The ordinary word in English is "Muslim". The plural form in Arabic is muslimūn ( مسلمون) or muslimīn ( مسلمين), and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt ( مسلمات). A female adherent is a muslima ( Arabic: مسلمة) (also transliterated as "Muslimah" ). The word muslim ( Arabic: مسلم, IPA: English: / ˈ m ʌ z l ɪ m/, / ˈ m ʊ z l ɪ m/, / ˈ m ʊ s l ɪ m/ or moslem / ˈ m ɒ z l ə m/, / ˈ m ɒ s l ə m/ ) is the active participle of the same verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M "to be whole, intact". The religious practices of Muslims are enumerated in the Five Pillars of Islam: the declaration of faith ( shahadah), daily prayers ( salah), almsgiving ( zakat), fasting during the month of Ramadan ( sawm), and the pilgrimage to Mecca ( hajj) at least once in a lifetime. In Quranist Islam, the shahada is the testimony that there is no god but Allah ( la ilaha illa'llah ).
In Shia Islam, the shahada also has a third part, a phrase concerning Ali, the first Shia Imam and the fourth Rashid caliph of Sunni Islam: وعليٌ وليُّ الله ( wa ʿalīyyun walīyyu-llāh), which translates to "Ali is the wali of God". The first statement of the shahada is also known as the tahlīl. In Sunni Islam, the shahada has two parts: la ilaha illa'llah (there is no god but Allah), and Muhammadun rasul Allah ( Muhammad is the messenger of God), which are sometimes referred to as the first shahada and the second shahada. It is a set statement normally recited in Arabic: ašhadu ʾal-lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāhu wa ʾašhadu ʾanna muħammadan rasūlu-llāh ( أشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وأشهد أن محمداً رسول الله) "I testify that there is no god except Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." To become a Muslim and to convert to Islam, it is essential to utter the Shahada, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, a declaration of faith and trust that professes that there is only one God ( Allah) and that Muhammad is God's messenger. Islam is the fastest-growing major religion in the world. Sizeable Muslim communities are also found in the Americas, China, and Europe.
India is the country with the largest Muslim population outside Muslim-majority countries. Muslims are the overwhelming majority in Central Asia, the majority in the Caucasus and widespread in Southeast Asia. About 12% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim-majority country 31% of Muslims live in South Asia, the largest population of Muslims in the world 20% in the Middle East–North Africa, where it is the dominant religion and 15% in Sub-Saharan Africa. Most Muslims are of one of two denominations Sunni (75–90%) and Shia (12-17%). By the percentage of the total population in a region considering themselves Muslim, 91% in the Middle East– North Africa ( MENA), 81% in Central Asia, 65% in the Caucasus, 40% in Southeast Asia, 31% in South Asia, 30% in Sub-Saharan Africa, 25% in Asia and Oceania collectively, around 6% in Europe, and 1% in the Americas. Īs of 2015, 1.8 billion or about 24.1% of the world population are Muslims. The beliefs of Muslims include: that God ( Arabic: الله Allah) is eternal, transcendent and absolutely one ( tawhid) that God is incomparable, self-sustaining and neither begets nor was begotten that Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that has been revealed before through many prophets including Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, and Jesus that these previous messages and revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time ( tahrif) and that the Quran is the final unaltered revelation from God. The majority of Muslims also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad ( sunnah) as recorded in traditional accounts ( hadith). Muslims consider the Quran, their holy book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet and messenger Muhammad. The word "Muslim" derives from Arabic and means "submitter (to God)". Muslims ( Arabic: مسلم, romanized: Muslimim) are people who follow or practice Islam, an Abrahamic monotheistic religion.