New Muslim Quickstart Guide

Setting the right tone to get you started on a strong footing

Thu Feb 22 2024

Welcome to Islam and our two billion strong global fraternity

This guide is meant as your Day One / Week One tool and is not designed to overwhelm you with information you do not need at this time. It is meant to set the right tone and get you started on a strong footing as you craft your personal journey in Islam.

A great book to get you started

Being Muslim: A Practical Guide by Asad Tarsin
Buy: Paperback, Kindle

Day One Priorities for New Muslims

  1. Keep reading and rereading the Holy Quran every day;
  2. Offer the five daily prayers to the best of your ability;
  3. Find a scholar and a community to guide you through your learning journey;
  4. Stay away from and ignore those who will overburden and overwhelm you with dos and don'ts expecting you to be a perfect Muslim from the get go, e.g. wearing the hijāb.

Ritual Purification

Before you offer your ṣalāh (prayer), you should be in a state of wuḍū (minor ritual purification). The state of wuḍū breaks if you use the restroom or pass wind. You do not have to repeat the wuḍū before each prayer if you are already in the state of wuḍū.

Watch the following video on how to do this:

How to do Wuḍū

Note that, if you are sexually intimate or copulate, you should take a complete shower and perform wuḍū inside the shower. This is known as performing ghūsl (bathing for major ritual purification).

Times of Prayers

There are five daily prayers and each of them has a window of time where they should be offered within:

  1. Fajr (dawn), a two-unit prayer, offered before sunrise
    • From: when the rising sun is 15 degrees below the horizon
    • To: time of shurūq (sunrise)
  2. Ẓuhr (noon), a four-unit prayer, offered at true noon
    • From: when the sun is at its highest point (does not mean 12:00 PM)
    • To: the start of 'Asr prayer
  3. 'Asr, a four-unit prayer, offered late afternoon
    • From: when the shadow of an object is equal to or twice itself
    • To: the start Maghrib prayer
  4. Maghrib (sunset), a three-unit prayer, offered immediately after sunset
    • From: time of ghurūb (sunset)
    • To: the start of 'Ishā prayer
  5. 'Ishā (night), a four-unit prayer offered at night
    • From: where the sun sets 15 degrees below the horizon
    • To: the start of Fajr prayer

There are many apps available for smartphones for prayer times. Here's one you can download and use

You can download and use the Athan+ app

The Prayer

It will take you time to learn the ṣalāh (prayer). First, perfect the movements. Continue to learn supplications recited during the prayers at your own pace. As you mature and improve, you should then incorporate detailed elements and supplication within the ṣalāh.

In the beginning, when you haven’t learned all the supplications, keep reciting the following phrases during all your movements:

  • al-ḥamdu lillāh (praise be to Allah),
  • lā ilāha il-Allāh (there is no god worthy of worship except Allāh), and
  • Allāhu akbar (Allāh is Greater ⌜than everything⌝)

Watch the following video playlist on how to pray:

How to Pray Ṣalāh

Note that, ṣalāh is to be performed facing the direction of the qiblah which is the facing direction toward the ka'bah located inside the sacred mosque in the city of Makkah. Within the US, the direction is generally toward the Northeast. Facing any direction toward the East is also generally acceptable. You may use smartphone apps, such as the Athan+ app linked above, that help you find the direction of the qiblah.

God (Allah)

Allāh is the Arabic word for God. This same word for God is used in all Semitic languages. It simply means the one and only God.

His essence cannot be fully comprehended, and we know of Him only through His words and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He is absolutely unique, and unlike His creation. No imagination can conceive Him and no vision can grasp Him. He is the Omnipotent, the Omniscient, the Supreme, and everything that has ever happened, is happening, or will ever happen is subject to his Will, Knowledge, and Wisdom. Everything besides Allah is His creation, including the universe(s), dimensions, time, space, spacetime, light, matter, energy and all else. Even our thoughts and imaginations are His creation. He has no gender, but language limits us and thus we resort to using the masculine pronoun for Him in the English language. Belief in such statements describing the nature of Allah is called tawḥīd, meaning, affirmation of the absolute uniqueness of God.

Following the the five key points you need to keep in mind about the nature of God in Islam:

  1. He is the Eternal and is not subject to having a beginning;
  2. He is the Everlasting and is not subject to having an end;
  3. He is not created;
  4. He is not similar to the creation; and
  5. He is not subject to any change.

Read the following article for a simplified version of what Muslims believe about God, and His attributes.

The Simplified Creed About Our Belief in God

The Message

Allah the All-mighty has continued to guide humanity through His Message revealed to His chosen Messengers. His Message has remained unchanged throughout time and may be summarized as follows:

  • There is only one God worthy of worship;
  • Believe in Him and worship Him alone as He has taught us;
  • There is a Hereafter after this worldly life;
  • The Hereafter begins on a Day when everyone will be judged for their actions in their worldly life through God’s Justice and His Mercy;
  • He has sent the Message in the form of Books for us to know this, and to know what actions we need to do to in this worldly life to that makes us eligible to receive His Mercy;
  • The worldly life is temporary and is a place of tests and trials. Having sufficient means to live is a test to show gratitude for the gifts of God. Similarly not having such means is a test to show patience and accepting the Will of God.
  • There are glad tidings for those who are righteous, obedient, grateful, and patient in the face of trials –to the best of their ability– that they will enter Jannah (Paradise) – the perfect everlasting abode of safety, security, happiness, and peace, that is free of all tests, trials, sadness or misery of the slightest kind.
  • There is warning for, at least, the most wretched, hedonistic, defiantly disobedient, ingrate, and the constantly impatient that they will enter Jahannam (Hellfire) – the most evil and an everlasting abode that is devoid of any security, safety, happiness, and peace.

