Detailed Notes on All Religions

Resource Description

Islam

 

THE PRINCIPAL BELIEFS OF ISLAM

• It is almost impossible to separate beliefs from practices…
  • Beliefs are more aligned to the teachings of the Qur’an
  • Practices are more aligned to the 5 Pillars
• Islamic belief comes from Allah as revealed in the Qur’an
• There are 7 articles of its creed – Aqida ul-Islam – as revealed by Allah

There are 7 basic articles of faith set out in the Qur’an-:

1. Tawhid – the Oneness of Allah
2. Angels
3. The Sacred Books of Allah
4. Rusul – Prophets
5. Yawmuddin – The Day of Judgement
6. Al-Akhira – Life after death
7. Al-Qadr – Fate or predestination

These beliefs can also be classified according to the following three headings: –

• Tawhid – the Oneness of Allah (1 & 7)
• Rusul – Prophethood (2, 3 & 4)
• Akhira – Life after death (5 & 6)

TAWHID – THE ONENESS OF ALLAH

• The belief in – and the declaration of – the oneness and unity of God. This is recited as part of the five daily prayers: “He, Allah, is One.  Allah is he on whom all depend .  He begets not, nor is he begotten.  And none is like him.”
• Only Allah must be worshipped and no other being should be associated with Allah
• The sin of idolatry – shirk – is the worst of all sins
• Allah is all knowing and all powerful and the creator of all things- transcendent
• Yet Allah is also immanent- close to the heat of all,
• Tawhid does not allow pride or arrogance, possessions to be regarded as anything than transitory, and sees all things as purposeful – Allah has allowed them to happen
• As Allah is all knowing to act out of impure motives, or be hypocritical is wrong
• Ignorance is wrong as to submit to Allah requires you know his ways. 
• Belief in tawhid creates meaning for Muslims 

ANGELS

• They are created by God from light to serve and worship him – especially the Angel Gabriel (Jibril)
• Two guardian angels are assigned to each person
• Every thought and action will be recorded by these two angels (so that the life of a Muslim may be assessed after death)

 

SACRED BOOKS – QUR’AN

• Islam has two sacred texts – the Qur’an and the Hadith
• The Qur’an is the (last) book revealed by his (last) Prophet Muhammad – that is, it is the direct word of God
• The Qur’an contains all the essential teachings of Allah – the stories of the prophets and the consequences of good and evil deeds
• Thus, it covers how to live your life and also provides all the answers to the important questions; e.g. who we are and why we are here.
• It was told directly to Muhammad who committed it to memory.  
• It was finally written down by scribes exactly as it was received.  
• Hence it is the complete and reliable source of Revelation.
• The Qur’an contains 114 sura – chapters – subdivided into 6000 verses.
• It is written in Arabic – which is the language of Allah
• Many Muslims memorise and recite the Qur’an
• When translated, it provides only an approximate interpretation of the original words of God – and therefore, when true meanings are required, one must go the original Arabic.

SACRED BOOKS – HADITH

• The second of the Sacred Texts is the Hadith
• This book records the traditions words and practices of Muhammad – i.e. The Sunna.
• It is these traditions and practices upon which Muslims model their lives
• To most Muslims, there are 6 collections of Hadith which are all to be treated as true teachings of Muhammad
• These were written during the first three centuries of Islam

 

RUSUL – PROPHETS

• A prophet is a messenger from God
• God speaks to us through the prophets
• Islam believes that there were many prophets – 25 are named in the Qur’an including Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus – but that Muhammad was the last.  
• Yes – it believes that Jesus was a prophet – not God.