60 CultureShock! Egypt
‘peace be upon him’ as shown in the previous sentence.
The Prophet’s ‘sayings’ or Hadith supplement the Qur’an
as a guide to the correct conduct and behaviour of Muslims.
The Hadith includes reported sayings, deeds and approvals
of the Prophet Muhammad. This code is called the Sunna,
literally translated to mean the ‘Beaten Path’.
Muslims go to worship at a mosque; however, they may
pray anywhere—in a house, an aircraft, outdoors. It is
preferable to pray in a congregation, but a Muslim may pray
anywhere in the world, alone or with others. Friday is the
Holy Day for Muslims, so Egypt’s ‘weekend’ is Friday and
Saturday, rather than Saturday and Sunday, as is commonly
practised in the West.
Before I explain the basic principles of Islam (and please
remember I do not represent myself as an Islamic scholar),
I think I should point out an aspect of Islam probably most
difficult for non-Muslims to understand. Muslims do not
partition life as Westerners do into religion on the one
hand, and life, work and government on the other. This
is because Islam is considered to be a total way of life.
This fact is particularly difficult to understand for persons
coming from countries with a strong heritage of separation
between religion and state. Church and state simply cannot
be separated in the minds of average pious Muslims—both
are indispensable and mutually complementary.
The principal food restrictions among Muslims are not
difficult. Islam does not allow Muslims to eat certain items,
such as pork and its by-products. Muslims should also
avoid alcohol. To some people, even handling alcohol is
objectionable.
That being said, let’s look at some of the important Islamic
principles that guide the life of a believer.
Most importantly, ‘There is no God but God’. God is the
One and the Only God. Jews, Christians and Muslims are
called the ‘People of the Book’, the Book referred to being
the Old Testament. However, Muslims reject the idea of
the Trinity or any idea that implies there is more than one
God, believing Jesus was a Prophet, but not God incarnate
as believed by Christians.