We believe that acts of worship should be done for the sake of God and that God alone will judge each person according to his or her intentions and actions.

We believe that only God knows where a person will end up in the afterlife, since only God knows a person’s intentions, deeds, circumstances, and limitations. We also believe that God will judge human beings according to His complete justice on the Day of Judgment based on both their beliefs and actions, taking into account the opportunities and abilities that He gave them. In the Qur’an, God’s ninety-nine names include “the Judge” and “the Just.”

Because the Qur’an forbids the practice, a dietary restriction also followed by observant Jews.

Because the Qur’an forbids the practice. The Qur’an states that while alcohol has some benefits, its harm outweighs its benefits. This prohibition is also based upon the religious imperative that one should not introduce anything in one’s life that is harmful to one’s health or which can impair one’s judgement, to prevent harm to oneself as well as to others. This prohibition is similar to Buddhist teachings which discourage intoxicants.

While divorce is allowed and the Qur’an describes the different steps to be taken in a divorce, there is a Hadith (prophetic saying) describing divorce as “the most hated lawful thing,” because it breaks up the family. The Qur’an also urges couples considering divorce to first make use of counseling and mediation. However, if these attempts fail, divorce as a last option is allowed and may, in some situations, be the best outcome.

While the Qur’an describes situations where women can initiate divorce, the ease with which she can do so is often informed by interpretations or practices of Islam that vary widely from country to country. In some Muslim-majority countries, a woman can get a divorce relatively easily while in other countries it is much more difficult.

Muslim economists view money as something to be earned, which is one of the many reasons that both gambling and most forms of loaning with interest are prohibited. While there are different types of interest and not all types are viewed as being the same, many Muslim scholars regard interest as generally prohibited because it penalizes the poor for their lack of money and rewards the rich for their abundance of money, making the rich richer and the poor poorer. On the other hand, investment in business is highly encouraged because it involves some risk to the investor, which makes profit from investment a fair return. Investment also promotes the circulation of wealth and the growth of new businesses.

Applying this principle in the modern world is a major challenge, yet today there are over five hundred financial institutions offering Islamic finance in over eighty different countries. These institutions generate income through shareholding, leasing, lease purchasing, and rent sharing. Interest-free banking is an experiment in Islamic modernization. The fact that Islamic banks are now worth a trillion dollars attests to their modern viability. In fact, many western economists maintain that interest-free economies can be extremely beneficial. An example of this is the growing popularity of interest-free financing in auto sales in the U.S. today as a means of attracting less affluent customers. Additionally, many economists have noted that during the financial crisis a few years ago Islamic investments and banks were largely unaffected, since they did not deal with interest-based financing such as mortgages or risky speculation.