1.
Madrasa
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Madrasa is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, whether secular or religious. The word is variously transliterated madrasah, medresa, madrassa, madraza, medrese, in the West, the word usually refers to a specific type of religious school or college for the study of the Islamic religion, though this may not be the only subject studied. In countries like India, not all students in madrasas are Muslims, the word madrasah derives from the triconsonantal Semitic root د-ر-س D-R-S to learn, study, through the wazn مفعل, mafʻal, meaning a place where something is done. Therefore, madrasah literally means a place where learning and studying take place, for example, in the Ottoman Empire during the Early Modern Period, madaris had lower schools and specialised schools where the students became known as danişmends. The usual Arabic word for a university, however, is جامعة, the Hebrew cognate midrasha also connotes the meaning of a place of learning, the related term midrash literally refers to study or learning, but has acquired mystical and religious connotations. However, in English, the term usually refers to the specifically Islamic institutions. A regular curriculum includes courses in Arabic, tafsir, sharīʻah, hadiths, mantiq, in the Ottoman Empire, during the Early Modern Period, the study of hadiths was introduced by Süleyman I. Depending on the demands, some madaris also offer additional advanced courses in Arabic literature, English and other foreign languages, as well as science. Ottoman madaris along with religious teachings also taught styles of writing, grammary, syntax, poetry, composition, natural sciences, political sciences, people of all ages attend, and many often move on to becoming imams. The certificate of an ʻālim, for example, requires approximately twelve years of study, a good number of the ḥuffāẓ are the product of the madaris. The madaris also resemble colleges, where people take evening classes, an important function of the madaris is to admit orphans and poor children in order to provide them with education and training. Madaris may enroll female students, however, they study separately from the men, the term Islamic education means education in the light of Islam itself, which is rooted in the teachings of the Quran - holy book of Muslims. Islamic education and Muslim education are not the same, because Islamic education has epistemological integration which is founded on Tawhid - Oneness or monotheism. The first institute of education was at the estate of Hazrat Zaid bin Arkam near a hill called Safa, where Hazrat Muhammad was the teacher. After Hijrah the madrasa of Suffa was established in Madina on the east side of the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi mosque, ubada ibn as-Samit was appointed there by Hazrat Muhammad as teacher and among the students. In the curriculum of the madrasa, there were teachings of The Quran, The Hadith, faraiz, tajweed, genealogy, treatises of first aid, there were also trainings of horse-riding, art of war, handwriting and calligraphy, athletics and martial arts. The first part of madrasa based education is estimated from the first day of nabuwwat to the first portion of the Umaiya caliphate and it was founded by Fāṭimah al-Fihrī, the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Muḥammad al-Fihrī. This was later followed by the establishment of al-Azhar in 959 in Cairo, niẓām al-Mulk, who would later be murdered by the Assassins, created a system of state madaris in various ʻAbbāsid cities at the end of the 11th century
2.
Tablighi Jamaat
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The organisation is estimated to have between 12 million and 150 million adherents, and a presence in somewhere between 150 and 213 countries. It has been called one of the most influential movements in 20th century Islam. The movement was started in 1927 by Muhammad Ilyas al-Kandhlawi in India, the teachings of Tabligh Jamaat are expressed in Six Principles. Tablighi Jamaat began as an offshoot of the Deobandi movement, and a response to perceived deteriorating moral values and it expanded from a local to a national to an international movement. Tablighi Jamaat denies any affiliation in politics and fiqh, focusing instead on the Quran and Hadith, Tablighi Jamaat attracted significant public and media attention when it announced plans for the largest mosque in Europe to be built in London, United Kingdom. The emergence of Tablighi Jamaat represented the intensification of individual aspects of the original Deobandi movement. Muhammad Ilyas, the founder of Tablighi Jamaat, wanted to create a movement that would enjoin good and forbid evil as the Quran decreed, the inspiration for this came during his second pilgrimage to Mecca in 1926. What he lacked in scholarly learning, presence, charisma or speaking ability and he initially tried to establish a network of mosque-based religious schools to educate the Mewati Muslims about Islamic beliefs and practices. Shortly afterwards, he was disappointed with the reality that these institutions were producing religious functionaries, Ilyas abandoned his teaching post at Madrasah Mazahir Uloom in Saharanpur and became a missionary. He relocated to Nizamuddin near Delhi, where movement was formally launched in 1926. When setting the guidelines for the movement, he sought inspiration from the adopted by Muhammad at the dawn of Islam. Muhammad Ilyas put forward the slogan, Urdu. اﮮ مسلمانو, مسلمان بنو, O Muslims, become Muslims. This expressed the focus of Tablighi Jamat, their aim to renew Muslims socially by uniting them in embracing the lifestyle of Muhammad. The movement gained a following in a short period and nearly 25,000 people attended the annual conference in November 1941. At the time, some Muslim Indian leaders feared that Muslims were losing their religious identity to the majority Hindu culture, the movement was never given any name officially, but Ilyas used to call it Tahrik-i Imaan. The group began to expand its activities in 1946, the initial expansion within South Asia happened immediately after the partition of India in 1947, when the Pakistan Chapter was established in the hinterlands of Raiwind town near Lahore, Pakistan. The Pakistan Chapter remained the largest till Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan in 1971, today, the largest Chapter is Bangladesh followed by the second largest in Pakistan. Within two decades of its establishment, the group reached Southwest and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, the first foreign missions were sent to the Hejaz and Britain in 1946
3.
