What Is Islam? Beliefs, Principles and a Way of Life
Basic Beliefs
2-THE BASIC BELIEFS OF ISLAM
Question:
What are the basic beliefs of Islam?
Answer:
There are three fundamental beliefs as well as beliefs that follow from these three fundamentals.
THE ONENESS and UNITY of GOD (TAWHID)
Question:
What are these three fundamental beliefs?
Answer:
Firstly, the faith that this world has an omniscient, omnipotent, wise, all-hearing and all-seeing God, who has no beginning or end and who possesses all qualities of perfection and is free from any fault or deficiency. This God is One and has no partner, and none of His creation resembles Him, and there is absolutely no possibility of seeing Him, either in this world or in the hereafter.
The oneness of God can be proved.
Question:
What is the meaning of oneness?
Answer:
The oneness of God can be considered to have four aspects:
1-Oneness of Essence:
This means that God is one and has no partners. He is not like man who consists of several parts for God does not possess any parts at all.
2-Oneness of Attributes:
This means that God’s attributes are identical to His essence: hence there is no duality between His attributes and His essence. In other words, God is not like man whose knowledge is separated from his essence and whose strength is something separate from him, but in fact the essence of God, His knowledge, His power and so on are one and the same thing. 3-Oneness of His Works:
This means that everything in the universe is of His creation. 4-Oneness of Worship:
This means that only God Almighty has the right to be worshipped.
PROPHETHOOD
Question:
What is the second fundamental from among the fundamental beliefs in Islam?
Answer:
It is prophethood. This means that God Almighty has sent prophets to mankind in order to guide him to the truth and the right path.
Question:
Who is the first prophet?
Answer:
The first prophet is our father Adam (peace be upon him). God created him from clay; then created him a companion Hawa (Eve) - peace be upon her. Then God blessed Hawa with two sons Habil (Abel) and Qabil (Cain). Then God created two girls, not from the stock of Adam and Hawa, but as a new creation. Habil and Qabil married these two girls and from them children were created, and consequently cousins married each other and so the human race started to increase.
Question:
Who is the last of all the prophets?
Answer:
The last prophet is the Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (God’s blessings and peace be upon him and his progeny).
Question:
How many prophets are there?
Answer:
Their number is 124,000. From among them are Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and ‘Isa (Jesus). These four prophets together with the Prophet of Islam are superior to the rest of mankind.
Question:
What is the difference between prophets and other human beings?
Answer:
The difference is that the prophets receive direct revelation from God Almighty and are given commands either concerning their own affairs or commands to be proclaimed to other people. The rest of humanity do not receive such divine revelations. On the contrary, they are charged to follow the prophets.
Question:
How do we know that one who claims prophethood is telling the truth?
Answer:
We know the truthfulness of the claimant of prophethood by means of miracles. Miracles consist of supernatural feats that a prophet performs which indicate that he is from God, since if he were not he could never perform such acts.
Question:
Give examples of miracles.
Answer:
For example:
1- Ibrahim (peace be upon him) was cast into the fire but did not get burnt.
2- Musa (peace be upon him) would throw down his staff and it would turn into a huge serpent. Then when he picked it up it would return to its original condition.
3- ‘Isa (peace be upon him) would heal the blind and lepers and by the will of God would bring the dead to life.
4- Muhammad (God’s blessings and peace be upon him and his progeny) split the moon into two and brought the Qur’an the like of which man has been incapable of producing.
Question:
How is it that man has been incapable of producing something like the Qur’an?
Answer:
The Qur’an itself has challenged mankind and invited him to bring forth something like itself. “Say: If men and jinn should meet together to bring the like of this Qur’an, they could not bring the like of it, even if they came to the aid of one another” [17: 88].
And when they were incapable of producing the like of the whole Qur’an, they were challenged to produce only ten suras (chapters) like the suras in the Qur’an: “Bring you then ten forged suras like it…”[11: 13].
And when again they remained incapable, they were challenged to bring forth only one sura like a Qur’anic sura: “Then produce a sura like it”[2: 23].
