Page:RS21432 Islam a Primer.pdf/4

 one side or on a balcony. The Quran does not obligate women to pray five times each day if their household or motherly duties intercede, and women are encouraged to pray at home rather than at the mosque on Fridays.

Ramadan commemorates the month when the angel Gabriel dictated the Quran to Muhammad. Observant Muslims do not eat, drink, smoke, or have sexual relations during the daylight hours of Ramadan.

The hajj, or pilgrimage, to Mecca also is a reaffirmation of Islam's principle of equality, when Muslims from Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Americas, or Europe, wearing similar seamless white garments, perform the same rituals and ceremonies under the same conditions without regard to their wealth, nationality, position, or background. The hajj that began on February 20, 2002, drew 2.5 million pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.

Other Aspects of Islam

Jihad. Jihad is the "effort" or "struggle" each Muslim faces in the everyday trials of life, such as the effort to get better grades in school, or the striving to achieve better results from a job, or the struggle to avoid sinful temptations. Jihad also can be applied to warfare; participating in jihad in Allah's cause was the third most important good deed listed in the Hadith, after prayer and honoring one's parents. Jihad often was a rallying cry for the military spread of Islam in the seventh through tenth centuries. Many Westerners are familiar only with the characterization in the popular press of jihad as warfare against Christians and Jews. Most Muslims would not apply jihad to Christians and Jews, believing them to be "people of the book" (see below) rather than infidels.

Osama bin Laden and Fundamentalists. Bin Laden has stated that Islam is at war with the United States and its allies. Some observers maintain that the number of Muslims who believe as bin Laden does is growing, and others go further to suggest that all "fundamentalist" Muslims are enemies of the West. But other observers differentiate between the very conservative "fundamentalists" and the "extremists" who follow bin Laden or other terrorists. These observers suggest that the fundamentalists disagree with bin Laden as much as do Westerners.

People of the Book. Christians and Jews are called "people of the Book" (the Old and New Testaments) and are accorded protection, respect, and consideration as the predecessors to the Muslims. Many have noted Islam's connections to Judaism and (continued...)