Ok this probably sounds like a really stupid question and I apologize if it does BUT... my husband just got back from Egypt a few months ago and he is under the impression that there is a difference between Islam and Musllims? He said it is like differences in christians and catholics. Just curious as to if this is true.

Well first there is not a difference between Christians and Catholics, a Catholic is just a denomination of Christian, like Baptist, or Lutheran.

I will let the Islam experts answer their part of it

Well Fr_Chuck,
There are many differences between catholics and christians... MANY. I'm not suggesting that catholics cannot be christians however just that they have different beliefs than protestants.

Yeah, padre! Get with the program :D

classyT -

Islam is really the Religion of Muslims... like Christianity is the religion of Christians. I lived in the Middle East and had many conversations with Muslims who would often talk about their faith like, "according to Islam" or "in Islam, such and such". I do think that Muslims in general have this as their religious self-concept, that they are followers of Islam and that they are Muslim. Although, they might not necessarily talk of it in this manner.

Now, however, I did observe during my time in the Middle East that there is a very strong distinction between Muslims. Some of them are marginal adherents to their faith: they will participate in fasting during Ramadan, etc. but that is probably more to do with their social conformity than their own real authentic "faith."

On the other hand, I've met those who are middle of the road types who really push the boundaries of what is socially acceptable in their Islamic cultural identity. For example, they might wear Western style clothing but still be very observant of the daily prayer times associated with very devout followers who wear traditional Islamic garbs.

Then there is that category of what I'd call strict Muslims. There are those in this vein who wear traditional garb, attend prayer times daily, fast, the whole nine. Of these types, you have those who feel threatened by Western culture and philosophy. Some of those types are extremely hostile towards Westerners and fly planes into buildings and cut off the heads of innocent, helpless civilians. These are Islamo-fascists. There are those who are very devout Muslims in every sense of the word but are not of this mind set. These Muslims are the ones who get killed in suicide bombings done by their own people.

Anyway, that's my take on these things.

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Originally Posted by classyT

Ok this probably sounds like a really stupid question and I apologize if it does BUT...my husband just got back from Egypt a few months ago and he is under the impression that there is a difference between Islam and Musllims? He said it is like differences in christians and catholics. Just curious as to if this is true.

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Hi ClassyT,

Islam-
Islam is an Arabic word the root of which is Silm and Salam. It means among others: peace, greeting, salutation, obedience, loyalty, allegiance, and submission to the will of the Creator of the Universe.
In the religious sense, Islam means submission to the will of God and obedience to His law.

Muslim-Are the ones who submit to the will of the Creator/Allah.Followers of Islam are called Muslims.The feminine form of Muslim is Muslimah
Muslims may call themselves Mu'min-meaning "believer", and denoting a Muslim that has complete submission to the will of Allah, and has faith firmly established in his heart.

Almost all Muslims follow the same book the Quran,and the guidance of the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh),while there are differences between muslims,they are all called Muslims.

The main sects under Islam are Shia and Sunni, http://www.islamfortoday.com/shia.htm

Is it possible that your husband heard a different word which sounds like "Muslim"?

Hope this was helpful.

Firm,

I don't know if he heard a different word? This is just what he came back home thinking from what he experienced and I thought I'd throw that question out there... thanks for your answer

Fr Chuck,

Ooo I so disagree with you but perhaps we should discuss that on the Christian forum.. it would be a good discussion I think. ;)

OK sounds like a good one, on the religious discussion board.
I normally don't start threads, actually bet I have not started more than 50 threads in all my years on here. So go ahead.

There is no difference! Muslims follow the religion of islam, kind of like christians follow thr religion of christianity, muslims are people who follow islam and islam is the religion that they follow