But men of that day, even though they were eloquent and spoke the purest Arabic and were outstanding poets and masters of rhetoric could not meet these challenges and in the end fought the Prophet since they could not produce even the like of the smallest sura, al-Kawthar [no. 108], which says:
“In the Name of God, the most Merciful, the most Compassionate.
Verily, we have granted you [Oh Muhammad] al-kawthar. Therefore turn in prayer to your Lord and sacrifice [to Him]. For he who makes you angry will be cut off.”
Question:
What are the special attributes of the prophets?
Answer:
Prophets, Imams and angels all share the same quality, namely they are free from error and every transgression or sin. Throughout their entire life they never disobey God Almighty or commit a sin, since they are aware of the majesty of God Almighty,
and at the same time are also utterly aware of the detestable nature of disobedience: both these factors prevent them from committing any transgression. Similarly the Prophets and the Imams possess the finest of virtues like courage, generosity, sense of honour, noble-mindedness and so on and they are free from every ignoble trait.
They have to be absolutely the best of the people of their time and therefore it is incumbent upon people to follow them.
Question:
Do Prophets and Imams possess some degree of divinity just as Christians have claimed regarding Christ?
Answer:
Absolutely not, for Prophets and Imams are human. However they receive guidance from God Almighty and possess the quality of freedom from error and from every transgression and sin as well as possessing all the other virtues. Christ too was nothing but a human being: Almighty God created him from his mother without a father, just as God Almighty created Adam and Hawa without father or mother.
RESURRECTION
Question:
What is the third fundamental from among the Islamic fundamental beliefs?
Answer:
The third fundamental belief of Islam is resurrection: this means that after the destruction of the world, and after the death of everything alive, God Almighty will again bring people to life, so that He may give them the recompense for what they did in this life - one who has believed and done good deeds, his recompense will be paradise, and as to one who did not believe or was disobedient, hell shall be his end.
Question:
Many people do not know the truth being either incapable of finding it out because their powers of understanding are weak, like the mentally deranged or the mentally retarded, or because they are far from the centres of religion and therefore, since they have little contact with the truth, have not heard about the true faith. Are such people unbelievers and will therefore go to hell?
Answer:
Not at all. No one will enter the fires of hell except those who have received clear knowledge about Islam, so the mentally deranged and those incapable of finding out the truth will be examined at the resurrection on the day of judgement. Those who pass the test on that day will go to heaven but as to those who fail, their lot will be hell.
Question:
If man dies does he stop functioning until the day of resurrection?
Answer:
No, for when man dies his body decays but his spirit stays alive. If he is a believer and has done good deeds in this life he will be in a state of happiness after death. However if he was an unbeliever and disobedient to God's commands, his spirit will undergo suffering.
Question:
What is the name of the world after this life, but before the day of resurrection?
Answer:
Its name is “Barzakh”. In this way man, from the beginning to the end, encounters six worlds:
The world prior to being human, for every man is first dust, then becomes plant or animal, and then when man eates of them his seed will be formed.
The world of humanity, which starts with the implantation of the sperm in the mother’s womb until a human is born into this life.
The physical world, in which we are at present and where we have obligations to perform. It is how we carry out these duties and obligations that determines our future destiny.
The world of Barzakh.
The world of resurrection (day of recompense) the duration of which, according to the Qur’an, is fifty thousand years.
The final world which will be paradise or hell.
Question:
Is there proof for the survival of the soul?
Answer:
The survival of the soul has become a widespread subject for study and special courses have been drawn up in western countries and elsewhere. The book by Abu Madyan, and many other works that have been written about the soul and the spirit, the summoning up of souls, dreams and similar phenomena can be profitably referred to.
This is from the experimental and ocular point of view but from the philosophical and auditory angle there are numerous proofs for the survival of the soul and for the resurrection that have been set out in books of Islamic philosophy.
PARADISE
Question:
What is paradise?
Answer:
Paradise is a place which God Almighty has prepared for the believers who perform righteous deeds and which man enters after his soul returns to the body he had in this life. In paradise there is every kind of pleasure: gardens and mansions and pure breezes, vitality, chaste wives, delectable foods and delicious beverages.
