FAQ

The Sunnah, also called prophetic way or tradition, are the sayings ("hadith"), doings and tacit approvals of prophet Muhammad. Allah revealed to him the Quran and the Sunnah as guidance for mankind. In the Sunnah we can find, amongst many other things, details on how to perform the prayers, pay the Zakat or do Hajj (major pilgrimage). The Sunnah is not compiled in a single book, we can find it in many different sources. The two most relevant books that compile narrations ("hadith") attributed to the prophet are "Sahih al Bukhari" and "Sahih Muslim", but there are many more. The Muslim scholars have studied extensively the narrations attributed to prophet Muhammad to distinguish those that are authentic from those that are not authentic. This verification is performed using a methodology that is unbiased, rigorous and reliable that allows us to trace back each narration person by person in a continuous way up until the prophet himself. The trustworthiness and memory of each narrator is also scrutinized to ensure with absolute confidence that it was transmitted in a correct and continuous way. This methodology allows us to differentiate what comes from prophet Muhammad and what does not come from him, preventing anyone from changing or lying about the Sunnah without being exposed and, consequentially, it allows us to preserve the Sunnah pristine. Accepting the authentic Sunnah is a requirement to be Muslim.

Yes! Muslims love Jesus and Mary. Jesus was one of the most important messengers for mankind, and Allah has made it clear in many verses in the Quran: "And when We took from the prophets their covenant and from you and from Noah and Abraham and Moses and Jesus, the son of Mary" (33:7). Jesus was born to Mary and she was a virgin. He performed miracles, but he never claimed to be Allah (God). The revelation that he received from Allah was corrupted over the years and does not match the bible that people read nowadays. Jesus proclaimed the same message that the rest of the prophets proclaimed: worship only Allah.

No! Islam strongly forbids the killing of any innocent person, be it a Muslim or a non Muslim. We see often verses of the Quran taken out of context intentionally to tarnish the reputation of Islam, but it is enough for anyone to read the Quran and look at the Sunnah of the prophet to see that it is utterly ridiculous to affirm that Islam promotes terrorism. Allah explicitly forbids it in the Quran: "And do not kill the soul [i.e., person] which Allah has forbidden, except by right. And whoever is killed unjustly - We have given his heir authority (to ask for the death penalty of the killer, or an economic compensation, or to pardon the killer)." (17:33). Terrorist attacks have no basis on Islam.

Becoming Muslim is very simple and does not have initiation rites, the only thing you should do is to state the declaration of faith "I bear witness that there is no deity worthy of worship but Allah, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah" (in Arabic: "ashhadu an la ilaha illa Allah wa ashhadu anna Muhammadan abduhu wa rasuluhu"). Whoever states this declaration of faith has accepted Islam and all his sins are forgiven, regardless of how many they are.

No. It is quite popular to change it when becoming Muslim, but it is NOT required to change your name to a Muslim or Arab name. The only case when you should change it is if the name has offensive meanings. In that case, you should change it, but it is not necessary to do it officially, it is enough for people around you to use the new name.