What Is Islam?

this video is sponsored by curiositystream get access to my video streaming service nebula when you sign up for curiosity stream using the link in the description islam everyone's talking about it with a global community stretching from china to timbuktu to california and everywhere in between this religion is the way of life of a quarter of humanity but what is islam what do muslims believe and what is shakira's law well let's find out with about 1.8 billion followers or 24 percent of earth's population islam is the second largest religion on the planet and therefore the universe muslims make up the majority of the population in 49 countries as diverse as yemen nigeria albania kazakhstan and malaysia this 1400 year old religion started in modern day saudi arabia but today only 20 percent of muslims are arabs indonesia is actually the country with the most muslims holding around 13 of the world's total about 30 percent of muslims live in india pakistan and bangladesh christianity is named after christ judaism after the tribe of judea and zoroastrianism after the 1998 swashbuckling adventure film the mask of zorro starring antonio banderas but islam is named after an action islam means submission to god and muslim is the person that submits to god the root meaning of the word islam means peace safety and security the arabic word for peace salaam comes from this fruit along with the hebrew word shalom so submission to god means finding peace by following god around the world regardless of language most muslims greet each other in arabic saying assalamu alaikum peace be upon you islam originated in 7th century arabia with a guy called muhammad before we can get into muhammad's life we need to talk about the elephant in the room his name is sebastian and he is standing in front of my whiteboard explaining the controversy surrounding drawing muhammad sebastian can you can you just scoot over there can you just please move okay draw on muhammad is a controversial and emotional political issue firstly the quran islam's holy book has no ban on dhran muhammad but the big tree abrahamic fates christianity judaism and islam all have rules against making images of any living thing this comes from the torah and some muslims and jews take this rule very seriously islam kept this rule going so that muslims wouldn't worship in front of images of muhammad or god instead they pray directly to god some muslim societies have drawn muhammad in the past iranian cultures especially today most muslims aren't offended by disrespectful images of muhammad but respectful images are usually fine especially in shia islam the second largest branch of islam and the majority of muslims disagree with violence in response to depictions of muhammad to be respectful as we always try to be this silhouette will stand in place of muhammad no not that that's sebastian again please sebastian move you're making me look like a fool this is the silhouette sorry muhammad was born in 570 ce in mecca in arabia where his parents died when he was very young and muhammad grew up as an orphan back then the arabs worshiped hundreds of different gods and muhammad's tribe the quraish were the guardians of this building the kabba and mecca they packed the kabba with hundreds of idols to different gods and the quresh got filthy rich taxing pilgrims visiting the kaaba muhammad was deeply religious and wanted to improve his community all around him he saw poverty injustice war and widespread discrimination against women and orphans muhammad saw the rich abuse the poor and religious festivals had just become giant decadent parties dedicated to the worship of idols this is the best religion ever religion party instead of attending religious festivals every year muhammad would just go and pray alone in a cave then in 610 ce in the month of ramadan during one of these lonely cave prayers muhammad now 40 years old was visited by gabriel or jabril in arabic jibril told muhammad that there was one god and that he was now god's messenger muhammad received revelations directly from god and then recited them aloud his companions wrote these revelations down and they became the quran islam's holy book muhammad's words were radical in tribal arabia he was saying stuff like arab has no superiority over non-arab white has no superiority over black he also demanded an end to the practice of killing infant girls because boys were preferred saying that girls were equal blessings from god this didn't exactly go down well in tribal sexist and hierarchical mecca this whole one god business annoyed the quresh because they made money charging people to visit kabba to worship hundreds of gods the poor slaves and others flocked to muhammad the quresh now furious and losing money abused the muslims especially the vulnerable ones like slaves who are frequently tortured if they convert but the muslims didn't fight back muhammad and his god outlawed violence the quran said whoever kills a person it shall be as if he killed all mankind after a decade of this persecution the muslims fled to the city of medina this move in 622 ce marks year one on the islamic calendar right now january 2021 ce is 1442 on the muslim calendar even in medina the quresh kept attacking the muslims so god told muhammad muslims could fight back but god laid down some ground rules for the fighting do not target public places do not destroy farms or herds do not harm women children the elderly or disabled do not harm animals trees or plants and be kind to prisoners and to not forcefully convert anyone these strict rules of war were laid down to stop civilians getting hurt muhammad said if someone shows no compassion god will show no compassion to them by 6 30 muhammad marched on mecca with an army of ten thousand the city submitted without a battle muhammad went straight to the kaaba and destroyed the hundreds of idols and dedicated it only to god just two years