07-07-2003, 02:27 PM
http://www.islamtoday.net/english/showme.c...&sub_cat_id=569
“A Man Approached Us” (part 3)
Then he said: “Tell me about faith.”
Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) replied: “It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His Messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree, both the good and bad of it.”
He said: “You have spoken the truth.”
The six articles of faith:
In this hadîth, the Prophet (peace be upon him) is asked to define faith. He does so by mentioning six things that a Muslim must believe. It is required that a Muslim believes in these sis matters with conviction and resolve. If a person rejects any one of these tenets, he will be outside the fall of Islam.
The first five of these articles are mentioned together in the Qur’ân.
Allah says: “Righteousness is of one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the Prophets.” [sûrah al-Baqarah: 177]
Allah says: “The Messenger believes in what is revealed to him from his Lord as do the believers. All of them believe in Allah, His angels, His books, and His Messengers. They say: ‘We make no distinction between any of the Messengers.’ They say: ‘We hear and we obey. Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the final destination’.” [sûrah al-Baqarah: 285]
The first article – belief in Allah:
Islam is the religion of total submission to Allah. It emphasizes that Allah is One, the Creator of all that exists, and that He alone has the right to be worshipped. In our testimony of faith we say: “There is no god but Allah” and affirm our monotheism. Our monotheistic belief can be broken down into three categories:
1. The Oneness of Allah in His Lordship: We must believe that Allah alone is the Creator of all things and He alone causes everything to happen. No one shares in His power. Nothing can go against Him and nothing can resist His decree.
2. The devotion of all worship to Allah alone: This is the core belief of Islam. This was the Message proclaimed by all the Prophets and Messengers of Islam sent by Allah throughout the ages. They came with the purpose of calling people away from the worship of creation and to direct them toward the worship of the Creator only.
Allah says: “We had not sent a Messenger before you (O Muhammad) except that we revealed to him that there is no God but Me so worship Me.” [sûrah al-Anbiyâ’: 25]
Allah informs us that the sole purpose of the creation of humanity is to worship Him alone. Allah says: “I did not create humanity and the Jinn except to worship Me.” [sûrah al-Dhâriyât : 56]
3. The uniqueness of Allah in His names and attributes: It is incumbent upon us as Muslims to believe in all the names and attributes of Allah that Allah ascribes to Himself in the Qur’ân and that His Messenger (peace be upon him) ascribes to Him in the Sunnah. Likewise, it is forbidden for us as Muslims to ascribe to Allah any attributes that Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) do not inform us about. We do not ascribe to Allah the attributes of created things nor do we liken His attributes to those of created things. We accept with full belief and conviction what Allah tells us about Himself.
The second article – belief in the angels of Allah
A Muslim must believe in the existence of angels. They are creations of Allah who are powerful and always do precisely as Allah commands them. Allah has revealed to us the names and the duties of some of the angels. Gabriel and Michael are among the angels mentioned in the Qur’ân. For instance, it is among Gabriel’s duties to take Allah’s Revelation to the Prophets and Messengers (peace be upon them).
The third article – belief in the books of Allah
Muslims believe in all of the original scriptures that Allah revealed to His select Messengers (peace be upon them). A Muslim must believe in every scripture mentioned by Allah in the Qur’ân. The scriptures that Allah mentions in the Qur’ân are as follows:
1. The Scrolls that were revealed to Abraham (peace be upon him)
2. The Torah that was revealed to Moses (peace be upon him)
3. The Psalms that were revealed to David (peace be upon him)
4. The Gospel that was revealed to Jesus (peace be upon him)
5. The Qur’ân that was revealed to Muhammad (peace be upon him) and which has been preserved to this day in its original form.
Muslims do not consider the Bible that is presently in circulation in various editions and versions to be an accurate representation of the older scriptures that were revealed before the Qur’ân. Allah did not attend to preserving the previously revealed books from corruption and substitution. Instead, He left their preservation to those upon whom He sent the books. Allah says: “Verily we sent down the Torah containing guidance and light, by which the Prophets who submitted themselves to Allah’s will would judge the Jews. Likewise judged the priests and the rabbis, for they were entrusted with preserving the Book of Allah.” [sûrah al-Mâ`idah; 44]
For this reason, these books were not spared from corruption and substitution, as is clearly stated in the Qur’ân. Moreover, many of the followers and scholars of the other religions admit that their books have been tampered with.
