44-509: The Abkhazian Letter was an 87-page document signed by 60 important representatives of the Abkhaz intelligentsia . The letter was completed on 17 June 1988 and sent to Mikhail Gorbachev . The authors of the letter defended the distinctness of Abkhaz people, i.e. their non-Kartvelian status, and listed Abkhaz grievances against the Tbilisi rule, incl. Georgianization. This Abkhazia -related article
88-970: A monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran , the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraham (or Allah ) as it was revealed to Muhammad , the main Islamic prophet . Alongside the Quran, Muslims also believe in previous revelations , such as the Tawrat ( Torah ), the Zabur ( Psalms ), and the Injeel ( Gospel ). These earlier revelations are associated with Judaism and Christianity , which are regarded by Muslims as earlier versions of Islam. The majority of Muslims also follow
132-472: A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God, for just as we say in Arabic that something is ‘ salima ’ to a person, meaning that it became solely his own, so in the same way ‘ Islām ’ means making one's religion and faith God's alone. In several places in the Quran , the word muslim conveys a universal meaning, beyond the description of the followers of Muhammad , for example: "Abraham
176-463: A controversial theory developed by Pavle Ingorokva in the 1950s, at that time a number of the Northwest Caucasian pagan Abaza tribes migrated from the north and blended with the local ethnic elements, significantly changing the region's demographic situation. These views were described as ethnocentric and having little historical support. The Russian conquest of Abkhazia from the 1810s to
220-546: A part of the Georgian cultural world. The local nobility, clergy and educated class used Georgian as a language of literacy and culture. From the early 11th to the 15th century, Abkhazia was a part of the all- Georgian monarchy , but then became a separate Principality of Abkhazia only to be conquered by the Ottomans . Towards the end of the 17th century, the region became a theatre of widespread slave trade and piracy. According to
264-546: A person. Among Asharites , it is also seen as a sign of humility and the individual's longing to improve, because the creature has no assurance of their own state (of belief) until the end of life. The Qur'an describes many prophets and messengers within Judaism and Christianity , and their respective followers, as Muslim. Some of those that were mentioned are: Adam , Noah , Abraham , Ishmael , Jacob , Moses , and Jesus and his apostles are all considered to be Muslims in
308-499: A person. Fellow Muslims can only accept the personal declaration of faith. Only the Khawārij developed an understanding of Muslim identity based mainly on the adherence to liturgical and legal norms. When asked about one's beliefs, it is recommended to say the Istit̲h̲nāʾ , for example, " in-sha'allah I am Muslim a believer" (so God will, I am Muslim), since only God knows the future of
352-657: Is "Muslim". For most of the 20th century, the preferred spelling in English was "Moslem", but this has now fallen into disuse. That spelling and its pronunciation was opposed by many Muslims in English-speaking countries because it resembled the Arabic word aẓ-ẓālim ( الظَّالِم ), meaning "the oppressor". In the United States, the Associated Press instructed news outlets to switch to the spelling "Muslim" in 1991, making it
396-821: Is "deeply rooted in Egyptian society... [and] in the history of the country". It also contributed to Egyptian and Arabic cultural literary, intellectual, and political life starting with the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha in Egypt and continuing to the modern day. The people closest genetically to the Abkhazians are the Abazins and Circassians . There are also similarities between some Western Georgian ethnic groups . Muslims Muslims ( Arabic : المسلمون , romanized : al-Muslimūn , lit. 'submitters [to God ]') are people who adhere to Islam ,
440-624: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Abkhaz people The Abkhazians or Abkhazes are a Northwest Caucasian ethnic group , mainly living in Abkhazia , a disputed region on the northeastern coast of the Black Sea . A large Abkhaz diaspora population resides in Turkey, the origins of which lie in the Caucasian War in the late 19th century. Many Abkhaz also live in other parts of
