The word 'Islam' is an Arabic word which means 'submission to the will of God'. This word comes from the same root as the Arabic word 'salam', which means 'peace'. As such, the religion of Islam teaches that in order to achieve true peace of mind and surety of heart, one must submit to God and live according to His Divinely revealed Law. The word 'Muslim' means one who submits to the will of God, regardless of their race, nationality or ethnic background. Islam is not a new religion but is the same eternal message revealed through the ages to all of God's prophets and messengers. Muslims believe that all of God's prophets which include Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, brought the same message of Pure Monotheism. For this reason, Prophet Muhammad
(pubh) is not considered as the founder of a new religion, as many people mistakenly think, but he was the Final Prophet of Islam.
By revealing His final message to Prophet Muhammad
(pubh), which is an eternal and universal message for all of mankind, God finally fulfilled the covenant that He made with Abraham, who was one of the earliest and greatest Prophets. According to traditional Islamic belief, the religion has existed since time immemorial. Allah, the Almighty God, created Adam (the father of the human progeny) out of a lump of clay and commanded the angels to greet him with a 'Sijda' (prostration in humility). All the angels obeyed the command with the exception of
Iblis (the Satan) because he claimed his own superiority over Adam by virtue of his age long devotion to God and creation out of fire.
The Muslim world can be divided into two main sects: Shiah and Sunni.
Though essentially following the same beliefs and tenets, they differ on two
points: the succession to Prophet Muhammad, and the religious authority in Islam
after him.
The Shiahs consider Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet as his rightful heir.
They maintain that Ali was the first legitimate Imam or Khalifah (Caliph) and
therefore reject Abu Bakr, Omar and Usman, the first three Khalifahs of the
Sunni Muslims, as usurpers. They maintain that Ali was nominated to lead the
Muslims by the Prophet himself, who in turn nominated his successors or Imams.
Shiism is a minority branch of Islam which makes up about one tenth of the total
population of the Muslim world. The Shiites form an important part of the
population in a number of Arab countries like Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon and Iran.
According to Islamic belief, Allah has sent various Prophets to the world at
different times and different places to guide the people on the righteous path.
The names of the following Prophets are mentioned in the Holy Quran: Adam, Sheth,
Idris, Nuh (Noah), Hud, Salih, Lut, Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail, Ishaq (Isaac),
Yaqub (Jacob), Yusuf (Joseph), Shuaib, Dawud (David), Sulaiman (Solomon), Ilyas,
Al-Yasa (Elisha), Musa (Moses), Aziz (Ubair or Ezra), Ayyub (Job), Dhul-Kifl (Isaih
or Kharqil Bin Thauri), Yunus (Jonah), Zakariya (Zachariah), Yahya (John the
Baptist), Isa (Jesus Christ) and Muhammad.
Prophet Muhammad is considered as the messenger of Allah and the last of all
Prophets who restored Islam to its pristine purity. Prophet Muhammad was born in
570 AD at Makkah. At the age of 40, Prophet Muhammad received his first
revelation from Allah through the Angel Jibreel (Gabriel) in a cave at Mount
Hira near Makkah.
Sufism has been described differently by scholars writing in English but they
all consider it as being the inner, esoteric, mystical, or purely spiritual
dimension of the religion of Islam.
R. A. Nicholson in The Mystics of Islam (1914) describes Sufism as "Islamic
mysticism" and says that Sufism was largely the product of diverse philosophical
and spiritual influences, including Christian, Neoplatonic and others.
A.J. Arberry similarly states in Sufism (1950) that Sufism is "the name given to
the mysticism of Islam" and "the mystical movement of an uncompromising
Monotheism". He says that Sufism in essence derived from the Quran and Prophet
Muhammad’s tradition and attempted to view "the movement from within as an
aspect of Islam". This approach became generally accepted and was echoed by
later scholars.
The word 'Bohra'
is derived from the Gujarati word vohorvu or vyavahar meaning "to trade". The
Muslim community of Daudi Bohras traces its ancestry to early conversions to
Ismaili Shiism during the reign of the Fatimid Caliph Imam, al-Mustansir
(1036-1094 AD). When schisms occurred in the Ismaili dawah (mission) in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries in Egypt, the Ismailis in India followed the
Fatimid Tayyibi dawah of Yemen. Subsequently, this community split a number of
times to form the Jafari Bohras, Daudi Bohras, Sulaymani Bohras, Aliyah Bohras
and other lesser-known groups. The Ismaili Bohras owe allegiance to the dai
mutlaq in Yemen. They are named after their 27th dai Daud ibn Qutubshah (d.
1612).
The
religious hierarchy of the Daudi Bohras is essentially Fatimid and is headed by
the dai mutlaq who is appointed by his predecessor in office. The dai
appoints two others to the subsidiary ranks of madhun (licentiate) and mukasir
(executor). These positions are followed by the rank of shaikh and mullah, both
of which are held by hundreds of Bohras. An Aamil leads the local congregation
in religious, social and communal affairs. Each town has a mosque and an
adjoining jamaat-khanah (assembly hall) where socio-religious functions are
held. The local organisations that manage these properties report directly to
the central administration of the dai based in Mumbai, called Al-Dawah al-Hadiyah.