Taj-ul-Masajid
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Taj-ul-Masajid is a mosque situated in Bhopal, India. The name is spelt as Taj-ul-Masjid. However the correct name is Taj-ul-Masajid and not Taj-ul-Masjid, masajid means mosques and Taj-ul-Masajid literally means Crown Among Mosques. It is one of the largest mosques in India, the Mosque has a pink facade topped by two 18-storey high octagonal minarets with marble domes. It has a courtyard with a tank in the centre. It has a gateway with four recessed archways and nine cusped multifold openings in the main prayer hall. The Quibla wall in the hall is carved with eleven recessed arches and has fine screens of trellis work. The massive pillars in the hall hold 27 ceilings through squinted arches of which 16 ceilings are decorated with ornate petaled designs, aalmi Tablighi Ijtima is an annual three-day congregation that draws people from all over the world. It was held at Taj-ul-Masajid until it was shifted to Islam Nagar outside the city due to shortage of space. Citation needed
4.
Istiqlal Mosque, Jakarta
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Istiqlal Mosque, or Masjid Istiqlal, in Jakarta, Indonesia is the largest mosque in Southeast Asia and the third largest Sunni mosque in term of capacity. This national mosque of Indonesia was built to commemorate Indonesian independence and named Istiqlal, the mosque was opened to the public 22 February 1978. Within Jakarta, the mosque is positioned next to Merdeka Square, the committee for the construction of the Istiqlal Mosque, led by Cokroaminoto, was founded in 1953. He proposed the idea of a mosque to Indonesian President Sukarno. In 1954 the committee appointed Sukarno technical chief supervisor, however, Sukarno insisted that a national mosque should be located near the most important square of the nation, near the Merdeka Palace. This is in accordance with the Javanese tradition that the kraton and masjid agung should be located around the alun-alun, Sukarno also insisted that the national mosque should be built near Jakarta Cathedral and Immanuel Church, to symbolize religious harmony and tolerance as promoted in Pancasila. It was later decided that the mosque was going to be built in Taman Widjaja Kusuma. To make way for the mosque, the Citadel Prins Frederick, Sukarno actively followed the planning and construction of the mosque, including acting as the chairman of the jury for the mosque design competition held in 1955. The design submitted by Frederich Silaban, a Christian architect from North Sumatra, the foundation stone was laid by Sukarno on 24 August 1961, the construction took 17 years. President Suharto inaugurated it as the mosque on 22 February 1978. As of 2013 it is the largest mosque in the region of Southeast Asia, in display of religious tolerance, during large Christian celebrations such as Christmas, Istiqlal Mosque helped provide parking space for worshipers of the nearby Jakarta Cathedral. The mosque has seven entrances, and all seven gates are named after Al-Asmaul-Husna, the number seven represents the Seven Heavens in Islamic cosmology. The wudu fountains are on the floor, while the main prayer hall. The building consists of two connected structures, the main structure and the smaller secondary structure. The smaller one serves as main gate as well as stairs, the rectangular main prayer hall building is covered by a 45-m diameter central spherical dome, the number 45 symbolizes the 1945 Proclamation of Indonesian Independence. The main dome is adorned with a stainless steel ornamental pinnacle in the form of a crescent and star, the smaller secondary dome is also adorned with a stainless steel pinnacle with the name of Allah in Islamic calligraphy. The dome is supported by round columns, and the prayer hall is surrounded by rectangular piers carrying four levels of balconies. Twelve columns represent the birthday of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 12th Rabi al-awwal, the main hall is reached through an entrance covered by a dome 8 meters in diameter, the number 8 symbolizes August, the month of Indonesian Independence
5.
