Articles of faith
According to
Islamic belief, Allah is the proper name of God,and humble submission to His
Will, Divine Ordinances and Commandments is the pivot of the Muslim faith.
"He is the only God, creator of the universe, and the judge of
humankind." "He is unique (wāḥid) and inherently one (ʾaḥad),
all-merciful and omnipotent."The Qur'an declares "the reality of
Allah, His inaccessible mystery, His various names, and His actions on behalf
of His creatures."
In Islamic
tradition, there are 99 Names of God (al-ʾasmāʾ al-ḥusnā lit. meaning:
"The best names") each of which evoke a distinct characteristic of
Allah. All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive divine
name. Among the 99 names of God, the most famous and most frequent of these
names are "the Merciful" (ar-raḥmān) and "the Compassionate" (al-raḥīm).
Islam's most
fundamental concept is a rigorous monotheism, called tawhīd (Arabic: توحيد). God is described in chapter 112 of the
Qur'an as: "Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; And there is none like unto Him."(112:1-4)
Muslims repudiate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus, comparing it to polytheism, but accept Jesus as a prophet. In Islam,
God is beyond all comprehension and Muslims are not expected to visualize God.
Allāh is the term with no plural or gender used by Muslims and Arabic-speaking
Christians and Jews meaning the one God, while ʾilāh (Arabic: إله) is the term used for a deity or a god in
general.
Angels
Belief in
angels is fundamental to the faith of Islam. The Arabic word for angel (Arabic: ملاك malak) means "messenger", like its counterparts in Hebrew (malakh) and Greek (angelos). According to the Qur'an,
angels do not possess free
will, and worship God in total
obedience. Angels' duties include communicating revelations from God, glorifying God, recording every
person's actions, and taking a person's soul at the time of death. They are also thought
to intercede on man's behalf. The Qur'an describes angels
as "messengers with wings—two, or three, or four (pairs): He [God] adds to
Creation as He pleases..."
Revelations
The Islamic
holy books are the records which most Muslims believe were dictated by God to
various prophets. Muslims believe that parts of the previously revealed
scriptures, the Tawrat (Torah) and the Injil (Gospels), have become distorted—either in interpretation, in text, or both.The
Qur'an (literally, “Reading” or “Recitation”) is
viewed by Muslims as the final revelation and literal Word of God and is widely
regarded as the finest piece of
literature work in the Arabic language.
Prophets
Muslims identify the prophets of Islam (Arabic: نبي nabī ) as those humans chosen by God
to be His messengers. According to the Qur'an the descendants of Abraham and Imran were chosen by God to bring the "Will
of God" to the peoples of the nations. Muslims believe that prophets are
human and not divine, though some are able to perform miracles to prove their
claim. Islamic theology says that all of God's messengers preached the message
of Islam—submission to the Will of God. The Qur'an mentions the names of
numerous figures considered prophets in
Islam, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus, among other. There are 25 Honorable
prophets mentioned in the Quran. Muslims believe that God finally sent Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) (Seal
of the Prophets) to convey
the divine message to the whole world (to sum up and to finalize the word of
God). In Islam, the "normative" example of Muhammad's life (peace and blessings be upon him) is called
the Sunnah (literally "trodden path"). This
example is preserved in traditions known as hadith ("reports"), which recount his
words, his actions, and his personal characteristics. Hadith Qudsi is a sub-category of hadith, regarded as the
words of God repeated by Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) differing from the Quran in that they are
"expressed in Muhammad's words" (peace and blessings be upon him), whereas the Quran are the
"direct words of God". The classical Muslim jurist ash-Shafi'i (d. 820) emphasized the importance of the
Sunnah in Islamic law, and Muslims are encouraged to emulate Muhammad's (peace and blessings be upon him) actions
in their daily lives. The Sunnah is seen as crucial to guiding interpretation
of the Qur'an.
Resurrection
and judgment
Belief in the
"Day of Resurrection", Yawm al-Qiyāmah (Arabic: يوم القيامة) is also crucial for Muslims. They believe
the time of Qiyāmah is preordained by God but unknown to man. The trials
and tribulations preceding and during the Qiyāmah are
described in the Qur'an and the hadith, and also in the commentaries of scholars. The Qur'an emphasizes bodily
resurrection on that Day, a break from
the pre-Islamic
Arabian understanding
of death.
Predestination
In accordance
with the Islamic belief in predestination, or divine preordainment (al-qadā
wa'l-qadar), God has full knowledge and control over all that occurs. This
is explained in Qur'anic verses such as "Say: 'Nothing will happen to us
except what Allah has decreed for us: He is our protector'..." For
Muslims, everything in the world that occurs, good or evil, has been
preordained and nothing can happen unless permitted by God. According to Muslim
theologians, although events are pre-ordained, man possesses free will in that
he has the faculty to choose between right and wrong, and is thus responsible
for his actions. According to Islamic tradition, all that has been decreed by
God is written in al-Lawh al-Mahfūz, the "Preserved Tablet".