484-667: Is based upon. Finally, there are the Samurzakan who reside in the southeast of Abkhazia. Some scholars deem the ancient Heniochi tribe the progenitors of the Abkhaz. This warlike people came into contact with Ancient Greeks through the colonies of Dioskourias and Pitiuntas . In the Roman period , the Abasgoi are mentioned as inhabiting the region. These Abasgoi (Abkhaz) were described by Procopius as warlike, worshippers of three deities, under
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#1732854944589528-422: Is no god [worthy of worship] except Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah." 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 . The first statement of the shahada is also known as the tahlīl . In Shia Islam ,
572-399: 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". A female adherent is a muslima ( Arabic : مسلمة ) (also transliterated as "Muslimah" ). The plural form in Arabic is muslimūn ( مسلمون ) or muslimīn ( مسلمين ), and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt ( مسلمات ). The ordinary word in English
616-570: The Shahada in front of Muslim witnesses, 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. It is a set statement normally recited in Arabic: ašhadu ʾan-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
660-699: The Americas . Additionally, in subdivided geographical regions, the figure stands at: 91% of the Middle East–North Africa , 90% of Central Asia , 65% of the Caucasus , 42% of Southeast Asia , 32% of South Asia , and 42% of sub-Saharan Africa . While, there are several Islamic schools and branches , as well as non-denominational Muslims , the two largest denominations are Sunni Islam (75–90% of all Muslims) and Shia Islam (10–20% of all Muslims). By sheer numbers, South Asia accounts for
704-401: 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. The majority of theological traditions of Islam accept that works do not determine if someone is a Muslim or not. God alone would know about the belief of
748-509: The Georgian SSR . The status of Abkhazia was downgraded in 1931 when it became an Autonomous SSR within the Georgian SSR. Under Joseph Stalin , a forcible collectivization was introduced and the native communist elite purged. The influx of Armenians, Russians and Georgians into the growing agricultural and tourism sectors was also encouraged, and Abkhaz schools were briefly closed. By 1989,
792-502: The Tawrat ( Torah ) to the prophets and messengers amongst the Children of Israel , the Zabur ( Psalms ) to David and the Injil ( Gospel ) to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets . The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12.7% of the world's Muslims, followed by Pakistan (11.0%), Bangladesh (9.2%), Nigeria (5.3%) and Egypt (4.9%). About 20% of
836-693: The 1860s was accompanied by a massive expulsion of Muslim Abkhaz to the Ottoman Empire and the introduction of a strong Russification policy. As a result, the Abkhaz diaspora is currently estimated to measure at least twice the number of Abkhaz that reside in Abkhazia. The largest part of the diaspora now lives in Turkey , with estimates ranging from 100,000 to 500,000, with smaller groups in Syria (5,000 – 10,000) and Jordan . In recent years, some of these have emigrated to
880-451: The 1963 census only recorded 4,700 native speakers and 8,000 secondary speakers. Of the 15,000 ethnic Abkhaz in Turkey, only 4,000 speak the language, the rest having assimilated into Turkish society. As of 2006, it is estimated that 600,000 to 1,500,000 Abkhazians by descent live in Turkey . In Egypt , the largest Circassian clan in the country, the Abaza family , originated from Abkhazia and
924-746: The Abkhazian government. The typical economy is strong on the breeding of cattle, beekeeping , viticulture , and agriculture. The Abkhaz people are principally divided into Abkhazian Orthodox Christian (the Abkhazian Orthodox Church is not recognized by any of the world Orthodox churches, but the territory is recognized as the Eparchy of Bichvinta and Tskhum-Abkhazia of the Georgian Orthodox Church ) and Sunni Muslim (Hanafi) communities, (prevalent in Abkhazia and Turkey respectively) but
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#1732854944589968-570: The Americas (5.2 million or 0.6%), Australia (714,000 or 1.9%) and parts of Europe (44 million or 6%). A Pew Center study in 2016 found that Muslims have the highest number of adherents under the age of 15 (34% of the total Muslim population) of any major religion, while only 7% are aged 60+ (the smallest percentage of any major religion). According to the same study, Muslims have the highest fertility rates (3.1) of any major religious group. The study also found that Muslims (tied with Hindus ) have