later most of arabia had converted to islam and was united under muhammad then on june 8 632 ce muhammad died abu bakr muhammad's father-in-law was elected as the first khalif or successor this election is the cause of the divide between islam's two major branches sunni and shia to oversimplify a bit sunni believed abu bakr was rightly elected shia believed muhammad chose his son-in-law ali as his successor today sunni may go between 80 to 90 of all muslims while shia make up about 13 over the next 1 400 years islam has spread true empires and trade across the middle east africa central and south asia and china it spread to europe especially the balkans and spain and merchants brought to southeast asia and slaves brought it with them to the americas and that's a very brief version of muhammad's story but what exactly was this new religion that he was preaching islam might seem complicated at first but we can break it down into some very easy to understand core beliefs 1. belief in one god muslims christians and jews worship the same god muslims just call that god allah because that's the arabic word for god arab christians also refer to god as allah muslims believe god is the uncreated all-knowing all-powerful merciful loving and genderless creator of the universe islam accepts that there is only one god and that believing in other gods are worshiping anything else be it idols money or power like its god is a great sin islam in general also has no priests as muslims are supposed to have a direct personal connection with god god created the world in six days after creating the world and everything in it god created adam and eve together from the same clay the quran states that god created humanity from a single soul 2 belief in the divine books and prophets muhammad said he wasn't preaching anything new he said islam was the original religion of humanity he was just a prophet tasked with reminding people of the one god and bringing them back to the correct path muhammad is also not the only prophet in islam the prophets of judaism and christianity are accepted by muslims too dozens of prophets are named in the quran alongside muhammad like abraham moses noah and jesus moses jesus and jesus's mother mary get a lot of mention in the quran in islam muhammad and all the prophets are just humans but they carry a message and all prophets brought the same message a call for peace a return to worshiping only god and a warning of the day of judgment muslims also recognize the jewish torah and the christian gospel as divine books sent down by god so muslims refer to themselves along with jews christians and some other peoples as people of the book the big difference between them though is that muslims believe that muhammad is the final prophet and that the quran is the last divine book three belief in the day of judgment god created the universe with an expiration date at one point in the future the day of judgment will come the world will end and everyone that has ever lived will be physically resurrected and their actions in life will be judged and they will be held accountable for how to behave after the resurrection everyone will move across a bridge that goes over the fire of hell and leads to the entrance to heaven for those whose good deeds outweigh their bad the bridge is flat and broad and the crossing easy for sinners though the bridge becomes as sharp as a razor and they fall into hell hell is a place of fire everyone is tortured miserable thirsty baby shark plays all day long it's it's awful stuff like murder theft and cheating will get you sent there whereas heaven is a beautiful garden filled with rivers of milk and honey where everyone is young healthy reunited with family and subscribe to educational youtube channels eventually most people who go to hell will move up into heaven because god wants people to be in heaven 4 the quran the quran is the holy book of islam the word quran simply means to recite or to say out loud muslims consider the quran to be the direct word of god spoken through the mouth of muhammad in arabic the quran is about 600 pages long and is divided into 114 surahs or chapters each surah is divided into numbered verses or ayat so you can find any quote from the quran using the number of surah and ayat let's just pick a random number 3119 which is low the harshest of all voices is the voice of the ass the quran has no narrative structure it's organized by length the longest verses are at the beginning and the shortest verses are at the end so the topic and narrative of the quran jumps around a lot one reason for this is because the quran is supposedly read and loud many muslims even memorize the whole quran the hadith are the second most important literature in islam after the quran the hadith at the sayings or actions of muhammad not god that his companions heard and wrote down hadith fill in information that's not in the quran on how to be a good muslim the hadith were passed down hourly before being written down so not all hadith are created equal they're ranked from strong down to weak depending on how trustworthy the chain of transmitters from muhammad is for example the hadith that reports that muhammad said forgive him who wrongs you is considered strong because the chain of transmitters is trustworthy whereas the hadith that talks about 72 virgins in heaven is fairly weak and so most muslims don't believe it sunni and shia muslims use different hadith and some muslims don't follow the hadith at all five the five pillars of islam this car belief is split into five well pillars these act as the blueprint for how muslims behave first you have the shahada the shahada is simply a statement there is no god but god and muhammad is the messenger of god this is the shortest possible explanation of what muslims believe saying it just once honestly makes a person a muslim salat salat means prayer and practicing muslims pray five times a day