Jamek Mosque
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Jamek Mosque is one of the oldest mosques in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It is located at the confluence of the Klang and Gombak River, the mosque was designed by Arthur Benison Hubback, and built in 1909. The name Jamek is Arabic in origin meaning a place where people congregate to worship and it is also referred to as Friday Mosque by the locals. The mosque was built on the location of an old Malay burial place at the confluence of Klang and Gombak River. A couple of previously existed in the Java Street and Malay Street area serving the Malay communities. The foundation stone of the mosque was laid by the Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sir Alaeddin Sulaiman Shah on 23 March 1908, the construction of the mosque cost $32,625, funded in part by the Malay community with contribution from the British colonial government. Masjid Jamek served as Kuala Lumpurs main mosque until the national mosque, the architect was Arthur Benison Hubback who designed the mosque in the Indian Muslim Mughal architectural style. The mosque has since been enlarged with extensions built, and the originally open-air forecourt roofed over, one of the domes of the mosque collapsed in 1993 due to heavy rain, but has since been repaired. The design of the mosque has been described as a Moorish, B Hubback also designed a number of building in similar style, such as the Kuala Lumpur railway station and the Ubudiah Mosque in Kuala Kangsar. The mosque has 2 main minarets among other ones, the pattern of pink and white banding of the minarets, formed of brick and plaster, has been described as blood. The mosque has 3 domes, the largest of which reached 21.3 metres in height, the prayer hall is located beneath the domes. Nearby is the SP7 KJ13 Masjid Jamek LRT station that is served by the Kelana Jaya Line, Sri Petaling Line, the station is located between Chinatown and Little India, Dataran Merdeka is also nearby
6.
Taliban
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Until his death in 2013, Mullah Mohammed Omar was the supreme commander and spiritual leader of the Taliban. Mullah Akhtar Mansour was elected as his replacement in 2015, and following Mansours killing in a May 2016 U. S. drone strike, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada became the groups leader. The Taliban emerged in 1994 as one of the prominent factions in the Afghan Civil War, under the leadership of Mohammed Omar, the movement spread throughout most of Afghanistan, sequestering power from the Mujahideen warlords, whose corruption and despotism Afghans had tired of. The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was established in 1996 and the Afghan capital transferred to Kandahar and it held control of most of the country until being overthrown by the American-led invasion of Afghanistan in December 2001 following the September 11 attacks. At its peak, formal recognition of the Talibans government was acknowledged by only three nations, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The group later regrouped as a movement to fight the American-backed Karzai administration. The Taliban have been condemned internationally for the enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. In its post-9/11 insurgency, the group has accused of using terrorism as a specific tactic to further their ideological and political goals. According to the United Nations, the Taliban and their allies were responsible for 76% of Afghan civilian casualties in 2010, 80% in 2011, Pakistan states that it dropped all support for the group after the September 11 attacks. Al-Qaeda also supported the Taliban with fighters from Arab countries and Central Asia, hundreds of thousands of people were forced to flee to United Front-controlled territory, Pakistan, and Iran. The word Taliban is Pashto, طالبان ṭālibān, meaning students and this is a loanword from Arabic طالب ṭālib, using the Persian plural ending -ān ان. In Arabic طالبان ṭālibān means not students but two students, as it is a form, the Arabic plural being طلاب ṭullāb—occasionally causing some confusion to Arabic speakers. Since becoming a loanword in English, Taliban, besides a plural noun referring to the group, has also used as a singular noun referring to an individual. For example, John Walker Lindh has been referred to as an American Taliban, in the English language newspapers of Pakistan, the word Talibans is often used when referring to more than one Taliban. The spelling Taliban has come to be predominant over Taleban in English, in the meantime, the United States and Saudi Arabia joined the struggle against the Soviet Union by providing all the funds. Zia-ul-Haq aligned himself with Pakistans Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and later picked General Akhtar Abdur Rahman to lead the insurgency against the Soviet Union inside Afghanistan, about 90,000 Afghans, including Mohammed Omar, were trained by Pakistans ISI during the 1980s. After the fall of the Soviet-backed regime of Mohammad Najibullah in 1992, several Afghan political parties agreed on a peace and power-sharing agreement, the accord created the Islamic State of Afghanistan and appointed an interim government for a transitional period. With the exception of Gulbuddin Hekmatyars Hezb-e Islami, all of the parties, were ostensibly unified under this government in April 1992
7.
