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From: 2fntnougat@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Ian)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: What makes one a Muslim?
Message-ID: <1991May14.112213.16715@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Date: 14 May 91 11:22:13 GMT
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Hello.

I found the discussion on the use of "Allah" interesting, as Malaysia, a
country with a Muslim government, but with only 55% of the population claiming
to be Muslims, either wants to, or has, made it illegal for non-Muslims to use
the word when referring to God, the One True Creator of the Universe. In
particular, the Christians. This is compounded by the fact that in neighbouring
Indonesia, which has a supposedly secular government, but *far* more people who
claim to be Muslims (over 90%), both Muslims and Christians call God Allah when
speaking in Bahasa Indonesia. (Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Malaysia are about
as different as American and British English.)

Anyway, I have a question: what are the criteria for a person to be a Muslim?
That is, are there any specific beliefs, practices, etc. that makes one a
Muslim? I ask this because I got into some discussions where someone told me
that Saddam Hussein is not a true Muslim but just using Islam as a political
lever. This phenomenon, of course, is evident in other religions, as well. For
example, the leaders of the Crusades were not true Christians, but merely using
it as a convenient political tool.

So I would like to know what true Muslims use as criterea to determine if a
person is a Muslim or not. (Ok, I understand that only Allah can see the true
intention of a person. But if we know what the intention or real belief is,
what are the beliefs and/or actions that make one a Muslim?)
-- 
Ian Chai      Internet: chai@cs.ukans.edu      Bitnet: 2fntnougat@ukanvax
I don't believe in flaming. If I appear to be flaming, either (a) it's an
illusion due to the lack of nonverbal cues or (b) my sprinkler system has
suffered a momentary glitch, so just ignore me until it's fixed.