Moslem

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A follower of the religion founded by the Prophet Muhammad, characterized by the belief in one God and adherence to the teachings of Islam; a person who practices the Islamic faith and observes its customs and rituals
2. An individual who identifies with the Islamic creed, accepting the Quran as sacred text and following the spiritual and moral principles prescribed by Islam; one who participates in the religious community defined by these beliefs
3. Someone devoted to the monotheistic religion centered on Muhammad's revelations, typically observing the Five Pillars of Islam and engaging in communal worship and ethical conduct promoted by this faith

Etymology: The spelling "moslem" is simply an older English rendering of the word now written "Muslim," and it was in use for centuries before the modern form took over. The root meaning is the surprise here: the Arabic "muslim" means "one who submits," built from a verb meaning "he submitted," and the root beneath it, s-l-m, carries the sense of being whole or intact. Submission and wholeness share a root, so surrender to God was tied up with a kind of completeness. The word reached English around 1615, borrowed directly from Arabic rather than arriving through Latin or French, as many religious terms did. Its wider religious sense draws on the Arabic "al-islam," which the source renders as "faith, piety," while the verbal noun "islam" itself means "submission."

Synonyms: Muslim, Islamic believer, follower of Islam

Antonyms: infidel, nonbeliever