The last and final book of Allah the All-mighty that He has preserved and that remains preserved, uncorrupted, and unchanged is the Holy Quran that was revealed in the Arabic language. Any translations of the Holy Quran are only interpretations and are not considered to be the Quran. There are several translations of the Holy Quran available.

One of the most popular ones because of its ease of its readability and comprehension is the following:

The Clear Quran by Dr. Mustafa Khattab
Buy: Hardcover

The Messengers

Throughout time, Allah the All-mighty chose Messengers from among human beings to bring us His Message to the world. These Messengers were highly upright, righteous, of exemplary character, and free of all major sins even before they were chosen and granted prophethood. We have been taught the names of some of them, such as: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad. There are many others that were also chosen about whom we are not told much of, and may peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all. After Prophet Jesus, Prophet Muhammad is Allah’s last and final Messenger.

We have been taught the Message from Allah (Scripture; the Word of God) in the form of Books that were brought by elites of such Messengers (peace and blessings be upon them all). These books are:

  1. Some form of scripture, revealed to Prophet Abraham: the original Word of God is lost and we have only been told about it.
  2. the Torāh, revealed to Prophet Moses: the original Word of God is lost and what remains is the written down understanding of it by the Jewish scribes which also has been corrupted.
  3. the Zabūr (Psalms), revealed to Prophet David: the original Word of God is lost and what remains is the written down understanding of it by the Jewish scribes which also has been corrupted.
  4. the Injīl (Gospel), revealed to Prophet Jesus: the original Word of God is lost and what remains is the written down understandings of it along with the teachings of Jesus by the patriarch scribes of the Church which also has been corrupted.
  5. the Quran (the Recital), revealed to Prophet Muhammad: the original Word of God which remains Divinely preserved, unchanged, and human beings are unable to change or corrupt it.

As you read and study the Holy Quran, it is recommended that you also study the life and times of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) at your own pace. The Quran will be better understood through the lens of the prophetic biography and vice versa. This relationship between the two is by Divine design. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent as God’s mercy and a final role model for all time whose character we are all commanded to emulate and his teachings we are commanded to follow.

There are many books on his sīrah (prophetic biography), start with the following popular book:

Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings
Buy: Paperback

Testimony of Faith

The shahādah (testimony of faith) is a two-part verbal utterance of our belief and conviction in our heart that:

  1. There is no other god worthy of worship other than the one and only God (Allah), and
  2. Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the servant and the final Messenger of God

In Arabic, this testimony is read as:

ash-hadu an lā ilāha illā Allah
wa-ash-hadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhū wa-rasūluhū

Islam

Islam means total submission, servitude, and obedience to Allah the All-mighty as taught to us by the Message which was brought to us by the Messengers. Muslims are those who observe Islam and follow the teachings of their Messenger. We, the Muslims, follow the Holy Quran as the final Message that was brought to us by Muhammad (peace be upon him) who is our final Messenger.

Islam is composed of three aspects: faith, and practice, and personal development:

1. Faith

Īmān (faith or belief) is the obligatory inner conviction and believing in the following primary six pillars:

  1. Belief in Allah
  2. Belief in the angels
  3. Belief in all the Books (the Messages) sent by Allah, some of those we know of and others we do not have knowledge of;
  4. Belief in all the Messengers, chosen by Allah to receive the Message and were commissioned with delivering the message to their community;
  5. Belief in Divine Destiny (predestination or the Allah’s Will) all that benefited you, and all that brought you harm from your point of view
  6. Belief in the Hereafter (the resurrection and judgment of all humanity on the Day of Judgement and their final destinations)

2. Practice

Islām (ritual practice) is the following a set of five primary outer actions that are obligatory upon every Muslim:

  1. Verbally uttering the shahādah (testimony of faith)
  2. Establishment of five daily ṣalāh (prayers)
  3. Paying out the annual zakāh (charity)
  4. Fasting the lunar month of Ramaḍān annually
  5. Performing the Ḥajj (pilgrimage to Makkah) once in a lifetime

3. Personal Development

Iḥsān (attempting excellence) is an overarching spiritual mindset to try to excel in both belief as well as practice along with character building, improving conduct, developing a sense of gratitude, showing patience and perseverance during trials,  and developing a greater consciousness of God being All-aware of our actions. It has the following two pillars:

  1. Worshiping and being obedient to Allah as if He is in front of you; and
  2. Always being mindful that He is watching you and knows everything that you do in public or in private.

Additional Learning

Social Media

The internet has its pros and its cons. Since it is pretty easy for the uneducated and the uninformed to post on social media, please be cognizant of what you watch on social media to learn about Islam.

A few of the notable and highly respected Muslim speakers and preachers that you may learn from are the following in no particular order: