For other uses see Muslim (disambiguation). "Moslem" redirects here. For other uses see Moslem (disambiguation). A Dongxiang Muslim student in China This article is part of the series: Islam Beliefs Oneness of God Prophets  Revealed books Angels  Predestination Day of Resurrection Practices Profession of faith  Prayer Fasting  Charity  Pilgrimage Texts & laws Quran  Sunnah  Hadith Fiqh  Sharia  Kalam Sufism History & leaders Timeline  Muhammad Ahl al-Bayt  Sahaba Sunni  Shia  Others Rashidun  Imamate Caliphate  Spread of Islam Culture & society Academics  Animals  Art Calendar  Children Dawah  Demographics Festivals  Mosques Philosophy  Politics Science  Women See also Other religions  Glossary Islam portal This box: view talk

A Muslim (pronounced /mslm/) is an adherent of Islam a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the Quran which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "one who submits to God".

Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable.1 Muslims also believe that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that was revealed at many times and places before including through the prophets Abraham Moses and Jesus.2 Muslims maintain that previous messages and revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time3 but consider the Qur'an to be both unaltered and the final revelation from GodFinal Testament.4

Most Muslims accept as a Muslim anyone who has publicly pronounced the Shahadah (declaration of faith) which states "I testify that there is none worthy of worship except God and I testify that Muhammad is a Messenger of God." Their religious practices include daily prayers (salat) fasting during Ramadan (sawm) almsgiving (zakat) and the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) at least once in a lifetime.56

Currently the most up-to-date reports from an American think tank and PBS have estimated 1.2 to 1.57 billion Muslims populate the world or about 20% of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion7 with 60% in Asia and 20% of Muslims living in the Middle East and North Africa.891011 Contents 1 Etymology 2 Other words for Muslim 3 Meaning 3.1 Used to describe earlier prophets in the Qur'an 4 Demographics 5 See also 6 References and notes 7 External links Etymology See also: Islam#Etymology and meaning

A muslim (Arabic: ; /mslm/ muus-lim or English pronunciation: /mzlm/ muz-lim or moslem12) is the participle of the same verb of which islm is the infinitive.13 A female adherent is a muslima (Arabic: ). The plural form in Arabic is muslimn (Arabic: ) and its feminine equivalent is muslimt (Arabic: ). The Arabic form muslimun is the stem IV participle14 of the triliteral S-L-M "to be whole intact". Other words for Muslim

The ordinary word in English is "Muslim" pronounced /mslm/ or /mzlm/. The word is pronounced mslm in Arabic. It is sometimes transliterated as "Moslem" which is an older spelling.15 Submitter is the English equivalent of the Arabic word Muslim.16

Until at least the mid-1960s many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans.17 Although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God.

Variant forms of this word are still used by many Indo-European and Turkic languages. These words are similar to the French Spanish Portuguese Italian Russian Turkish Bosnian Persian Kurdish and Hindi words for "Muslim". Meaning This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2011)

