Basic Beliefs





 Regarding belief, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "It is to affirm your faith in God, His angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Last Day, and to believe in the Divine Destiny whether it be good or bad." (reported in the books Bukhari and Muslim) The following beliefs are described as the 'six articles of faith'. They are the central beliefs of Islam.



1) One God

 Allah is the creator of the Universe. The Almighty, All knowing, Most Merciful, the Wise, the Loving. Allah is One with no partners.

 The following Qur'an verse is one of the most important:

 ''Say: He is Allah, the One and Only; Allah, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him.'' (Qur'an 112)


* We believe Allah is self existent. There is no beginning or end to His existence.
* He is the creator of the universe.
* There is no god except Him. He is alone, with no partner.
* He does not beget nor was He begotten.
* He is Eternal. He and His attributes will never cease.
* He has no comparison. He is Exalted above the resemblance of created beings.
* Allah is the Self-Subsisting - His existence does not need anything; He is Self-Existing and Self-Sufficient; everybody depends on Him. “All faces shall be humbled before Him, the Living, the Self-Subsisting, Eternal.” (Quran 20:111)
* He sees and hears everything. He speaks. His knowledge encompasses everything.
* Allah alone is the forgiver of sins and acceptor of repentance.
* Allah is the sole Provider. He gives Provision to whomsoever He wills and withholds provision from whoever He wills. He is most Just.
* Allah alone gives guidance. He alone is the Guardian and disposer of all affairs. No slumber nor sleep can overtake Him. He does not tire in the Guarding of the Creation.
* Allah is the Creator of all actions, may it be disbelief or faith, worship or sin, obedience or disobedience.
* He is pleased with virtuous acts and displeased with evil acts. Allah swt has created the angels, jinn, light, darkness- whatever takes place in the universe takes place by Allah's will.
* He is free from Incarnation. This means Allah does not become manifested in human form, nor can any creation be manifested in Allah.
* Nothing is incumbent on Him, He isn't compelled to do anything.
* He is free from all weaknesses and defects.
* The attributes of Allah are inseparable from Him- His attributes are eternal.
* Allah has not commanded us to do anything we cannot bear.




2) Angels

 "Praise be to God, Who created (out of nothing) the heavens and the earth, Who made the angel messengers with wings - two, or three, or four (pairs) and adds to Creation as He pleases: for God has power over all things." (Qur'an 35:1)

 Angels are beings that Allah created from light. They cannot be seen by the eye and act in accordance with Allah's will and commandments. They are constantly engaged in the duties Allah has given them. Four of these angels mentioned in the Qur'an or hadith are:

* Jibril (Gabriel) who Allah sent to reveal the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
* Israfil (Raphael) is responsible for the blowing of the horn, to mark the end of the world and the Judgement Day.
* The Angel of Death, who comes to individuals when it is their time to die.
* Mika'eel (Michael) is the angel appointed in charge of rains, weather and providence.

 Every person has angels with them recording their actions. Allah says in the Qur'an "(Remember) that the two receivers (recording angels) receive (each human being), one sitting on the right and one on the left (to note his or her actions. Not a word does he (or she) utter but there is a watcher by him ready (to record it)." (Qur'an 50:16-18)

 Before Allah created the first man, Adam, peace be upon him, He also created another type of beings called Jinn. He made them from smokeless fire. The Jinn are living among us but we cannot see them. They have free will like us, so some are good and some aren't. The Devil (in Arabic Shaitan) whose name is Iblis, was not a fallen angel, he was one of the Jinn and like in the Bible he was disobedient to Allah and was sent out of heaven. He swore to lead people from the straight path:

 ''We created you and then formed you and then We said to the angels, "Prostrate before Adam," and they prostrated-except for Iblis. He was not among those who prostrated. [Allah] said, "What prevented you from prostrating when I commanded you to?" He [Iblis] replied, "I am better than him. You created me from fire and You created him from clay." He [Allah] said, "Descend from Heaven. It is not for you to be arrogant in it. So get out! You are one of the abased." He [Iblis] said, "Grant me a reprieve until the day they are raised up." He [Allah] said, "You are one of the reprieved." He [Iblis] said, "By Your misguidance of me, I will lie in ambush for them on your straight path." [Iblis said,] "Then I will come at them, from in front of them and behind them, from their right and from their left. You will not find most of them thankful." He [Allah] said, "Get out of it, reviled and driven out. As for those of them who follow you, I will fill up Hell with every one of you." (Qur'an 7:11-18)

 The existence of Jinn explains some people's psychic ability because the Jinn are able to know things about us and overhear things that will happen to us and pass the information on to people. They also mix truth with lies, as many Jinn are mischievous.





