Articles of Faith in Islam

 Articles of Faith in Islam

Faith is recognized in Islam as a higher step than practicing Islam. It is a matter of belief

in one’s heart. Every faithful Muslim believes in the following articles of faith:

God

Monotheism is central to Islam—a belief in only One God, Unitary, Supreme and Eternal,

Omnipotent and Mighty, Merciful and Compassionate. Belief in a plurality of gods or in

the extension of God's divinity to any person is emphatically rejected. Islam rejects the

human attributes that the Jews and the Christians added to their doctrines such as

God’s wrestling with his prophet or the incarnation of God. God created nature through a

primordial act of mercy; otherwise there would be pure nothingness. God provided each

element of his creation with its own proper nature, or laws governing its conduct, so that

it follows a characteristic pattern. The result is a well ordered harmonious whole, a

cosmos in which everything has its proper place and limitations.

Messengers of God

A Muslim has to believe in all the messengers of God without any distinction among

them. Every known nation has at least one messenger from God. They were chosen by

God to guide mankind and deliver His divine message that is submission to the Will and

Laws of God. They were sent at different times and places. All prophets are human; they

have no share in divinity, but they are the most perfect exemplars for humanity. The

Quran mentions the names of twenty-five prophets, and Muslims accept them all. All

prophets are considered national or local messengers, with the exception of Muhammad

who is considered a prophet for all nations and all time. The message of all prophets

was basically the same because it came from One God. Muhammad stands as the last

messenger, and the crowning glory of the foundation of the prophethood. This is not an

arbitrary attitude, nor is it just a convenient belief. Thus, the Quran describes

Muhammad as the “Seal of all Prophets.” From this arises the Islamic belief that

prophethood was accomplished and finished with him and that the Quran is the final and

authentic perfect revelation of God, consummating and superseding all earlier holy

books. The Quran acknowledges the miracles of earlier prophets (Noah, Abraham,

Moses, Jesus, and others). Muhammad’s eternal miracle is the Quran, the like of which

no human can reproduce.

Although right and wrong are inscribed in the human heart, the inability or refusal

of many people to interpret that inscription has made prophetic guidance necessary.

This guidance is universal; no one on earth has been left without it. Adam was the first

prophet; after his expulsion from the Garden of Eden, God forgave him (for this reason

Islam does not accept the doctrine of original sin). The messages of all prophets

emanate from the same divine source. Religions are, therefore, basically one. They all

call for worshiping One God.

The Holy Books

As a result of believing in all the messengers of God, Muslims also have to believe in all

the scriptures and revelations of God. In the Quran, a special reference is made to the

books of Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus. But long before the revelation of the Quran

to Muhammad, all the holy books had been lost or altered. The Quran stands untainted

for the past 14 centuries.

The Angels of God

Muslims believe in the Angels of God. They are purely spiritual and splendid beings,

whose nature requires no food, drink or sleep. They have no physical desires of any kind

nor material needs. They spend their whole time in the service of God. There are many

of them and each one of them is charged with a specific duty. If we cannot see the

Angels with our naked eyes, it does not necessarily deny their actual existence. There

are many things in the world that are invisible to the eye or inaccessible to our senses,

and yet we believe in their existence e.g. electricity and sound. Belief in the Angels

originates from the Islamic principle that knowledge and truth are not entirely confined

to the sensory knowledge or the sensory perception alone.

The Day of Judgment

The divine activities of creation, sustenance, and guidance end with the final act

of judgment. This world will come to an end some day, and the dead will rise to stand for

their final and fair trial. On the Day of Judgment, all humanity will be gathered, and

individuals will be judged solely according to their deeds. The “successful ones” will go

to the Garden (heaven), and the “losers,” or the evil will go to hell. Because God is

merciful, He will forgive those who deserve forgiveness. Only God knows the real nature

of heaven and hell, and their exact descriptions.

If some people think that they are shrewd enough and can get away with their

wrong doings in this life, they are wrong, for they will not be able to do so on the Day of

Judgment. Also, if some pious people do good deeds to please God and seem to have

no appreciation or acknowledgment in this temporary world, they will eventually receive

their full reward on that day. Absolute justice will prevail for all.

Belief in the Day of Judgment is the final relieving answer to many complicated

problems of our world. There are people who commit sins, neglect God, and indulge in

immoral activities, yet they seem to be “superficially” successful in business and

prosperous in life. And there are virtuous and God-minded people. Yet they seem to be

getting fewer rewards and more suffering in this life. This may seem puzzling and

incompatible with the Justice of God. If the guilty can escape the human laws unharmed

and, in addition, be more prosperous, what is, then, left for the virtuous people? There

must be some way to reward goodness and arrest evil. If this is not done here on earth,

and we know that it is not done regularly or immediately, it has to be done some day.

That day is the Day of Judgment. This is not to ignore injustice or tolerate mischief in this

world. This is not to sedate the deprived or comfort the exploiters. Rather, it is to warn

the deviants from the right path and remind them that the Justice of God shall run its full

course sooner or later.

Besides the Last Judgment, which will be on individuals, the Quran recognizes

another form of divine judgment, which happens to nations, peoples, and communities.

Nations, like individuals, may be corrupted by wealth, power, and arrogance, and, unless

they reform, these nations are punished by being destroyed or subjugated by more

virtuous nations. This has been evident all over the history of humanity.

The Ultimate Plan

Muslims believe in the timeless knowledge of God and in His Power to plan and execute

His Plans. God is not indifferent to His world nor is He neutral to it. His knowledge and

power are in action at all times to keep order in His vast domain and maintain full

command over His creation. He is Wise and Loving, and whatever He does must have a

good motive and a meaningful purpose. If this is established in our minds, we should

accept in good faith all that He does, although we may fail to understand it fully, or even

think it is bad. We should have strong faith in Him and accept whatever He does

because our knowledge is limited and our thinking is based upon individual or personal

considerations, whereas His Knowledge is limitless and He plans on a universal as well

as individual basis.

This does not in any way make man helpless. It simply draws the line between

what is God’s concern and what is man’s responsibility. Because we are by nature finite

and limited, we have a finite and limited degree of power and freedom. We cannot do

everything, and He graciously holds us responsible only for the things we do. The things

that we cannot do, or things that He Himself does, are not in the realm of our

responsibility. He is Just and has given us limited power to match our finite nature and

limited responsibility. On the other hand, the timeless knowledge and power of God to

execute His plans do not prevent us from making our own plans in our limited sphere of

power. As a matter of fact, God encourages us to think, to plan and to make sound

choices, but if things do not happen the way we wanted or planned, we should not loose

faith or surrender ourselves to mental strains and shattering worries. We should try

again and again, and if the results are not still what we wanted, then we know that we

tried our best and rest assured that we are not held responsible for the results. The

important point is to try, and then leave the results to God. The Muslims call this article

of faith: the belief in “Qadaa” and “Qadar”, which simply means, in other words, that the

Timeless knowledge of God anticipates events, and that events take place according to

the exact knowledge of God.