before salat muslims must perform wudu or ritual washing of the face arms head and feet each salat begins with the saying god is most great or allahu akbar followed by prayers in arabic along with movements like standing darwin and kneeling seriously muslim prayer looks like a proper workout because a muslim stops whatever they're doing to pray five times a day they're reminded of god and the values of the quran and when praying muslims face mecca the direction towards mecca is called the qibla muslim places of worship mosques are planned so that one wall the qibla wall always faces mecca even though mosques look different depending on where they are in the world they all have a qibla wall zakat zakat is a charitable tax on wealth that all muslims should pay annually the basic rate is about 2.5 percent of your current wealth the quran says give money cheerfully to the relatives the orphans the needy the traveling alien the beggars and to free the slaves i'm assuming traveling alien probably means something different in that context than how i'm imagining it or does it today every year somewhere between 200 billion and 1 trillion dollars is given to charity by muslims across the globe true zakat muhammad preached that accumulating wealth was greedy to stop the rich profiting off of poverty the quran outlaws interest-bearing loans known as usury or ribba money can never be traded for money muslim wealth can only come from actual labor or fair trade swan swam is fasting during the holy month of ramadan muslims fast from dawn to sunset fasting includes no eating no drinking and no smoking pregnant women the sick and the disabled do not have to fast if it puts stress on their bodies and women on their period can also delay their fast true fasting a person experiences how the poor suffer on a daily basis and fasting breaks up life's regular routine and invites introspection and meditation on god ramadan ends with the feast of eid during this holiday muslims give extras a cat to the poor share food visit their mosque and eat with friends and family hajj hajj is the pilgrimage to the ka'ba at mecca the holiest place in islam every muslim must make the pilgrimage once in their life if able to do so for over 1 000 years muslims from all over the world have flocked to mecca on hajj there is no distinction between rich and poor or nationality and race today more than 2 million people make hajj every year and those are the 5 pillars of islam next let's look at some topics you've probably heard a lot about when it comes to islam women islam and women is a pretty topical issue so how does islam address women and what exactly is the deal with the veil well first of all this is a hijab this is a nikhib this is a chador and this is a burqa the hijab is by far the most popular veil you'll see the burka and nikab are only found in deeply conservative communities or afghanistan and the chador is mostly found in iran not all muslim women wear veils and some muslim majority nations have actually banned headscarves while in other muslim majority nations women are pressured to wear them it's a controversial issue within islam itself but why do some muslim women wear these veils one reason is culture the veil is part of many people's cultural identity another reason is that islam preaches modesty muslims should be modest in their words actions tempers desires appetite everything really men and women are instructed to wear loose-fitting clothing that should cover most of the body there isn't the difference made in the quran between how men and women stress and it never states that women need to cover their faces veils in general seem to have entered early muslim culture from their roman neighbors the only reference in the quran to women covering their faces is about muhammad's wives and most muslims consider those verses to only apply to muhammad's wives throughout the quran god repeatedly attacks those that say women are inferior to men and repeatedly demands that women be treated equally muhammad even pushed for women's education saying if a daughter is born to a person and he brings her up gives her a good education trains her in the arts of life i shall myself stand between him and hellfire the quran also guarantees a woman's right to work divorce and own property halal halal is simply the arabic word for permissible if something's halal that means muslims can do it without worrying it's a sin most foods are halal except for pork donkey predators like lions wolves cats and dogs birds with talons eels lizards mice rats and monkeys blood blood is also bad don't drink blood alcohol is also not allowed because alcohol has negative effects on health and society although funnily enough alcohol is an arabic word in order for meat to be halal the animal must not suffer its neck must be cut quickly at the throat while saying god's name to give it a quick and painless death the animal should not be able to see or hear or smell the previous slaughter and it must not see the blade beforehand so that it doesn't become afraid animal cruelty is outlawed in the quran muhammad said a good deed done to an animal is as meritous as a good deed done to a human being while an act of cruelty to an animal is as bad as an act of cruelty to a human being sharia law shakira law whenever wherever muslims get together talk of shakira law will be near and that's a that's a big deal my dear role ms shakira noises i didn't really think this bit true didn't think about singing it sharia law is talked about everywhere these days the three times it's mentioned in the quran sharia normally refers to the capital w way the way a muslim should live to most please god to bring order to society and to get into heaven the literal meaning of sharia is path to a warhol which to a desert people was literally a path to life thinking of sharia as only law tends to cause confusion sharia mostly covers personal matters and contracts