The religion with the second-largest number of followers in the world is Islam. This religion is sometimes known as Mohammedanism because its founder was Mohammed. But Muslims—as believers in Islam are called—do not worship Mohammed. They simply believe he was a prophet of God.
Followers of Islam are scattered throughout the world. It is the leading religion in countries in North Africa, the Middle East, and in the East Indies.
There are ways in which Islam is like the Christian and Jewish religions. Muslims believe in the same God the Christians and Jews believe in, but their name for him is Allah. The Koran, which is the sacred book of the Muslims, is based partly on the Old and New Testaments and partly on the teachings of Mohammed. Jesus and many of the prophets of the Bible are mentioned frequently in the Koran. Most of the Ten Commandments of the Bible also have a place in the Koran. Muslims believe that the main difference between their religion and that of the Christians and Jews is in their ideas of the true meanings of the Old and New Testaments.
Muslims worship in churches called mosques. Many of these mosques are among the world's most beautiful buildings.