As for the Qur’ân, Allah has taken its preservation upon Himself. Allah says: “Verily we have sent down the remembrance, and verily we are its preservers.”
What remains of the previous scriptures is a mixture of truth and falsehood. The contents of those scriptures can be broken down into three categories. The first category is that of matters the Qur’ân and Sunnah have confirmed. We consequently believe in them and affirm their authenticity. The second category includes all those matters that contradict the teachings of the Qur’ân and Sunnah. In these instances, we are certain of the inauthenticity of these matters and reject them. The third category comprises those matters that the Qur’ân and Sunnah neither affirm nor deny. Our position with respect to these matters is a non-committal one; we neither believe in them nor disbelieve. Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said: “If the People of the Scripture relate something to you, neither believe them nor reject what they say.”
The fourth article – belief in the Messengers of Allah
A Muslim must believe in all of the Prophets and Messengers Sent by Allah to humanity. The Prophets, from Adam to Muhammad (peace be upon them), were all brothers in faith. They all called people to the same truth. Different Messengers came with different sets of laws that God Sent through them to guide and govern the people, but the essence of their teachings was the same. They all called people away from the worship of created things to the worship of the Creator.
Allah says: “We had sent to every nation a messenger telling them to worship Allah and to avoid false gods.” [sûrah al-Nahl: 36]
Muslims are required to love and respect all of the Prophets and Messengers (peace be upon them). If a person rejects or dislikes any one of them, that person is not a believer.
The fifth article – belief in the Last Day
All Muslims must believe, without doubt, that this present world will come to an end and then we will be resurrected to stand in judgment before our Lord and receive our recompense. It has been called the “Last Day” because there is no day after it, for the people of Paradise will go to their abode and the people of the Hellfire will go to theirs. From that day forth, our existence will be eternal.
Allah says: “Then verily after that you will die. Then on the Day of Judgment you will be resurrected.” [sûrah al-Mu’minûn: 15-16]
He says: “We will set down the scales of justice for the Day of Judgment so no soul will be wronged. Even if it has the weight of a mustard seed, we shall bring it to account, and Allah is sufficient to take account.” [sûrah al-Anbiyâ’: 47]
The sixth article – belief in divine decree
As discussed by Ibn Rajab, there are two levels to our belief in divine decree. The first is to believe that Allah’s knowledge encompasses all that has ever happened and all that ever will happen. Allah knows who will obey Him and who will disobey and who is destined for Paradise and who is destined for Hell.
The second level is belief that Allah created the very actions of His servants. He created every act of obedience and their disobedience that we perform. Allah says: “Allah created you and what you do.” [sûrah al-Sâffât: 96]
At the same time, we are obliged to believe in the free will of the human being. This does not in any way contradict the fact that Allah knows everything that will ever occur in creation. Someone might allege: “If Allah knows that I am going to commit a sin tomorrow, then it is unavoidable that I do so because Allah’s knowledge is infallible and what Allah knows to come to pass must in fact come to pass. Therefore, I have no free will. My free will is but an illusion.”
The answer to this contention is that Allah created within each of us the ability to formulate an intention. Allah wants us to be able to make our own choices. When a person makes a choice, Allah creates the actions and circumstances that allow the person’s intention to be carried out. Allah creates our actions, but He does not dictate those actions to us. It is Allah’s Will that human beings have free will. Allah is not always pleased with the decisions we make, but He wants us to be able to make these decisions of our own free choice. We will be rewarded or punished on account of the choices that we make. Allah knows what decisions we will make throughout our lives of our own free will. This does not mean that Allah is forcing our hands. We must understand that we cannot compare Allah’s knowledge to our own. His knowledge is unlimited. It is unconstrained by the limits of time the way our knowledge is constrained. Allah has knowledge of what we are going to decide tomorrow because His knowledge is unlimited and unconstrained, not because we are compelled in our actions and have no choice.
In the next and final installment, we will, in shâ’Allah, discuss excellence in faith and the signs of the Hour.