Muhammad Iqbal
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He is called the Spiritual father of Pakistan. He is considered one of the most important figures in Urdu literature, Iqbal is admired as a prominent poet by Pakistanis, Indians, Iranians, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and other international scholars of literature. Though Iqbal is best known as an eminent poet, he is also a highly acclaimed Muslim philosophical thinker of modern times and his first poetry book, Asrar-e-Khudi, appeared in the Persian language in 1915, and other books of poetry include Rumuz-i-Bekhudi, Payam-i-Mashriq and Zabur-i-Ajam. Amongst these, his best known Urdu works are Bang-i-Dara, Bal-i-Jibril, Zarb-i Kalim, along with his Urdu and Persian poetry, his Urdu and English lectures and letters have been very influential in cultural, social, religious and political disputes. In 1922, he was knighted by King George V, granting him the title Sir, while studying law and philosophy in England, Iqbal became a member of the London branch of the All-India Muslim League. In much of South Asia and the Urdu speaking world, Iqbal is regarded as the Shair-e-Mashriq and he is also called Mufakkir-e-Pakistan, Musawar-e-Pakistan and Hakeem-ul-Ummat. The Pakistan government officially named him a national poet and his birthday Yōm-e Welādat-e Muḥammad Iqbāl, or Iqbal Day, is a public holiday in Pakistan. In India he is remembered as the author of the popular song Saare Jahaan Se Achcha. Iqbal was born on 9 November 1877 in Sialkot within the Punjab Province of British India and his grandparents were Kashmiri Pandits, the Brahmins of the Sapru clan from Kashmir who converted to Islam. In the 19th century, when the Sikh Empire was conquering Kashmir, Iqbal often mentioned and commemorated his Kashmiri Pandit Brahmin lineage in his writings. Iqbals father, Sheikh Noor Muhammad, was a tailor, not formally educated, Iqbals mother Imam Bibi was a polite and humble woman who helped the poor and solved the problems of neighbours. She died on 9 November 1914 in Sialkot, Iqbal loved his mother, and on her death he expressed his feelings of pathos in a poetic form elegy. Who would wait for me anxiously in my native place, who would display restlessness if my letter fails to arrive. I will visit thy grave with this complaint, Who will now think of me in midnight prayers, All thy life thy love served me with devotion— When I became fit to serve thee, thou hast departed. Iqbal was four years old when he was admitted to the masjid to learn the Quran and he learned the Arabic language from his teacher Syed Mir Hassan, the head of the madrassa and professor of Arabic language at Scotch Mission College in Sialkot, where he matriculated in 1893. He received Intermediate with the Faculty of Arts diploma from Murray College Sialkot in 1895, the same year he enrolled at the Government College Lahore where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts in philosophy, English literature and Arabic in 1897, and won the Khan Bahadurddin F. S. Jalaluddin medal as he took higher numbers in Arabic class, in 1899, he received his Masters of Arts degree from the same college and had the first place in Punjab University, Lahore. Iqbal married three times, in 1895 while studying Bachelor of Arts he had his first marriage with Karim Bibi and they had daughter Miraj Begum and son Aftab Iqbal
8.
