Question for Muslims - what makes a Muslim?

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Bonnie

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In other words, what must one do to be identified as a Muslim? Is it birth, or an action like circumcision, baptism, a profession of faith, or???
 
Belief in one God. Acknowledging certain people as prophets of God (including Jesus), acknowledging Muhammad as the last Prophet, belief in the quran as the perfect word of God, and praying a certain number of times daily (3 or 5, depending on which sect one belongs to). Im sure a muslim could tell you more, but thats as far as I know
 
All that’s required to become a muslim is to recite what’s known as The Shahada. It’s traditionally done in Arabic and in whatever tongue the person is fluent in.

-In English, it would be “I bear witness that there is no God but God and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God”

-Transliterated from Arabic: “Ash-hadu la illaha il-Allah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammad rasul Allah”.

Once you recite that out loud and you believe it, you’re a muslim. It only takes a few seconds.
 
Thank you, Drac16.

I know there are several different groups of Muslims; do they all believe that?
 
Bonnie said:
Thank you, Drac16.

I know there are several different groups of Muslims; do they all believe that?
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You’re welcome.

Like any religion, there are a bunch of heretical offshoots, like the Nation of Islam, Pantheism, Boko Haram, etc. Sunnis just say the Shahada that I listed above. Although I cannot confirm this, I have heard that Shias add an additional phrase to the Shahada, which is “I bear witness that Ali is the friend of God”, or “Ash-hadu Aliyyun Wali Allah”.

Ali was Muhammad’s cousin.
 
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