The importance of faith in Islam
The foundation of being a slave of God rests upon the correction of the
tenets of faith (‘Aqaaed) and belief (Eemaan). He whose faith is flawed and
belief is corrupted, then neither is any act of his worship acceptable nor any
of his actions will be deemed right; and whose faith is correct and belief is
right then even his small good deeds are enough. Therefore, first of all
there is a need to enquire about those points, to have faith upon, to believe
in and to comply with which is necessary, and without having firm
conviction (Yaqeen) on which nobody deserves to be called a Muslim. It is
these articles of faith that are shared by all Muslims of the world.
Fundamentals of the Islamic faith
These tenets, or shall we say articles, of faith are
Article 1: Belief in the Oneness of God (Tawheed)
Belief in the Oneness of Allah, Tawheed in Arabic, is a pure and matchless
(continued from previous page) ….. Noble Traditions are complimentary in nature. While the
Holy Quran is from Allah the Exalted, the Noble Traditions are a record of the beloved Prophet‘s –
peace and blessings of Allah be upon him – words and deeds. ‘Ahadith‘, ‘Hadith literature’ and
‘The Noble Traditions’ are synonymous terms. One classification differentiates The Noble
Traditions in to Prophet’s Traditions and Sacred Traditions. The Sacred Traditions (called Ahadith
Qudsiyah in Arabic; singular: Hadith Qudsi), are a record of those of Allah’s revelations to the
beloved Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, which are not part of the Holy Quran.
Only one Sacred Tradition appears in this book. 3. Every obedient slave of Allah should strive to
pursue these ideals. Their best example was in the personality of Prophet Muhammad, apostle of
Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and the second best in the lives of his Noble
Companions, may Allah be pleased with them.
article of faith in Islam. Under this article there is no need for an
intermediary between God and His slave, who would intercede in matters of
supplication and worship. In this article there is also no room for,
polytheism4, the ideas of somebody being God’s incarnate and shadow, and
the doctrines of transmigration and merger of Creator and creature5. On the
contrary there is admission and acceptance of the Divinity and the Oneness
of Allah the Exalted, the Eternally Besought, Who neither has a father nor a
son, nor a partner in His Kingdom; in His very Hand is the genesis and
creation of the universe, the maintenance of order in the world and the
Sovereignty of the earth and the heavens.
In other words, there is a Builder of this workshop of nature, Who always
was and will always be. He bears the whole lot of virtues, all forms of
praise, the whole lot of good attributes in excellent degrees; and is free
from all kinds of blemishes, imperfections and weaknesses. His knowledge
encompasses the whole lot of existences and every branch of knowledge
that there is.
This entire universe exists only because He so intends. He is the Alive; the
All–Hearing; the All–Seeing. Neither is there anyone like Him nor has He a
rival or equal. He has no resemblance and He does not depend on help. He
has no partner, companion or helper in the administration and running of the
universe. Only He, singularly, is deserving of worship (i.e. to be respected
in the extreme). Only He, singularly, cures the sick; provides livelihood to
people and removes their sufferings. (1) Deifying others besides Allah, (2)
debasing oneself or expressing humility in the extreme before them, (3)
prostrating before them, (4) supplicating to them or asking help from them
in matters that are not in human control and are only connected with Allah’s
Omnipotence – for example (5) blessing a couple with offspring, (6) writing
fate: good or bad, (7) causing to send and deliver help everywhere, (8)
capability to listen at any distance, (9) to know what is in people’s hearts
and what is hidden – are sins that, in Islamic terminology are jointly and
severally termed Shirk (Arabic; ‘i’ pronounced as in ‘shin’, not pronounced
like the English word ‘shirk’; meaning: associating partners with Allah); and
that is the biggest sin which is not forgiven without repentance.
In the Glorious Quran it has been stated that:
But His command, when He intendeth a thing, is only that
He saith unto it: Be! And it is.V.82: Chapter 36: Yaseen
possesses can neither obtain this knowledge in the first place nor can
disprove it. Senses, intellect, experience and besides these man’s hidden
powers [intrinsic senses like balance, determination], and then out of
spirituality and intuition, no power and source is such through which
besides the life of this world the existence of some other kind of life and its
details can be proved, and nor there is such a possibility that in this life the
world of the Hereafter can be observed. All this information pertains to the
Unseen and man cannot, on his own, comprehend that which is Unseen; his
sciences and his intellect cannot at all help man have access to it; through
those sciences and intellect neither can it be proved nor can it be disproved.
Man is left with only two options: either after placing confidence in the
prophets and after studying the observations and evidences that establish
the truth of their claim, attest their statements or without any scientific proof
and evidence reject them
Say (O Muhammad): None in the heavens and the earth
knoweth the Unseen save Allah; and
they know not when they will be raised (again).
Nay, but doth their knowledge reach to the Hereafter?
Nay, for they are in doubt concerning it.
