Add a link for your Temple/Mosque/Church here, It's free

ISLAM

India one of the largest Islamic  nations in the world. India has had three Muslim presidents and several cabinet and state chief ministers since Independence. Islam is the most recent and widespread of the Asian religions; it predominates from (he Mediterranean across to India and is the major religion east to India in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. 

The religion's founder, prophet Mohammed, was born in 570 AD at Mecca, His first revelation from Allah (God) occurred in 610, and this and later visions were compiled into the Muslim holy book, the Koran. As his purpose in life was revealed to him, Mohammed began to preach against the idolatry for which Mecca was then the centre. Muslims are strictly monotheistic and believe that to search for God through images is a sin. Muslim teachings correspond closely with the Old Testament of the Bible, and Moses and Jesus are both accepted as Muslim prophets, although Jesus is not believed to be the son of God. Mohammed's concept against on idolatry eventually caused him and his followers to be run out of town in 622. They fled to Medina, the 'city of the Prophet', and by 630 were strong enough to march back into Mecca and take over. Although  expire in 632. most of Arabia had been converted to Islam within two decades. The Muslim faith was more than a religion; it called on its followers to spread the word. In the succeeding centuries Islam was to expand over three continents. The Arabs, who first propagated the faith, developed a reputation as being ruthless opponents but reasonable masters, so people often found it advisable to surrender to them. In this way, the  Muslims swept aside the crumbling Byzantine Empire, whose people felt no desire to support their own distant Christian emperor. Islam only traveled west for 100 years before being pushed back at Poitiers, France, in 732, but it continued east for centuries. It regenerated the Persian Empire, which was then declining from its protracted struggles with Byzantium, and in 711, the same year that the Arabs landed in Spain, they sent dhows up the Indus River into India. This was more a  casual raid than a full-scale invasion, but in the 12th century all of north India fell into Muslim hands. Eventually, the Mughal Empire controlled most of the subcontinent. From here it was spread by Indian traders into South-East Asia. 

 

Converts to Islam have only to announce that 'There is no god but  Allah and Mohammed is his prophet' to become Muslim. Friday is the Muslim holy day and the main mosque in each town is known as the  Jama Masjid or Friday Mosque. One of the aims of every Muslim is to make the pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca and become a hajji. Despite its initial vigor, Islam eventually became inert and unchanging, though it remains to be seen what effect the fundamentalism of recent years will have on the religion worldwide.More