1012-544: The Qur'an. The Qur'an states that these men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values, which included praying, charity, fasting and pilgrimage. Thus, in Surah 3:52 of the Qur'an, Jesus' disciples tell him, "We believe in God; and you be our witness that we are Muslims ( wa-shahad be anna muslimūn )." In Islamic belief, before the Qur'an, God had given
1056-739: The West, principally to Germany (5,000), Netherlands , Switzerland , Belgium , France , United Kingdom , Austria and the United States (mainly to New Jersey ). After the Russian Revolution of 1917 , Abkhazia was a part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia , but was conquered by the Red Army in 1921 and eventually entered the Soviet Union as a Soviet Socialist Republic associated with
1100-530: The former Soviet Union , particularly in Russia and Ukraine. The Abkhaz language belongs to the isolate Northwest Caucasian language family , also known as Abkhaz–Adyghe or North Pontic family, which groups the dialectic continuum spoken by the Abaza –Abkhaz (Abazgi) and Adyghe ("Circassians" in English). Abkhazians are closely ethnically related to Circassians. Classical sources speak of several tribes dwelling in
1144-528: The indigenous non-Abrahamic beliefs have always been strong. Although Christianity made its first appearance in the realm of their Circassian neighbours in the first century AD via the travels and preaching of the Saint Andrew , and became the dominant religion of Circassians in the 3rd to 4th centuries, Christianity became the dominant religion of Abkhazians in the 6th century during the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian I , and continued to be followed under
1188-657: The kings of Georgia in the High Middle Ages . The Ottomans introduced Islam in the 16th century and the region became largely Muslim gradually until the 1860s. Many Muslim Circassians, Abkhaz and Chechens migrated to the Ottoman Empire following revolts against Russian rule. It is believed that the Abkhaz community in Turkey is larger than that of Abkhazia itself. Some 250 Abkhaz-Abaza villages are estimated throughout Turkey. According to Andrew Dalby , Abkhazian-speakers might number more than 100,000 in Turkey, however,
1232-511: The largest portion (31%) of the global Muslim population. By country, Indonesia is the largest in the Muslim world , holding around 12% of all Muslims worldwide; outside of the Muslim-majority countries, India and China are home to the largest (11%) and second-largest (2%) Muslim populations, respectively. Due to high Muslim population growth , Islam is the fastest-growing religion in
1276-469: The lowest average levels of education with an average of 5.6 years of schooling, though both groups have made the largest gains in educational attainment in recent decades among major religions. About 36% of all Muslims have no formal schooling, and Muslims have the lowest average levels of higher education of any major religious group, with only 8% having graduate and post-graduate degrees. Muslim culture or Islamic culture are terms used to describe
1320-512: The majority, while 25.9% of the world's Muslim population lived in countries where Muslims are in the minority. A Pew Center study in 2010 found that 3% of the world's Muslims population live in non-Muslim-majority developed countries . India's Muslim population is the world's largest Muslim-minority population in the world (11% of the world's Muslim population). Followed by Ethiopia (28 million), China (22 million), Russia (16 million) and Tanzania (13 million). Sizable minorities are also found in
1364-647: The most common spelling thereafter. The last major newspaper in the United Kingdom to use the spelling "Moslem" was the Daily Mail , which switched to "Muslim" in 2004. The word Mosalman or Mussulman ( Persian : مسلمان , romanized : mosalmân , alternatively musalmān ) is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central and South Asia . In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage; however, cognates of this word remain
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1408-461: The number of Abkhaz was about 93,000 (18% of the population of the autonomous republic), while the Georgian population numbered 240,000 (45%). The number of Armenians (15% of the entire population) and Russians (14%) grew substantially as well. The 1992–1993 War in Abkhazia followed by the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in Abkhazia left the Abkhaz an ethnic plurality of ca. 45%, with Russians, Armenians, Georgians, Greeks, and Jews comprising most of
