Muslim Australians - Religion Cultural Diversity Resource Manual
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ISLAM AND OTHER RELIGIONS<br />
<strong>Muslim</strong>s believe that<br />
all three Abrahamic<br />
religions, Judaism,<br />
Christianity and Islam, emanate from<br />
the same source – God. Their basic<br />
message and the answers they give<br />
to the fundamental questions of life<br />
are essentially the same. The Qur’an<br />
emphasises that all prophets before<br />
Muhammad were also sent by God<br />
and that Muhammad was not unique<br />
among them. In fact, believing<br />
in all prophets who came before<br />
Muhammad is an essential part of<br />
Islam.<br />
Connection with other<br />
religions like Christianity and<br />
Judaism<br />
From a <strong>Muslim</strong> point of view, Islam<br />
means ‘submission to God’. It is not a<br />
new religion brought by Muhammad,<br />
but one that was taught by all<br />
prophets before Muhammad, from<br />
Adam onwards.<br />
Thus Islam is closely connected to all<br />
biblical prophets. Stories of biblical<br />
figures such as Noah, Abraham, Isaac,<br />
Moses, Jonah, David, Solomon and<br />
Jesus are told and retold in <strong>Muslim</strong><br />
communities around the world. The<br />
basic message of these prophets was,<br />
according to Islam, belief in one God.<br />
There are shared ideas, beliefs and<br />
values. <strong>Muslim</strong>s refer to Christians<br />
and Jews as ‘People of the Book’.<br />
The Qur’an commands<br />
<strong>Muslim</strong>s to say:<br />
Say: We believe in God and that<br />
which was revealed to us, and that<br />
which was revealed to Abraham<br />
and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob<br />
and the tribes and that which was<br />
given to Moses and Jesus and to<br />
the Prophets from their Lord; we<br />
make no distinction between any<br />
of them, and to Him we submit<br />
(Qur’an 3:83).<br />
<strong>Muslim</strong>s’ beliefs about<br />
Abraham and Ishmael<br />
<strong>Muslim</strong>s believe that the Prophet<br />
Muhammad was a descendant of<br />
Abraham, through his son Ishmael.<br />
They believe that Abraham took<br />
Ishmael and his mother Hagar from<br />
their homeland to the place where<br />
Mecca is situated now. At the time,<br />
Mecca was a barren land with no<br />
water. Hagar and Ishmael, having run<br />
out of water and food, were searching<br />
in vain for water, when miraculously<br />
water began to gush out from a place<br />
which came to be known as Zamzam,<br />
which still provides water today<br />
to many Meccans. Because of this<br />
water, people came and settled there<br />
and a commercial town gradually<br />
developed. It was Abraham and<br />
Ishmael who built the Ka`ba, the<br />
holiest place for <strong>Muslim</strong>s, as a place<br />
of worship of the one God. Ishmael<br />
married a woman who had settled<br />
there and from this lineage came the<br />
Prophet Muhammad.<br />
62 <strong>Muslim</strong> <strong>Australians</strong>:THEIR BELIEFS, PRACTICES AND INSTITUTIONS
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