Welcome

Faith Fundamentals

The meaning of "Islam"
The Articles of faith
The Pillars of Islam
Seeking nearness to God
Sunni-Shia Division
Quran and Hadith
Sources of Guidance
Historicity ....[new!]
Schools of Thought
Obligatory and Optional
Innovation
Intention
Monotheism
Polytheism
Monotheism Chart

Purification
Prayer
Fasting
Charity
Pilgrimage
Sacrifice

 

The articles of faith

1. Belief in Allah
Allah is the only one God in the universe, and the only one worthy of worship. Allah should not be understood as a God defined by Islam. It is a “secular” word for God in Arabic. This can be understood from the fact that the polytheists in Makkah before Islam believed in Allah as the Supreme Lord. Also Allah is the word used for God in the Arabic Bible too.

2. Belief in Angels
Angels are creatures created by God before man. (Another set of creatures is the Jinn). They are creatures usually unperceivable by man. They have been assigned various duties by Allah as part of his plan of creation. Again, the angel concept in Islam is not mutually exclusive to that of the previous religions. In fact it is the same that existing in the Judeo-Christian tradition. For example Muslims believe that Prophet Muhammad, as well as the previous prophets before him, were given revelations from God through the angel Gabriel, who is in fact mentioned in the Bible.

3. Belief in revelations
A Muslim should believe that God had revealed divine books giving moral guidance to humanity through his prophets. Quran mentions three of these revealed before itself: Psalms (Saboor) of David, Torah (Tawrat) of Moses and Gospel (Injil) of Jesus.

However Islam says that all the previous revelations before Quran were invalidated due to two reasons:
a) They have been subjected to distortion, alteration, addition and omission by the ravages of time. In fact this is a historically supported fact, as much as is the authenticity of Quran.
b) They were revealed only as guidance for particular people at particular periods of time.

4. Belief in Apostles:
The Muslims should believe in all apostles sent before Prophet Muhammed. According to Quran Prophets had been sent to all people. For example this clashes with Jewish belief that Prophets were sent only to the tribe of Israel. Of these prophets 24 prophets are mentioned by name in Quran. However it is also necessary to believe that Prophet Muhammad was the last Prophet sent by God. Moreover he has been sent for all people for all time to come.

5. Belief in the Day of Judgment:
Muslim should believe in the Last Day, i.e. the Day of Judgment, when every individual is held responsible for his deeds in this life, and will be given retribution – paradise or hell - based on them.

6. Belief in Predesination:
This is the belief that whatever happens in one’s life have been pre-destined by God. However it is also necessary to accept the free-will given to man by God, which makes him liable for his deeds. This apparently ironic logic is made possible by the absolute knowledge of God of the future, who is well-aware of the deeds of man and their outcomes in advance, and hence ties things together as per his own orchestration.

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