Muslim Profession Paper

I would like to qualify my statements going forward with the following about myself and current profession. I serve as a liaison to the various Muslim communities across our state (Tennessee) in regards to homeland security and other law enforcement matters at the state and federal level. I traverse the state meeting with community and religious leaders and have been a guest at most of the major mosques, schools, and community centers. It has been my experience (both military and civilian) that many people outside of these communities confuse cultural and religious values, beliefs, customs, and politics with each other, and try to apply their own values, beliefs, customs and politics to understand the Muslim point of view.

As you noted

The first item to address is “Islam” and what it means. According to Dr. Ossama Bahloul (2017), the current Imam at the Islamic Center of Nashville, Islam translates to “Submission to God”, and a Muslim is “One who submits to God.” I found it difficult to definitively define Christianity. Many of the definitions referred to location, follower of a religion, etc. and a Christian is someone who follows Christianity. In general, there are some similarities in that they both have a name and the follower is identified, but Islam appears to have a clear meaning of what the name means and what a follower is. I found Christianity a bit more ambiguous in its true meaning and

The beliefs are as follows: Believing in one unique, eternal, and single God (Allah); believing in the Angels; believing in the revealed books Quran, Bible, and the Torah; believing in the Prophets Moses, Abraham, and Jesus; believing in Judgment Day, the afterlife, pre-destination, and free will. The Pillars of Islam are as follows: Al-Shahada - the declaration of faith; Salat – prayer; Zakat – charity; Sawm - fasting the full “lunar” month of Ramadan and; Hajj - pilgrimage to Mecca if affordable and health permitting (Van Voorst, 2017). In the Christian faith, many of these beliefs and pillars are followed, but by different names (Charity, Tithe, Lent). However, though Christianity recognizes key figures such as Moses, Jesus, Abraham, it does not hold them in the same regard – especially