Many scholars historians and saints have tried to come up with a true definition for Muslim. Some historians have put forward that a Muslim denotes a follower of exclusively of the Qur'an but Muslims believe that every prophet and their respective followers were Muslim as well. In defining the term the mystic Ibn Arabi said: "A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God...Islam means making one's religion and faith God's alone.18 The Qur'an is clear on promulgating that every prophet preached the same faith which centered on the worship of God. Therefore the Qur'an speaks of anyone who submits themselves to God as being a Muslim regardless of whether they lived before the Qur'an was revealed or after. Thus the Qur'an narrates the preaching of Noah: "But if you turn back I did not ask of you any reward; my reward is only due from God and I have been commanded to be of those who have submitted (muslimn)"19 Used to describe earlier prophets in the Qur'an The Qur'an describes many prophets and messengers as well as their respective followers as Muslim: Adam Noah Abraham Jacob Moses and Jesus and his apostles are all confirmed as being Muslim by the Qur'an. The Qur'an states that these men were Muslims because they submitted to God preached His message and upheld His values which included praying charity fasting and pilgrimage. Thus in Surah 3:52 of the Qur'an Jesus disciples tell Jesus "We believe in God; and you be our witness that we are Muslims (wa-shahad be anna muslimn)." In Muslim belief before the Qur'an God had given the Torah to Moses the Psalms to David and the Gospel to Jesus who are all considered important Muslim prophets. Demographics Muslim population by percentage worldwide Main article: Islam#Demographics See also: List of countries by Muslim population About 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia the largest Muslim country20 25% in South Asia20 20% in the Middle East2021 2% in Central Asia 4% in the remaining South East Asian countries and 15% in Sub-saharan Africa.20 Sizable communities are also found in China and Russia and parts of the Caribbean. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world. See also Musulman Muslim world Islamic schools and branches Muslim holidays Lists of Muslims References and notes Qur'an 51:56 "God". Islam: Empire of Faith. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithgod.html. Retrieved 2010-12-18. "For Muslims God is unique and without equal."  "People of the Book". Islam: Empire of Faith. PBS. http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/faithpeople.html. Retrieved 2010-12-18.  See: * Accad (2003): According to Ibn Taymiya although only some Muslims accept the textual veracity of the entire Bible most Muslims will grant the veracity of most of it. * Esposito (1998) pp.612* Esposito (2002b) pp.45* F. E. Peters (2003) p.9* F. Buhl; A. T. Welch. "Muhammad". Encyclopaedia of Islam Online. * Hava Lazarus-Yafeh. "Tahrif". Encyclopaedia of Islam Online.  Submission.org Quran: The Final Testament Authorized English Version with Arabic Text Revised Edition IVISBN 0972920927 p. x. Hooker Richard (July 14 1999). "arkan ad-din the five pillars of religion". United States: Washington State University. http://www.wsu.edu/dee/GLOSSARY/5PILLARS.HTM. Retrieved 2010-11-17.  "Religions". The World Factbook. United States: Central Intelligence Agency. 2010. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html. Retrieved 2010-08-25.  PBS Islam Today (Islam followed by more than a billion people today is the world's fastest growing religion and will soon be the world's largest. The 1.2 billion Muslims make up approximately one quarter of the world's population and the Muslim population of the United States now outnumbers that of Episcopalians...) "Mapping the Global Muslim Population". PewForum.org The report by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life took three years to compile with census data from 232 countries and territories. http://pewforum.org/docs/DocID450. Retrieved 2009-11-08.  Tom Kington (2008-03-31). "Number of Muslims ahead of Catholics says Vatican". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/31/religion. Retrieved 2008-11-17.  "Muslim Population". IslamicPopulation.com. http://www.islamicpopulation.com/. Retrieved 2008-11-17.  "Field Listing Religions". https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2122.html. Retrieved 2008-11-17.  http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Moslem Burns & Ralph World Civilizations 5th ed. p. 371 also known as "infinitive" c.f. Burns & Ralph World Civilizations 5th ed. p. 371 "''Reporting Diversity'' guide for journalists" (PDF). http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/151921.pdf. Retrieved 2010-03-17.  "Who are Submitters and what is Submission". Masjidtucson.org. http://www.masjidtucson.org/submission/submitterandsubmission.html. Retrieved 2011-01-25.  See for instance the second edition of A Dictionary of Modern English Usage by H. W. Fowler revised by Ernest Gowers (Oxford 1965)). Commentary on the Qur'an Razi I p. 432 Cairo 1318/1900 Qur'an X: 72 a b c d Miller Tracy ed (10 2009) (PDF). Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the Worlds Muslim Population. Pew Research Center. pp. 89 1719. http://pewforum.org/Muslim/Mapping-the-Global-Muslim-Population.aspx. Retrieved 2009-10-08.  Esposito John L. (2002-10-15). What everyone needs to know about Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 21. ISBN 9780195157130.  and Esposito John (2005). Islam : the straight path (Rev. 3rd ed. updated with new epilogue. ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 2 43. ISBN 9780195182668.  External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Muslims Islamic directory for Muslims Find Muslim Owned businesses Masjids (Mosques) and Islamic Centers all over the world. Muslim Population in Countries with different Alphabets