Seen this way, most Muslims can be deemed dangerous. After all, hundreds of millions do pray every day and go to mosques. As many as 4.5 million go to Saudi Arabia every year, either for the pilgrimage of Haj or to visit the holy sites throughout the year; many of those pilgrims are Americans, Canadians, Europeans and Australians. Millions of Muslims routinely send money to family and friends around the world for charities or for direct distribution to the poor. Most Muslims pray regularly for Muslims caught in wars, invasions and occupations.

All these activities are part and parcel of the ethos of Islam, flowing from the five fundamentals of the faith:

1) Declaration of faith

2) Daily prayers

3) Charity

4) Fasting from sunrise to sunset for one month every year

5) Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina once in one’s lifetime

DECLARATION OF FAITH

Shahada (testimony)

“There is no Allah but Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s messenger.” That twin declaration is the first tenet of Islam. That’s what Muslims proclaim from childhood and that’s how a convert to Islam announces his or her new religious life.

Unlike Hindus, who believe in many gods, Muslims are monotheists. Like Christians and Jews, they believe in one God. But unlike Christians, they do not believe in the Trinity — Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Allah has no associates. Allah is simply the Arabic name for God, used by Arab Christians as well. Allah is the Arabic equivalent of Elohim and Yahweh, the Hebrew names for God, or Jehovah.

Contrary to American evangelist Franklin Graham’s post9/11 assertion that Islam is “not of the same God” as Christianity, it is. Islam is a continuation of Judaism and Christianity. The Qur’an says, In matters of faith, He has ordained for you that which He has enjoined upon Abraham, Moses and Jesus (42:13).

Muslims — literally, those who submit — believe Muhammad (born in AD 570) to be Allah’s last prophet and messenger. They consider Allah’s revelation to him, the Qur’an, to be the last of the revealed books, the earlier ones being the Suhuf (the books) revealed to Abraham but since lost; the Tawrat (Torah) to Moses; the Zabur (Psalms) to David; and the Injil (Gospels) to Jesus.