1452-474: The population in the Middle East identify as either Sunni or Shi'a, a significant number of Muslims identify as non-denominational . With about 1.8 billion followers (2015), almost a quarter of earth's population , Islam is the second-largest and the fastest-growing religion in the world , primarily due to the young age and high fertility rate of Muslims, with Muslims having a rate of (3.1) compared to
1496-506: The region, but their exact identity and location remain controversial due to Abkhaz–Georgian historiographical conflict. There are also three subgroups of the Abkhaz people. The Bzyb (Бзыԥ, Bzyph) reside in the Bzyb River region, and speak their own dialect . The Abzhui (Абжьыуа, Abzhwa) live in the Kodori River region, and also speak their own dialect, which the Abkhaz literary language
1540-446: The remainder of the population of Abkhazia. The 2003 census established the total number of Abkhaz in Abkhazia at 94,606. However, the exact demographic figures for the region are disputed and alternative figures are available. The de facto Abkhaz president Sergey Bagapsh suggested, in 2005, that less than 70,000 ethnic Abkhaz lived in Abkhazia. At the time of the 2011 Census, 122,175 Abkhaz were living in Abkhazia. They were 50.8% of
1584-402: 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". In Quranist Islam , the shahada is the testimony that there is no god but Allah ( la ilaha illa'llah ). The religious practices of Muslims are enumerated in
1628-533: The standard term for "Muslim" in various other European languages. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans . Although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative , Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist . In Medieval Europe, Muslims were commonly called Saracens . The Muslim philologist Ibn al-Anbari said:
1672-624: The suzerainty of the Kingdom of Lazica . The Abkhazian view is that the Apsilae and Abasgoi are ancestors of the Abkhaz–Adyghe group of peoples , while the Georgian view is that those were Colchians ( Kartvelians or Georgians ). Lazica was a vassal kingdom of the Byzantine Empire throughout most of its existence. Later the independent Kingdom of Abkhazia was established and the region became
1716-463: The teachings and practices attributed to Muhammad ( sunnah ) as recorded in traditional accounts ( hadith ). With an estimated population of almost 1.9 billion followers as of 2020 year estimation, Muslims comprise around 25% of the world's total population. In descending order, the percentage of people who identify as Muslims on each continental landmass stands at: 45% of Africa , 25% of Asia and Oceania collectively, 6% of Europe , and 1% of
1760-549: The total population of the republic. In the course of the Syrian uprising , a number of Abkhaz living in Syria immigrated to Abkhazia. By mid-April 2013, approximately 200 Syrians of Abkhaz descent had arrived in Abkhazia. A further 150 were due to arrive by the end of April. The Abkhazian leadership has stated that it would continue the repatriation of Abkhaz living abroad. As of August 2013, 531 Abkhaz had arrived from Syria according to
1804-432: The world average of (2.5). According to the same study, religious switching has no impact on Muslim population, since the number of people who embrace Islam and those who leave Islam are roughly equal. As of 2010, 49 countries countries in the world had Muslim majorities, in which Muslims comprised more than 50% of the population. In 2010, 74.1% of the world's Muslim population lived in countries where Muslims are in
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1848-457: The world's Muslims live in the Middle East and North Africa. Non-majority India contains 10.9% of the world's Muslims. Arab Muslims form the largest ethnic group among Muslims in the world, followed by Bengalis , and Punjabis . Over 75–90% of Muslims are Sunni . The second and third largest sects, Shia and Ahmadiyya , make up 10–20%, and 1% respectively. While the majority of
1892-517: The world. Muslims have experienced persecution of varying severity, especially in China, India, some parts of Africa, and Southeast Asia. The word muslim ( Arabic : مسلم , IPA: [ˈmʊslɪm] ; English: / ˈ m ʌ z l ɪ m / , / ˈ m ʊ z l ɪ m / , / ˈ m ʊ s l ɪ m / ( MUZZ -lim, MUUZ -lim, MUUSS -lim ) or moslem / ˈ m ɒ z l ə m / , / ˈ m ɒ s l ə m / ( MOZ -ləm, MOSS -ləm ) )
1936-413: Was not a Jew, nor a Christian, but he was a true Muslim [مُّسۡلِمࣰا], and he was not a polytheist." -- Quran 3:67 "Then when Jesus perceived their disbelief he said, 'Who will be my helpers of God.' The disciples said 'We will be the helpers of God; we believe in God and bear witness that we are Muslims [مُسۡلِمُونَ].'" -- Quran 3:52 To become a Muslim and to convert to Islam, it is essential to utter
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