Question

N this excerpt from president kennedy's 1963 civil rights address, he included the examples of american troops in vietnam and west berlin for what purpose? "today, we are committed to a worldwide struggle to promote and protect the rights of all who wish to be free. and when americans are sent to vietnam or west berlin, we do not ask for whites only. it ought to be possible, therefore, for american students of any color to attend any public institution they select without having to be backed up by troops."

Answer 1

The Teaching Of Islam

No-one can be a Muslim without having a specified Faith, Iman, and adhering to certain Practices, Deen.

Deen: The Practice of Islam

The basic essentials in "The Practice of Islam" are summed up in the five pillars of faith.

The confession of faith(Shaháda), i.e. the recitation of the 'Kalima' (= word). "There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger (apostle) of Allah".

Prayer (Salat) [in arab. the 't' at the end is not pronounced]. This is the duty of every Muslim (able to do so). The prescribed ritual prayers five times daily, at prescribed times, with the prescribed posture, have to be observed. During these five prayers a fixed prayer-text must be recited seventeen times altogether (twice in the morning; four times at noon; four times in the afternoon; three times in the evening and four times at night). This is called by many Persian and Indian Muslims 'namaz'. The wording of this prayer is found in the appendix.

The giving of alms (Zakat) [again the 't' is not pronounced] is a religious duty and should amount to not less than 2.5% of the income above ones needs.

Keeping the Fast during the month of Ramadaan (Sawm) is a duty for all, except the sick, travellers, pregnant women, nursing mothers and children. The fast is to last from the rising of the sun until sunset.

Pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) is required once in a lifetime during the month of Zu'l-Hijjah, if the means allow this. There is also a minor pilgrimage (Umra), which is performed at other times. We ought to realize that very considerable cost is involved in a pilgrimage, quite apart from the travel fare.

(6.) Some add to this the Holy War(Jihaad). Today in the West this concept is often interpreted as 'the spreading of your faith'.

Another word used for the propagation of the Islamic faith is "dawah". A scholar who tries to find this word in currently used Dictionaries of Islam does not find it, at least not with today's meaning. 'Da'wah' means invocation, to call on or simply to call. The DICTIONARY OF ISLAM by T.P. Hughes explains that this invocation or calling is directed to spirits and by that of an occult nature and involves the use of spells. One is only allowed to call on "good angels or jinns", however. (See Folk Islam). Today Muslims understand the term to mean the call on non-Muslims to accept Islam. And that is the current meaning of Da'wah. From the beginning of the "Islamic Revolution" Da'wah movements have mushroomed. All over the world great numbers of Muslim missionaries propagate Islam, more often than not by sharply attacking the Christian faith.

Let us now inspect these pillars from closer range by considerung the Islamic view as presented in M.A. Quraishy, TEXTBOOK OF ISLAM BOOK II, The Islamic Foundation, Nairobi 1992 (TBI).