Facts about Muslims

Muslims believe that there have been 124,000 prophets including one to each human community (Qur’an 10:48).

Some Muslims have split from these movements arguing that use of violence is justified to further the goal of Islamization.

Instead, Muslims describe God by the many 99 Names or divine attributes mentioned in the Qur'an.

Fervent Muslims living in the non-Muslim world have had differing views on their roles as citizens in the non-Muslim world.

was circumstantial, not a binding precedent for Muslims for all time.

During the colonial period, Muslims institutions and systems were largely replaced by European ones.

Many Muslims believe that before this, Jesus will first marry and have children.

Muslims reject the idea that Islam's origin owes itself to anything other than God's mercy in revealing God's will to a forgetful and disobedient humanity.

Most Muslims of both the Sunni and the Shi’a sects consider this group to be heretical.

Non-Muslims tend to regard Muhammad as the author of the Qur'an and interpret Islam's origin as a response to the circumstances and needs of the day.

A comprehensive 2009 demographic study of 232 countries and territories reported that 23 percent of the global population, or 1.57 billion people, are Muslims.

Other Muslims argue that the only justification for living in the West is to work to make the West Islamic and to promote reform within the Muslim world.

Shi'a Muslims differ from the Sunni in rejecting the authority of the first three caliphs.

Mainstream Muslims regard Muhammad as the “Last Messenger” or the “Seal of the Prophets” (Qur’an 33: 40) based on the canon.

Some Muslims have respected Jews and Christians as fellow "peoples of the book" (monotheists following Abrahamic religions), and others have reviled them as having abandoned monotheism and corrupted their scriptures.

Albania is said to have the highest proportion of Muslims as part of its population in Europe (70 percent), although this figure is only a (highly contested) estimate.

Some Muslims say that the UDHR ignores God's rights (haq Allah) in favor of human rights (haq Adami), instead of balancing divine rights and human duty.

Most Muslims regard paper copies of the Qur'an with extreme veneration, wrapping them in a clean cloth, keeping them on a high shelf, and washing as for prayers before reading the Qur'an.

Muslims assert that the Qur'an revealed to Muhammad is the main written record of revelation to humankind, which they believe to be flawless, immutable, and the final revelation of God.

Traditionally, Muslims were not encouraged to live in non-Muslim majority societies but for economic reasons many have migrated to non-Muslim states, some as political refugees.

Muslims believe that the Qur'an available today is the same as that revealed to Prophet Muhammad and by him to his followers, who memorized his words.

The concept of jihad (which means to strive) was sometimes used to describe this process, which justified aggression against non-Muslims provided that there was a good chance of success.

Sunni Muslims make up roughly 90 percent of the Muslim world.

The number of Muslims in North America is variously estimated as anywhere from 1.8 to 7 million.

The standard rebuttal to this claim is that the above verses were revealed during an existing conflict between Muslims as defenders and their enemies, who had attacked them.

From the beginning of the faith, most Muslims believed that the Qur'an was perfect only as revealed in Arabic.

Islam's commitment to tawhid (unity or oneness) means that ideally there is only one ummah (community or nation) and Muslims have often tried to find ways of reconciling their differences and of bridging divides.

Most Muslims, however, view the Qur'an as corrective of Jewish and Christian scriptures.

Some Muslims fail to see this ideal expressed in Western views of the nation state, and thus see the latter as an alien to their view of human social organization.

Believing that Islam is also the answer to the problems of non-Muslim society, some of their supporters also engage in dialogue with non-Muslims and in educational and missionary activities in Europe and North America.

All four schools accept the validity of the others and Muslims choose any one that he/she thinks is agreeable to his/her ideas.

Some Sunni believe that Shi'a are heretics while many other Sunni recognize Shi'a as fellow Muslims.

Secular Muslims regard Islam as a way of life and source of moral guidance, not as a political system.

Other Muslims believe that, properly interpreted, there is no clash between international human rights and the sharia on such issues as freedom of belief and women's rights.

Muslims believe that Muhammad's own life exemplified the Qur'an's teaching, that he was inspired and lived a life in full and complete harmony with God.

Many Muslims dislike the term religion, since to them it implies a private faith whereas the ideal for most Muslims is a community in which the religious, social, and political are united.

Such criticism can be found in the earlier writing of ibn Taymiyya (died 1328), who is popular among conservative Muslims (and cited by Osama bin Laden).

France has the highest Muslim population of any nation in Europe, with up to 6 million Muslims (10 percent of the population).

The Sunni school of Islam is the largest (some 80 to 85 percent of all Muslims are Sunni).