Islamic Doctrine

Revelation Statement

The Islamic doctrine - is based on the following foundations:-

1. Belief in God:

God is the ultimate of the existence of the universe. He is the Creator whose essence and form is beyond perception. It is only some of His characteristics that we have knowledge of through experience and prophesy.

The Crea- tor's intrinsic characteristrics are infinite and absolute. He is eternal and cannot be limited to space or time, because He is the Creator of both. He is One and Just. The characteristics of God can be classified into two divisions:

i) Positive: such as Almighty, Powerful, Creator, Benevolent, Willing, Knowing, Wise, etc.

ii) Negative: such as indivisible, unseen, etc.

Islam stresses two concepts, namely the Unity and Justice of God. The first concept assumes order and harmony in the universe. The second concept furnishes the ground for prophethood and man's free will.

Man is born neutral in his intentions concerning good and evil. Islam considers man as potentially able to do either of the two. When he pursues one path, then he will experience an acceleration in that path as a natural consequence.

Man is made aware of the nature of the two paths through his instincts, prophets, the callers for righteousness, and the callers for evil.

2. Belief in Islamism* and Prophecy

God created nature including man, as a natural phenomenon, according to definite laws. These laws may be statistical in some fields, and may include control of tire evolutionary process in nature. "isldm" is an Arabic word which means submission.

"muslim " is a word which means that which submits to the laws of God. Thus the non-willing things in the world such as lifeless objects, like atoms and stars are Muslims. Man is given a high capacity of think- ing, and his activities fall into two categories. The first kind is instinctive, such as his heartbeat which obeys the laws set by God.

The will is given to human beings and exercises its power within a special sector of life. This sector *Islamism means in this context submission to the will of God.

includes all human activities except those mat- ters which are beyond human control. However, even this part of human activity has some ideal laws which enable human beings to achieve optimum control.

These laws are given to man by God, and conforming to them means that we are Muslims - i.e., submitting to the will of God.

These are the Islamic laws. Other Godly religions are also God's laws, but either their role had finished or they have been altered by men. Islam is the last religion God has chosen for humanity.

A prophet is a good man, fit and able to deliver the message of God. He should be faultless in order to be a model for others to follow.

In other words, he ought to be an efficient person to conduct a cultural trans- formation within the society. Prophets have appeared throughout history to perform their duty as witnesses, heralds of mercy and warners.

They conduct the cultural change and warn people against going astray.

3. Belief in the Hereafter:

Man consists of a material body and a soul. The latter is called in modern psychology "mind." After death the material body goes back to the physical world as chemical com- pounds while the mind or soul goes to a world of its own type.

It is believed that during the period between death and the day of judgement people are classified under three categories.

Those who have been extremely good by obey- ing God and His Prophet will be in a state of happiness during that period which is called "barzakh. " Other people who have been ex- tremely sinful -during their life, will get the torment of "barzakh.

" The rest of the people who are in between, their soul would be static. The second stage is the day of Judgment, people will be reminded of their good and bad deeds in this world, and prepared to receive their reward or punishment.

Good people will be rewarded by being sent to Paradise, while the evildoers will be sent to Hell, In Paradise, people will receive wonderful pleasure and happiness:

"Allah has promised the believers, men and women, gardens underneath which rivers flow, forever therein to dwell, and goodly dwelling places in the gardens of `adn (of perpetual bliss); and ,greater, Allah's good pleasure; that is the grand achievement" (Qur an, 9:72).

In * Hell people would get every torment, and the fuel of the fire is human beings and stones.

A person commits sins when he behaves against God's laws. Everyone is responsible for his own deeds. He is not charged with sins committed by other people.