Historian
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A historian is a person who researches, studies, and writes about the past, and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race, if the individual is concerned with events preceding written history, the individual is an historian of prehistory. Although historian can be used to describe amateur and professional historians alike, some historians, though, are recognized by publications or training and experience. Historian became an occupation in the late nineteenth century as research universities were emerging in Germany. Modern historical analysis usually draws upon other social sciences, including economics, sociology, politics, psychology, anthropology, philosophy, while ancient writers do not normally share modern historical practices, their work remains valuable for its insights within the cultural context of the times. Understanding the past appears to be a human need. What constitutes history is a philosophical question, the earliest chronologies date back to Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt, though no historical writers in these early civilizations were known by name. Systematic historical thought emerged in ancient Greece, a development that became an important influence on the writing of history elsewhere around the Mediterranean region, the earliest known critical historical works were The Histories, composed by Herodotus of Halicarnassus who later became known as the father of history. Herodotus attempted to distinguish between more and less reliable accounts, and personally conducted research by travelling extensively, giving accounts of various Mediterranean cultures. Although Herodotus overall emphasis lay on the actions and characters of men and he was also the first to distinguish between cause and immediate origins of an event, while his successor Xenophon introduced autobiographical elements and character studies in his Anabasis. The Romans adopted the Greek tradition, while early Roman works were still written in Greek, the Origines, composed by the Roman statesman Cato the Elder, was written in Latin, in a conscious effort to counteract Greek cultural influence. Strabo was an important exponent of the Greco-Roman tradition of combining geography with history, livy records the rise of Rome from city-state to empire. His speculation about what would have happened if Alexander the Great had marched against Rome represents the first known instance of alternate history, in Chinese historiography, the Classic of History is one of the Five Classics of Chinese classic texts and one of the earliest narratives of China. Sima Qian was the first in China to lay the groundwork for professional historical writing and his written work was the Shiji, a monumental lifelong achievement in literature. Christian historiography began early, perhaps as early as Luke-Acts, which is the source for the Apostolic Age. Writing history was popular among Christian monks and clergy in the Middle Ages and they wrote about the history of Jesus Christ, that of the Church and that of their patrons, the dynastic history of the local rulers. In the Early Middle Ages historical writing often took the form of annals or chronicles recording events year by year, muslim historical writings first began to develop in the 7th century, with the reconstruction of the Prophet Muhammads life in the centuries following his death. With numerous conflicting narratives regarding Muhammad and his companions from various sources, to evaluate these sources, they developed various methodologies, such as the science of biography, science of hadith and Isnad
9.
Intellectual
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Socially, intellectuals constitute the intelligentsia, a status class organised either by ideology, or by nationality. Man of Letters The English term Man of Letters derives from the French term belletrist, the term Man of Letters distinguished the literate man from the illiterate man, in a time when literacy was a rare form of cultural capital. In late 19th century, the term became common usage to denote the defenders of the falsely accused artillery officer Alfred Dreyfus. Likewise, in Tsarist Russia, there arose the intelligentsia, who were the class of white-collar workers. As such, politically radical thinkers already had participated in the French Revolution, Robert Darnton said that they were not societal outsiders, but respectable, domesticated, moreover, some intellectuals were anti-academic, despite universities being synonymous with intellectualism. Habermas Structural Transformation of Public Sphere made significant contribution to the notion of public intellectual by historically and conceptually delineating the idea of private, such civil servants earned academic degrees by means of imperial examination, and also were skilled calligraphers, and knew Confucian philosophy. Historian Wing-Tsit Chan concludes that, Generally speaking, the record of these scholar-gentlemen has been a worthy one and it was good enough to be praised and imitated in 18th century Europe. Nevertheless, it has given China a tremendous handicap in their transition from government by men to government by law, and personal considerations in Chinese government have been a curse. In Joseon Korea, the intellectuals were the literati, who knew how to read and write, socially, they constituted the petite bourgeoisie, composed of scholar-bureaucrats who administered the dynastic rule of the Joseon dynasty. The Italian Communist theoretician Antonio Gramsci developed Karl Marx’s conception of the intelligentsia to include political leadership in the public sphere and that, because all knowledge is existentially-based, the intellectuals, who create and preserve knowledge, are spokesmen for different social groups, and articulate particular social interests. That intellectuals occur in social class and throughout the right wing, the centre. That, as a class, the intellectuals view themselves as autonomous from the ruling class of their society. Therefore, the leadership of intellectuals is required for effecting and realizing social change, because, in the formal codification of Leninism, the Hungarian Marxist philosopher, György Lukács identified the intelligentsia as the privileged social class who provide revolutionary leadership. By means of intelligible and accessible interpretation, the intellectuals explain to the workers, the How. and the Why. of the social, economic, and political status quo—the ideological totality of society—and its practical, revolutionary application to the transformation of their society. The term public intellectual describes the intellectual participating in the discourse of society. In Representations of the Intellectual, Edward Saïd said that the … true intellectual is, therefore, always an outsider, living in self-imposed exile, and on the margins of society. An intellectual usually is associated with an ideology or with a philosophy and that intellectuals be mindful of the social and cultural ties created with their words, insights, and ideas, and should be heard as social critics of politics and power. In journalism, the term usually connotes a university academic of the humanities—especially a philosopher—who addresses important social and political matters of the day
10.
Islam
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Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