If man enters paradise he shall remain there forever and there does not exist in it anything that troubles mankind in this life like poverty, disease, fatigue, jealousy, tribulations, oppression, incapacity, hunger, nudity, thirst, distress, enmity and animosity. The inhabitants of paradise shall remain young forever, in a state of bliss and happiness.
Paradise is extensive and vast, so much so that every man is given a palace bigger than the whole world. He will be put in charge of companies of angels, but greater than all those blessings is that God will be pleased with him: “and best of all is God's goodly pleasure”[9:72].
In this way, it is incumbent upon man throughout his life to strive for that place and that he should only get from this world what suffices him, and on no account should he perform impious deeds or disobey God, so that he does not lose that eternal and everlasting recompense.
HELL
Question:
What is hell?
Answer:
Hell is the opposite of paradise. It is a place that God has made ready for unbelievers and the disobedient and therein exist a variety of physical and psychological tortures. Man in hell is in a state of torment and punishment and has to deal with chains of fire and unquenchable flames - flames that will never ever be put out. Therein he is in a despised and lowly state and God has destined that one sent to hell shall spend his time in eternal torment and shall not die: “As often as their skins are roasted through we shall change them for other skins”[4: 56].
Therefore it is obligatory upon man that he should strive in this world with all his strength so that he does not enter into hell. That place is for the obstinate of whom God says: “But if they returned [to the world], they would revert to that which they were forbidden”[6: 28].
THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT
Question:
What is the Day of Judgement?
Answer:
After man dies he remains for a long time in the state of Barzakh and then God Almighty brings him to life for God’s court of justice. Therein all created beings will gather and each will be given his own dossier and in it all his pious and bad deeds will have been recorded. “So, he who has done an atom’s weight of good shall see it. And he who has done an atom’s weight of evil shall see it”[99: 7,8].
When he looks at his record of deeds and sees that all his actions, hidden and apparent, have been written in it, and even his thoughts and the misgivings of his heart have not been omitted, he is surprised and says, “Ah! Woe to us! What sort of book is this! It does not omit a small thing nor a big thing but numbers them (all)”[18: 49].
Then the scales are set up and the Prophets and their successors and the martyrs stand up to intercede at the trials and judgements: whoever was a true believer and did good acts, his lot shall be paradise and, as previously mentioned, the day of resurrection will be equivalent to fifty thousand years.
THE JUSTICE OF GOD
Question:
What are the remaining beliefs that are fundamental to Islam?
Answer:
They are justice; the imamate; qada’ and qadar; compulsion or free will.
Question:
What is meant by justice?
Answer:
Justice means that God is fair and is not unjust to anyone, and does not commit any shameful act. Whatever oppression, cruelty and evil we see in the world is from human kind. For example, if one man kills another this murder is an evil act and an injustice that has been committed by man, not by God.
Question:
It is true that an aggressive act committed by an individual on another is not from God, but how do you account for natural disasters like floods, storms, earthquakes, diseases and so on that humans have no hand in, and which, in the main part, result in death and misery for innocent people?
Answer:
These matters which people have no hand in can be explained in this way: for the transgressors it is a chastisement, and for the innocent it is a warning, and they will be recompensed in the hereafter.
IMAMATE
Question:
What is the imamate?
Answer:
The meaning of the imamate is that the greatest of all the prophets, Muhammad (God’s blessings and peace be upon him and his progeny) appointed by the command of God Almighty successors to take his place after his demise in guiding the people and showing them the true path. Their number is twelve, in succession.
Question:
Who are the 12 Imams?
Answer:
- Imam ‘Ali, Amir al-Mu’minin
- Imam al-Hasan
- Imam al-Husayn
- Imam Zayn al-‘Abidin
- Imam Muhammad al-Baqir
- Imam Ja‘far al-Sadiq
- Imam Musa al-Kadhim
- Imam ‘Ali al-Rida
- Imam Muhammad al-Jawad
- Imam ‘Ali al-Hadi
- Imam Hasan al-‘Askari
- Imam al-Hujja al-Mahdi
Question:
What are their characteristics?
