Umar and his little brother, Ibrahim, are studying together. They’ve been trying for weeks to memorize a long verse from the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book.
Ibrahim already knows it better than Umar! Their mother smiles at Umar and says, “Don’t give up. I know you can do it.” She believes that someday Umar will memorize the whole book and become a respected “reciter” of the Qur’an. Umar closes his eyes, tries to see the words, and starts again.
Islam’s main belief is that Allah is the one God and Muhammad is his prophet, or messenger. Muslims share some ideas with Jews and Christians, whose religions also say there’s just one God. Islam teaches that the world will end someday, and then God will judge everyone. People who obeyed God will live in paradise, which is a beautiful garden, but people who didn’t obey God will be punished.
