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Keystage 2 - 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.

ANGELS

Muslims believe in the existence of angels. They are forces created by God to carry out His orders. They are a functional creation who have been assigned duties e.g. recording deeds of huuman beings, protecting him/her, conveying messages.....
They are not visible to the physical eye except when they assume a visible form.
 Some of the angels mentioned by name are:
Jibraeel (Gabriel) is the angel who conveys God's messages to the Prophets. It was he who came to Lady Maryam (Mary) in the form of a man to announce the birth of a son. It was Jibraeel who brought the revelations of the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.).

The angel through whom God sends sustenance to His creatures is called Mikaa'il (Michael).

Izraa'il is the angel of death. He removes the souls from the bodies of human beings.

LIFE AFTER DEATH & THE DAY OF JUDGEMENT

The imminence of death and life after it are a fundamental belief of Islam. The Qur'an repeatedly reminds mankind of a post death existence which will be shaped by one's actions in this world which is the place of action and interaction.

Our intentions and the accompanying actions will be relived in the next life which will be subject to neither time nor space. Thus we participate in scheduling our future life after death by our actions in this world. Any excuses given later on for wrong doing will be of no avail when confronted with absolute reality.

Muslims believe in physical resurrection, in judgement and heaven and hell. Islam teaches that on the Last Day - the day of judgement, the world will come to an end. The scale of destruction on the day of judgement is beyond imagination. The entire cosmos will be destroyed. All mankind will be raised and asked to account for their lives.

When the heavens are split open,
When the planets are dispersed,
When the seas are poured forth,
When the graves are laid open,
Then each soul shall know it's works, what it had sent before (it) and what it had left behind........Qur'an  82:1-5

Heaven and hell in the Qur'an are described as physical states - Heaven as a garden of tranquillity and peace and hell as a scorching fire that is never put out.  

AMBIYA (Singular NABI) - PROPHETS

According to Islamic terminology a Nabi is a human being who is appointed by God to guide mankind.

Muslims believe that God sent 124,000 Prophets to guide mankind. The first of them being Prophet Adam (p.b.u.h.) and the final one being Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.).

Many of these Prophets were made responsible for only one or two villages, some even for only one family. Others were sent to a bigger area or to one tribe but none were sent for the whole of mankind as was Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.)

A Prophet according to Muslims must be the most perfect person of his time. He must be divinely sent and therefore cannot have been selected or elected by people. He must not do anything to displease God and therefore does not commit any sins. He also must be able to perform miracles. e.g. Prophet Musa (Moses) (p.b.u.h) could with the help of God change his staff into a serpent, Prophet Isa (Jesus) (p.b.u.h.) cured the sick and raised the dead to life, Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) brought the Qur'an which remains an unanswered literary challenge to the world to this day and will remain so.

All the Prophets taught the same basic message. They preached the belief and worship of the one and only God, the accountability of life after death, and a common code of life. They all worked at preparing humanity for the final message which was to be brought by Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) which could be only understood with reasoning and the intellect.
Thus with the arrival of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.), the manifestation of God's will to guide mankind had reached it's culminating point. Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.) is therefore known to Muslims as The Prophet.

Believing in the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.), therefore means believing in him as the perfect man. He is the example on which Muslims base their lives, following his footsteps.
"...And for you (O people) in the Prophet of God (Muhammad) is the perfect example.."  Qur'an 33:21

PROPHETS MENTIONED BY NAME IN THE QUR'AN

1. Adam (p.b.u.h.)
2. Idrees (p.b.u.h.) - Enoch
3. Nuh (p.b.u.h.) - Noah
4. Hud (p.b.u.h.)
5. Saalih (p.b.u.h.)
6. Ibraheem (p.b.u.h.) - Abraham
7. Lut (p.b.u.h.)  - Lot
8. Ismaail (p.b.u.h.) - Ishma'il
9. Is-haaq (p.b.u.h.) - Isaac
10. Ya'qub (p.b.u.h.) - Jacob
11. Yusuf (p.b.u.h.) - Joseph
12. Ayyub (p.b.u.h.) - Job
13. Shuayb (p.b.u.h.) - Jethro
14. Musa (p.b.u.h.) - Moses
15. Harun (p.b.u.h.) - Aaron
16. Ilyaas (p.b.u.h.) - Elijah
17. Ilyasa (p.b.u.h.) - Elisha
18. Dhul Kifl (p.b.u.h.) - Ezekiel
19. Dhul Qurnain (p.b.u.h.)
20. Uzayr (p.b.u.h.) - Ezra
21. Dawud (p.b.u.h.) - David
22. Sulayman (p.b.u.h.) - Solomon
23. Luqman (p.b.u.h.) - Eosop
24. Yunus (p.b.u.h.) - Jonah
25. Zakariyya (p.b.u.h.) - Zechariah
26. Yahya (p.b.u.h.) - John (the baptist)
27. Isa (p.b.u.h.) - Jesus
28. Muhammad (p.b.u.h.)