Answer:
These Imams, as is of course the case with the Prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatima al-Zahra’, are all protected by God from every sin and transgression and they stand at the highest level of virtue and holiness. The difference between the Prophet Muhammad and the Imams is that the Prophet was the recipient of revelation direct from God himself whereas this was not the case with the Imams.
Question:
What distinguishes the Imams from great discoverers and inventors?
Answer:
Apart from the fact that the Imams are God’s deputies (khulafa’ Allah) on earth and are at the highest peak of humanity, they also laid out the bases for a happy life and followed the correct way which would make such a life a reality. They showed clearly the path to a true humanity so that were people only to follow it, they would experience happiness in this world before they did so in the next. Is it not reasonable that whoever indicates the way to attain such a life should have a higher status than someone who introduces to mankind lighting or a new means of travelling about?
Question:
Explain the distinction and difference.
Answer:
A life of well-being and happiness, before anything else, depends on peace and security, freedom from want, knowledge, health and virtue. In contrast, war, poverty and ignorance, disease, crime and depravity in all its forms, result necessarily in distress.
Secondly it depends upon factors that make life more comfortable like aeroplanes for travelling, electricity for lighting and elevators for getting up into high buildings. These ways to make life easier are to be contrasted with the use of animals for travelling and candles for lighting, and so on.
It is clear that these means alone cannot be the means of welfare and prosperity for man unless life is so structured that it will bring about happiness and well-being. What is better, having peace, even if man lights a candle to see, or having electricity, when man at the same time is plagued by wars and anarchy?
The Prophets and Imams made clear to the people the way to a life of well-being which is the most important thing. Thus it is a mistake to compare the virtues of anyone else to their virtues even though he be an inventor or a scientist.
Question:
Is it correct that Muslims believe that the twelfth imam, Imam al- Mahdi is still alive? If so, what is the use?
Answer:
Yes. The truthful Prophet and the Imams have testified that he remains alive, to appear at the end of time and fill the world with justice after it had been full of oppression. He will establish peace everywhere as well as bringing prosperity, knowledge, health and virtuous living which will turn this world into a small paradise.
Question:
Is it possible for anyone to have such a long life?
Answer:
It is indeed possible, for history has related that some people have lived for centuries. Also modern knowledge has proved the possibility of survival. So much so that in the west at the present time research is being specifically carried out to this end. And more than all this, is the truth that God Almighty is omnipotent and all-powerful.
Question:
What is the meaning of qada’ and qadar?
Answer:
Just as an engineer draws out plans for a building, provides the necessary equipment and materials, and gives the workers the necessary instructions for carrying out the work, similarly God too has drawn out a wise plan for this world called qadar.
Thereafter, he has also provided the equipment and materials by means of which work may be carried out, that is qada’. After that, He ordered people to do good and forbad them from doing evil and now whoever does a good thing will be rewarded for it, and whoever does something bad will be punished.
Thus God in the Holy Qur’an says: “If you do good, you do good [only] for yourselves, but if you transgress [you transgress] against yourselves”[17: 7].
Question:
What is the meaning of jabr and ikhtiyar: compulsion and free will? Is man forced in his actions or does he possess free will? Answer:
Jabr is the opposite of ikhtiyar. For example, a healthy person can choose to move his hand about at will but the movement of the hand of a person afflicted with a trembling ailment is involuntary.
Man has freedom of choice in his actions: he can do good or do bad as he wishes. However, man has no freedom of choice in matters like being male or female, white or black, handsome or ugly and so on.
Question:
Is God Almighty involved at all in the actions of mankind?
Answer:
Yes, and the meaning of that is: means and materials are from God and the action is from man. For instance, if someone builds a house, the labourers, the aptitude of the contractor, the land on which the house is to be built and the building materials are the result of God's creation whereas the actual process of constructing the house is the work of man. So it is with man's actions.
If he does something good, prayer for example, he deserves a reward for that but if he does something bad, like adultery, he deserves to be punished.