Canberra Mosque

the arabic word masjid (mosque) literally means a place of prostration. a mosque is a place of worship for followers of islam and serves as a place where muslims come together for prayers as well as a centre for information and religious education. mosques originated on the arabian peninsula, but are now found in all inhabited continents as muslims moved to other parts of the world.as of 2009, over 1.6 billion or about 23% of the world population are muslims, making islam the world's second largest religion. of these, around 62% live in asia-pacific, 20% in the middle east ? north africa and 15% in sub-saharan africa.islam is one of the three monotheistic religions, along with christianity and judaism. islam in arabic means 'submission? and is derived from the arabic root salima, meaning ?peace, purity, submission, and obedience?. islam is the submission to the will of god, or allah.islam is a whole way of life based upon the will of allah revealed in the holy book (qur?an), and in the sayings and actions of the prophet muhammad (peace be upon him). every aspect of life is seen as part of an indivisible whole, literally inseparable from all other aspects. for muslims, the qur?an is immediate to allah. everything necessary for salvation and the understanding of allah's covenant with humankind is contained between its covers. the qur?an, moreover, is composed not of muhammad's words, but of allah's words.