Nay, for they can not see it.V. 65–66: Chapter 27: An–Naml:
However, as mentioned above, witnesses [verses of the Holy Quran, as they
testify to the Hereafter and are manifest proof because they come from that
very world] of this approaching reality and the possibilities that it exists we
come by in this world and in this life, from which without any intellectual
mix–up man can conjecture that this event is by all means possible.
Its one striking parallel and its one witness is the birth and life of man
himself. How many stages he has covered from naught to existence and
from existence to the completion of his existence. From semen to sperm,
from sperm he assumed the form of a clot or a form leech–like, then was
formed a small fetal lump with features or without features, then was
formed a bony structure, which then was clothed with flesh, then finally he
developed into a different creation, then after emerging from the dark
confines of the abdomen he spent sometime in the cradle of infancy and
childhood. He then stepped in to the verdant Maidan of youth. Then either
his next step fell at the threshold of death or he was given so much respite
that after having seen that springtime of life, he also saw the autumn of old
age and began the return journey of life. In other words, after youth, in old
age, once again childish tendencies began to overtake him. His capacities
failed one by one, mind and memory left him. Like a child he became,
helpless, dependent on the care and concern of others. He began to neglect
himself more and more and everything that he had hitherto known so well
became unrecognizable for him. At this juncture ended one leg of his
journey but his journey did not, only a transitional stage of the journey
arrived which is called death and the world of barzakh (partition).
Maut ek maandgi ka waqfah hai;
Ya’ni aagey chalenge dam lekar
Death is the stopover of a tired wayfarer;
that is, will move on after resting a while.
Surely, whosoever knows the original of and the truth of man [dust and
water], and then his beginning and his birth, what intellectual hitch can he
have in believing the coming back to life after death? And whosoever has
observed so many changes in the life of man, what difficulty has he in
accepting the possibility of a last change?
The second glaring example of life after death are scenes of the earth’s
returning to life which keep appearing before our eyes again and again.
This earth that holds a trust, in whose bosom are the life–sustaining
treasures and belongings of thousands of human beings to be born and
beasts that would come to life, itself happens to lie dead. Her lips get dried
and parched by the sun, it happens to be an insensitive and lifeless corpse of
dust, in which there neither happens to be life nor the life sustaining
resource for anything else. However, when drops of the heavenly elixir of
life fall on its lips and moistening its throat reach up to its bosom, then that
very earth all of a sudden wakes up from her mortal sleep. The energy of
life and the beauty of youth runs through her, she, as if, swings, sways and
seems intoxicated. Her mouth throws out riches, greenery and a treasure of
life. Fragrant vegetation, ripened crops waving in the wind, and worms and
insects that crawl out and spread about on the surface of the earth, inform us
of the earth’s inner life and that it has been blessed with life. During springtime and rainy season this scene of the earth’s inner life who, among
us, has not seen with his own eyes?
| And it is Allah Who sendeth the winds, and they raise a cloud; then We drive it unto a dead land and We quicken thereby the earth after the death thereof. Even so shall be the Resurrection.8 And of His signs is that thou beholdest the earth lowly, and when We send down thereon water, it stirreth to life and groweth. Verily He who quickeneth is the Quickener of the dead. Verily He is over everything Potent.9 And Who sendeth down from the heaven water in measure; then We quicken a dead land therewith: even so ye shall be brought forth.10 |
V.9: Chapter 35: Faatir; Daryabadi Quran Translation; Abdul Majid Daryabadi. 9. V.39: Chapter 41: Ha Meem Sajdah 10. V.11: Chapter 43: Al–Zukhruf 11. V.19–20, Chapter 29, Al Ankabooth; Daryabadi Quran Translation; A. M. Daryabadi. |
Article 8:
The coming of messengers to the world by the Will of Allah is
incontrovertible and that God the Exalted commands and educates His
slaves through the words and the agency of His noble prophets, peace be
upon them, is incontrovertible. Sayyadna Muhammad is God’s last
apostle, after him there is no prophet, and his apostleship and Invitation to
Islam are for the whole world. In terms of this eminence and distinction
and, apart from this, in terms of other similar distinctions he is the most
distinguished among the prophets, peace be upon them. Without believing
in his apostleship, belief is not credible and religion has no Truth. Verily,
Islam alone is the Religion of Truth; other than which no religion is
acceptable in the Court of Allah and the means of Deliverance in the
Hereafter. Even the most eminent of the eminent personalities i.e. devoted
slaves of God, the abstinent or the ardent in worship, does not violate the
commandments of Shariah.
Article 9:
It is incontrovertible that Sayyadna Abu Bakr Siddique, may
Allah be pleased with him, was the Imam and Khalifah after Sayyadna
Muhammad, the Apostle of Allah followed by Sayyadna ‘Umar Ibn
Khattab, Sayyadna ‘Uthman Ibn ‘Affan and Sayyadna ‘Ali Ibn Abi Talib
respectively, may Allah be pleased with all of them. The Noble
Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, are the religious leaders and
guides of Muslims. To speak ill about them is forbidden (Haraam) and to
hold them in high esteem and express respect towards them is ordained
(Wajib).
