Is Islam written differently?

Question

In the website e Learn Spanish Language it states the following:

The name of most religions, their adjectives, and their adherents (proper nouns) are not capitalized in Spanish. Exception: Islam - el Islam

Other websites state the same.

This looks absurd when I have a list of religions, and only Islam begins with a capital letter. Is this a "hard and fast" rule? Or for the sake of consistency and the beauty of the sentence, can I spell "Islam" as "islam"?

Thanks!

Answer 1

I agree that this notion is absurd.

Grammatically any religion name or adjective does not require a capital letter beginning the word.

If a writer chooses to capitalize the name of a religion, I suppose that´s his right, but it´s not necessary.

The only time grammar requires a religious name to be capitalized is when it is recognized as part of the person´s name or identity, ie: Isabel la Católica (También llamada Isabel I de Castilla; Madrigal de las Altas Torres, España, 1451 - Medina del Campo, id., 1504) Reina de Castilla y León (1474-1504) y de la Corona de Aragón (1479-1504). Hija de Juan II de Castilla y de Isabel de Portugal).

Note that the RAE does not capitalize this religion: islam

Del ár. clás. isl?m.

1. m. islamismo.

2. m. Conjunto de los hombres y pueblos que siguen el islam.

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Answer 2

Some times websites are not completely reliable.

Answer 3

My guess is that Muslims would capitalize it in spite of any rules put out by any authority on the Spanish language. It is their right I guess. We have several Muslims on the site. Maybe they can contribute their thoughts.

Truth be told, I would tend to capitalize any religion, as I believe that, more than political ideology or anything else, is the most deserving of respect. - Winkfish, Jan 26, 2017

When writing a formal paper in Spanish, I would follow the stated grammar and punctuation rules exactly. - Daniela2041, Jan 26, 2017

De acuerdo, Querida. ;-) - Winkfish, Jan 26, 2017