Keystage 1 - Islamic Beliefs
BELIEF
(Iman)*
*(pronounced Imaan)
Belief in the One and only God
Allah*
*(pronounced ullaah)
Allah is the Arabic name for the one and only God and unlike the word God which can be made into Gods and Goddess; there is no plural for the word Allah nor a feminine version.
Besides believing that there is only one God, Muslims believe that all other idols - physical or mental must be rejected.
The following extract from a book of sermons by Ali Ibn Abi Talib (the son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) summarises the belief:
"....we must believe that Allah is one,....He knows everything, hears everything and sees everything. He has no physical form, and cannot be seen by one's eyes in the world and in the hereafter...He is not in a particular place but there is no place where Allah is not present...He is Just (Fair) but He is also Kind and Merciful..."
Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) was with his companions one day when they saw a woman working at her spinning wheel. The Prophet greeted her and asked her how she came to believe in God.
The woman replied:
"Do you see this small spinning wheel? It does not spin unless I move it. How could this whole universe spin on its own?
Who changes the night and day?
Who changes the seasons?
There must be someone doing all these things. The one who looks after it has to be the one God who is All-Knowing and Almighty."
For Muslims, God is manifested through His attributes. The word Allah is the name of an essence of His 99 names and qualities like - The Merciful, The All-Knowing, The Creator....
These qualities and names form an infra-structure for human behaviour. This is why a Muslim will begin every act with the phrase - I begin in the name of God, the Kind, the Merciful. He/she will apply the appropriate name to the situation at hand.
Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) asked Muslims to adopt within them the characteristics of God. A person's soul responds to God and is drawn towards Him by the cultivation of these qualities. This therefore is the true meaning of 'submission to God'.
Muslims believe that God is just. In the Qur'an He says:
"...And Your Lord is not unjust to anyone..." Qur'an 18:49
To believe in the justice of God is to believe that:
i) He is fair to all and wrongs no-one.
ii) He never forces anyone to do wrong and then punishes them.
iii) He will always reward those who obey Him. | 
