Judaisms portrayal of Allah is closer than that of Christianity, it still isn't in perfect alignment. For example in the first chapter of Genesis of the Torah when re-counting the story of creation. Genesis claims that Allah created the Earth in six days, but then had to rest on the seventh. Islam rejects the idea that Allah needs rest. Rest is something for imperfect beings to recharge, since Allah is perfect He doesn't require rest.
So as you can see Islam has it's own unique idea of what Allah(God) is and isn't.
If you have any questions please do leave a comment and I'll try to answer it as soon as I can.
Now that you have a brief overview of the five key concepts, sometimes called the 'Pillars of Islam' the next thing is to understand what each one means.
The first Pillar is "belief in the unseen." You could probably guess that this part of the verse is talking about belief if God, but how does the Muslim/Islam concept of God differ from other religions?
For now I'll use Christianity and Judaism for comparison.
Like in both Judaism and Christianity, Islam holds that Allah (God) created the entire universe and everything in it. Islam also teaches that because of this Allah should get our praise and worship. And just like with both Christianity and Judaism, Islam tells that Allah is omnipresent, knows all, and helps guide humans who ask for help. There's a lot more in common, in fact; Islam actually says that Allah is the same as the God of the Israelites and the God that Jesus spoke of.
Even with all those things in common, there are some key differences. The biggest difference between Christianity and Islam is that Islam believes Allah is not begotten or begets, meaning; Allah was not born or created, and He does not have any children. While Judaisms portrayal of Allah is closer than that of Christianity, it still isn't in perfect alignment. For example in the first chapter of Genesis of the Torah when re-counting the story of creation. Genesis claims that Allah created the Earth in six days, but then had to rest on the seventh. Islam rejects the idea that Allah needs rest. Rest is something for imperfect beings to recharge, since Allah is perfect He doesn't require rest.
So as you can see Islam has it's own unique idea of what Allah(God) is and isn't.
If you have any questions please do leave a comment and I'll try to answer it as soon as I can.