between people how to pray fast how to treat neighbors not lying how to marry and divorce this stuff is the main focus of sharia and how to pray isn't something that's enforced by law the quran in general doesn't have much law in it but muslim societies wanted to have laws influenced by sharia so looking at the message of the quran muslim scholars decided the goals of legal sharia with the protection of life property family fate and intellect over the centuries scholars made claims about the sharia and then back up those claims using the quran the hadith and reasoning the body of legal rulings that came from their interpretation of the sharia was islamic law or thick in arabic but fick is the result of human opinions and so can be wrong and is changeable thick can try to capture the sharia but probably never will so thick evolved constantly sharia is aspirational it was never written down in a big ancient book of unchanging rules different muslims around the world and at different times have different interpretations of what sharia is and made fick based on those interpretations you might see saudi arabia daesh or boko haram cry sharia as they abuse and torture people but most muslims do not consider what those groups do as sharia in any way most muslims would consider violence to be anti-sharia but headlines focus on those groups anyway sharia can and has been used to champion justice and equality for example musawa is an organization which uses sharia to promote gender equality that's the fascinating thing about sharia it's an argument process a way to learn grow and adapt learning is usually hard but today it's easier than ever because kagito and a bunch of our creator friends have built our own educational platform called nebula and we're excited to be partnering with curiositystream nebula is a place where you can watch some of the best educational content and free and earlier in youtube this video was up on nebula days ago on nebula creators can experiment with all kinds of new and exclusive stuff without having to worry about youtube's quirks like demonetization or the algorithm blessings be upon it this channel has exclusive content up over on nebula and so do dozens of other creators by supporting nebula you'll be providing a budget for creators to put together high quality nebula originals that would never make it on youtube take for example tom scott's game show money where he just pits some of your favorite creators against each other for entertainment or would you like a high quality world war ii docu-series well real engineering's nebula original would suit you or maybe a series breaking known video game storytelling well there's a nebula original for that or maybe you want to see a behavioral psychologist using odd psychology to solve problems well there's a nebula original for that as well there are so many more and they're all funded by and created for people like you people that enjoy original smart content and now nebula has original podcasts too but what does curiosity stream have to do with this well as the online champion of high quality documentaries they love education and educational creators so we've teamed up to create a deal if you follow the link in the description you can sign up for stream and you'll get nebula for free and that's not a trial or anything like that as long as you have curiosity stream you'll get nebula and right now for a limited time curiosity stream is offering cogito viewers 41 after annual subscription as a holiday discount that's less than 15 a year about curiosity stream and nebula so you can watch nebula originals from tom scott real engineering and lindsey ellis along with geniuses like david attenborough and stephen hawking as i researched this video i watched islamic art over on curiosity stream and it's just it was gorgeous so click the link down below to get 41 of an annual curiosity stream subscription along with free access to nebula or you can go to forward curiositystream.com cogito so those are the basics of islam it isn't even close to covering everything i probably only cover about one percent one video simply can't cover everything religions are too diverse too deep and mean too many different things to different people but i hope that this could act as an introduction to you i hope that you enjoyed this video and let me know what you thought about it in the comments below and what would you like for us to cover next you can find all the sources used in the description below if you're interested in supporting the channel there are links to our patreon and t-shirt store also in the description patrons also get early access to all videos thank you so much for watching and ma salam

Channel: Cogito

Views: 343,704

Rating: 4.4596667 out of 5

Keywords: what is islam, what is islam religion, islam, what do muslims believe, what is sharia law, what does sharia mean, what does islam believe, prophet muhammad, the life of muhammad, islam explained, who is muhammad, islam religion, why cant you draw mohammed, what is islam and, what is islam and muslim, how islam began, the origins of islam, islam in 10 minutes, what is islams main teaching, sharia law explained, islamic videos, the life of muhammad the prophet of islam

Id: XlvEymU-S4o

Length: 23min 17sec (1397 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 09 2021

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[u/rovers4life1997]

Yeah I watched that and I thought wtf. Tbh a lot of these history youtubers have been doing this recently. Making vids with an insane amount of bias in favour of islam, most likely to appease their shiny new muslim followers.

Ironically, one of the only unbiased (to an extent) history youtubers ive come across is a muslim. Channels name is Al-Muqaddimah. Straight up called out the arab slave trade and got loads of shit for it, but he stood his ground.

[u/Atheizm]

Oh, it's full of wacky jokes. That's reassuring.