3) Prophets


 ''We believe in God, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes; and that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and that which was given to all prophets from their Lord. We make no discrimination between one and another of them, and we bow to God.'' (Qur'an 2:136)

 We believe in all of the Prophets through whom God's revelations were brought to mankind. These prophets include Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, Ezekiel, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, Zachariah, John the Baptist, Jesus, and Muhammad, who was the final one and summed up all that had been revealed before. Peace be upon all of the Prophets.

 Every known nation has had a warner or messenger, sent from Allah Almighty. The Holy Qur'an says "And for every nation there is a messenger." (10:47) "And there is not a people but a warner has gone among them." (35:24)'

 We believe that:

* All of the Prophets are free from sin, truthful and honest. As Allah says in the Qur'an ''Verily over My servants, no authority shall you (satan) have''. (15:42)

* The ranks of some of the Prophets are higher than others as found in the Qur'an. ''We favoured some of these Messengers above others. God spoke to some; others He raised in rank..'' (Qur'an 2:253) Scholars believe that our beloved Prophet (pbuh) is the noblest and highest in rank amongst the prophets of Allah. This is supported by Qur'anic verses such as 3:81 which says '' God took a pledge from the Prophets, saying 'If, after I have bestowed Scripture and wisdom upon you, a messenger comes confirming what you have been given, you must believe in him and support him...''

* Allah Almighty has chosen whoever He willed to be Prophets and Messengers.

* There is no Prophet after Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

* The Prophets were given miracles. Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham, peace be upon him) was thrown into the fire and it became cool. Allah parted the water for Musa (Moses, peace be upon him) to cross. Prophet Isa (Jesus, peace be upon him) through the will of Allah, restored life to the dead and restored eyesight to the blind.


4) Scriptures

 Muslims believe in the Qur'an, that was revealed to Prophet Muhammad and we also believe that God revealed the Torah to Moses, the Psalms to David and the Gospel to Jesus (peace be upon them all). However, we believe that the Christian and Jewish scripture we have today is corrupted and not a reliable reflection of their original teachings.


5) Judgement Day

Allah says in the Qur'an:

 ''Did you then think that We had created you in jest (without any purpose), and that you would not be returned to Us (in the Hereafter)? So, God is exalted, the True King. None has the right to be worshipped but Him... '' (Quran, 23:115-116)

 We believe that after we die, we do not cease to exist. We pass onto another realm of existence known as Barzakh. It is an intermediate life between this one and our final destination. Souls are waiting in this realm until the Day of Judgement, when Allah will resurrect us and we will all be brought before Allah to be judged. We will be shown all the deeds we have ever done. Following this, people will either enter Paradise or Hell. Judgement day is going to be extremely long and not a 'day' as we know it in this life. On Judgement day we will feel like we only lived this life for a short period of time: ''He (God) will say, “How many years did you stay on the earth?” They will say: “We stayed a day or part of a day....” (Quran, 23:112-113)

 Before the end of the world there will be major and minor signs as predicted in the Qur'an and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)


6) Belief in Predestination

  Allah knows all that has ever happened and all that will happen to us. He is outside of time and space so the laws of time to not apply to Him. In Islam, it is taught as Qada (decree) and Qadar (destiny). The decree of Allah is how Allah has specified things will be by His will. The destiny is the bringing about of this decree.

 Whilst every child is still in the womb, their life is recorded, how it will be. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “Each one of you is constituted in the womb of the mother for forty days, and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write four things. He is ordered to write down his deeds, his livelihood, his (date of) death, and whether he will be blessed or wretched (in religion). Then the soul is breathed into him…” (Bukhari).

 Allah has given us free will to make choices but He already knows the decisions we will make and the path our lives will take.


Beliefs About The Creation Of The Universe

 Allah recorded the destiny of mankind before He created the heavens and the earth. Imran ibn Husayn (r.a.) narrated that there was Allah and there was nothing that preceded him. His throne was upon the water. He inscribed everything on the Preserved Tablet, and then created the heavens and the earth. (Bukhari, Tirmidhi, Ahmad)

 Scholars agree that Allah created the universe in six days. This is evident from the Qur'an: ''He created the heavens and whatsoever is between them in six days, then mounted He the throne.'' (Qur'an 25:59) ''He is (Allah) Who created the heavens and the earth in six days and His throne was upon the water.'' (Qur'an 11:7).

 However, they differ on the nature of these days. They could be like our days or each day could be like a thousand years.


''Allah is He who made for you the earth a resting place and the heaven a canopy, and He fashioned you, and fashioned your forms so well, and He provided you with the good things. Such is Allah your Lord, so blessed be Allah, the Lord of the world.''

                                   (Qur'an 40:64)