Page 4 - World Religions I - Islam

• Islam currently experiences an average growth rate of 1.8%, making it the fasted growing religion in the world.
The world's population growth rate is currently 1.1%. This means that Islam is expected to grow twice as fast as
the overall global population. The significant projected growth rate is largely due to the young age and high
fertility rate of Muslims relative to other religious groups.
o If trends continue, Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world by 2050.
o Projections show significant growth of Muslims throughout the world in the next 30 years.
 Middle East and North Africa: +1%
 Sub-Saharan Africa: +5% In 2010, nearly 16% of the world's Muslims lived in sub-Saharan Africa.
That percentage is expected to increase to nearly 24% by 2050.
 Latin America: <1%
 Europe: +4%
 North America: +1%Asia-Pacific: +6% Muslims are projected to surpass Hindus and become
the largest religious group in the Asia-Pacific region by 2050 49 nations in the world are
Muslim-majority.2
o 80% of believers in Islam live outside the Arab world.
o The Asia-Pacific region is home to the majority of Muslims.
o Muslim countries spend tens of million dollars each year towards spreading Islam (evangelism).
A Brief Overview of Islam

• The most authoritative source and most sacred scriptures for
Islam is the Qur'an. (See Chapter 3 for more information on the
Qur'an.)
o Muslims believe that the Qur'an consists of the literal words of
Allah (the Muslim deity, otherwise known as God).
o The Qur'an was revealed in the early 7th century AD to
Muhammad, an Arab from Saudi Arabia. (See Chapter 2 for
more information on Muhammad, the prophet of Islam.)
• Muhammad is considered by Muslims to be the greatest
prophet in Islam, the last in a continuing chain of prophets that is believed to have begun with Adam,
the first man.
o Muslims revere Muhammad and strive to follow his religious teaching, practice, and behavioral example,
otherwise known as the Sunnah. The term "Sunnah" means "custom" or "path" in the Arabic language. It is a
term that refers to a precedent set by people of the past, and in Islam takes particular importance when it
applies to Muhammad and the Qur'an's injunction to pattern oneself after him.27
• Second only to the Qur'an in authority, the Sunnah provides guidance that is critical for
understanding and clarifying the Qur'an.
• The Sunnah consists of recorded biographies called Sirah, as well as oral traditions known as
Hadith.
• Muslims do not consider Islam to be a new religion. It is believed to be the original path of monotheism as
established by God, which developed into Judaism and Christianity.
o Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam traces its ancestry to the patriarch Abraham, but through his son
Ishmael, not Isaac.
• The Qur'an records that Abraham and Ishmael built the Ka'aba, a holy sanctuary in Mecca, Arabia, and
instituted it as a place of worship and pilgrimage.3

3