Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!samsung!crackers!m2c!wpi.WPI.EDU!zahle.wpi.edu!shari
From: azran@elaine48.stanford.edu (Azran Osman Rani)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: Re: What makes one a Muslim?
Message-ID: <1991May20.170831.26679@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Date: 20 May 91 17:08:31 GMT
References: <1991May14.112213.16715@wpi.WPI.EDU> <1991May16.170038.24414@wpi.WPI.EDU> <1991May17.135919.10966@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Sender: news@wpi.WPI.EDU (News)
Organization: Stanford University - AIR
Lines: 50
Approved: shari@zahle.wpi.edu
Originator: shari@zahle.wpi.edu
Nntp-Posting-Host: zahle.wpi.edu


In article <1991May17.135919.10966@wpi.WPI.EDU> 2fntnougat@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Ian) writes:
>
>In article <1991May16.170038.24414@wpi.WPI.EDU>, soufi@m.cs.uiuc.edu (Khaled Soufi) writes:
>> As far as I know, the *minimal* property for someone to be muslim is the
>> following:
>> 
>>     MUSLIM <==> believe that there is only ONE GOD and Muhammad is his
>>                 messenger 
>> 
>> --khaled
>
>Thanks, Khaled.
>
>Would other people on this section say that this is generally accepted by all
>Muslims, or is it just for Khaled's particular branch of Islam?
>
>On a related note, is it true that someone converts to Islam by declaring in
>front of two Muslim witnesses "There is One God Allah and Muhammad is his
>prophet"?
>-- 
>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.


In my opinion, a Muslim is a person who upholds the principles of Iman and 
Islam, which are:

Iman: 	1) Belief in God
	2) Belief in the Angels
	3) Belief in the prophets
	4) Belief in the Holy Books
	5) Belief in the Judgement Day
	6) Belief in Qad'q and Qad'r


Islam: 1) declaring that there is no god but Allah and Muhamad is his messenger
	2) praying 5 times daily
	3) fasting in the month of Ramadhan
	4) paying zakat and fitrah
	5) performing the Haj

(4) and (5) are only for people who have the financial means to do so.


Azran Osman-Rani
Stanford University
azran@leland.stanford.edu