FAITH
Articles of Faith
1. Allah, the One and Only God
A Muslim believes in ONE GOD, Supreme and
Eternal, Infinite and Mighty, Merciful and Compassionate, Creator and Provider. God has neither father nor mother,
neither sons nor was He fathered. None equal to Him. He is God of all mankind, not of a special tribe
or race.
God is High and Supreme but He is very near to the pious thoughtful believers; He answers their prayers and helps
them. He loves the people who love Him and forgives
their sins. He gives them peace, happiness, knowledge and success. God is the Loving and the Provider,
the Generous, and the Benevolent, the Rich and the Independent,
the Forgiving and the Clement, the Patient and the Appreciative, the Unique and the Protector, the
Judge and the Peace. God's attributes are mentioned in the Quran.
God creates in man the mind to understand, the soul and conscience to be good and righteous, the
feelings and sentiments to be kind and humane. If we try to count His
favours upon us, we cannot, because they are countless. In return for all the great favours and mercy,
God does not need anything from us, because He is Needless and
Independent. God asks us to know Him, to love Him and to enforce His law for our benefit and our
own good.
2. Messengers and Prophets of God
A Muslim believes in all the Messengers and Prophets of
God without any discrimination. All messengers were mortals, human beings, endowed with Divine revelations
and appointed by God to teach mankind. The Holy Quran mentions the names of 25 messengers and prophets
and states that there are others. These include Noah,
Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. Their message is the same and it is Islam and
it came from One and the Same Source; God, and it is to submit
to His will and to obey His law; i.e., to become a Muslim.
3. Revelations and the Quran
A Muslim believes in all scriptures and revelations of God, as they
were complete and in their original versions. Allah, the Creator, has not left man without guidance for
the conduct of his life. Revelations were given to guide the people to the right path of Allah and
sent down to selected people, the prophets and messengers, to convey it
to their fellow men.
The message of all the prophet and messengers is the same. They all asked
the people of their time to obey and worship Allah and none other. Abraham, Moses, David,
Jesus and Muhammad who were revealed their own book of Allah, were sent at different times to bring
back straying human beings from deviation to the right course.
The Quran is the sacred book of the Muslims. It is the last book of guidance from Allah, sent down
to Muhammad, peace be upon him, through the angel Jibraeel
(Gabriel). Every word of it is the word of Allah. It was revealed over a period of 23 years in the
Arabic language. It contains 114 Surahs (chapters) and over 6000
verses.
The Quran deals with man and his ultimate goal in life. Its teachings cover all areas of this life
and the life after death. It contains principles, doctrines and directions for
every sphere of human life. The theme of the Quran broadly consists of three fundamental ideas: Oneness
of Allah, Prophethood and life after death. The success of
human beings on this earth and in the life hereafter depends on obedience to the Quranic teaching.
The Quran is unrivalled in its recording and preservation. The astonishing fact about this book of
Allah is that it has remained unchanged even to a dot over the past
fourteen hundred years. No scholar has questioned the fact that the Quran today is the same as it
was revealed. Muslims till today memorize the Quran word by word as
a whole or in part. Today, the Quran is the only authentic and complete book of Allah. Allah is protecting
it from being lost, corrupted or concealed.
4. The Angels
There are purely spiritual and splendid beings created by Allah. They require
no food or drink or sleep. They have no physical desires nor material needs. Angels spend
their time in the service of Allah. Each is charged with a certain duty. Angels cannot be seen by
the naked eyes. Knowledge and the truth are not entirely confined to
sensory knowledge or sensory perception alone.
5. The Day of Judgement
A Muslim believes in the Day of the Judgement. This world as we know it
will come to an end, and the dead will rise to stand for their final and fair trial. On that day, all
men and women from Adam to the last person will be resurrected from the state of death for judgement.
Everything we do, say, make, intend and think are accounted for
and kept in accurate records. They are brought up on the Day of Judgement.
One who believes in
life after death is not expected to behave against the Will of Allah. He will always bear in mind that Allah is watching all
his actions and the angels
are recording them.
People with good records will be generously rewarded and warmly welcomed to Allah's Heaven. People
with bad records will be fairly punished and cast into Hell. The
real nature of Heaven and Hell are known to Allah only, but they are described by Allah in man's
familiar terms in the Quran.
If some good deeds are seen not to get full appreciation and credit in this life, they will receive
full compensation and be widely acknowledged on the Day of Judgement.
If some people who commit sins, neglect Allah and indulge in immoral activities, seem superficially
successful and prosperous in this life, absolute justice will be done to
them on the Day of Judgement. The time of the Day of Judgement is only known to Allah and Allah alone.
6. Qadaa and Qadar
A Muslim believes in Qadaa and Qadar which relate to the ultimate power
of Allah. Qadaa and Qadar means the Timeless Knowledge of Allah and His power to plan
and execute His plans. Allah is not indifferent to this world nor is He neutral to it. It implies
that everything on this earth originates from the one and only Creator who is
also the Sustainer and the Sole Source of guidance.
Allah is Wise, Just, and Loving, and whatever
He does must have a good motive, although we may fail sometimes to understand it fully. We should have strong faith in
Allah and accept whatever He does because our knowledge is limited and our thinking is based on individual
consideration, whereas His knowledge is limitless and He
plans on a universal basis. Man should think, plan and make sound choices, but if things do not happen
the way he wants, he should not lose faith and surrender himself to
mental strains or shattering worries.
PRAYERS
Praying to the Creator on a daily basis is the best way to cultivate in a man a sound personality
and to actualize his aspiration. Allah does not need man's prayer because
He is free of all needs. Prayer is for our immeasurable benefit, and the blessings are beyond imagination.
In
prayer, every muscle of the body joins the soul and the mind in the worship and glory of Allah. Prayer is an act of worship.
It is a matchless and unprecedented
formula of intellectual meditation and spiritual devotion, of moral elevation and physical exercise,
all combined.
Offering of prayers is obligatory upon every Muslim male and female who is sane, mature and in the
case of women free from menstruation and confinement due to child
birth. Requirements of prayer: performing of ablution (Wudu), purity of the whole body, clothes and
ground used for prayer, dressing properly and having the intention and
facing the Qiblah (the direction of the Ka'bah at Mecca).
Obligatory prayers: Five daily prayers, the Friday's noon congregation prayer and the funeral prayer.
Times of obligatory prayers:
Early morning: After dawn and before sunrise.
Noon: After the sun begins to decline from
its zenith until it is about midway on its course to set.
Mid-afternoon: After the expiration of the noon prayer time
until sunset.
Sunset: Immediately after sunset until the red glow in the western horizon disappears.
Evening: After
the expiration of the sunset prayer until dawn.
Highly recommended prayer:Those accompanying the obligatory prayer and
the two great festival prayers.
Optional prayer:Voluntary prayer during the day and night.
Prayer should be offered in its due time, unless there is a reasonable excuse. Delayed obligatory
prayers must be made up. In addition to the prescribed prayer, a Muslim
expresses gratitude to God and appreciation of His favours and asks for His mercy all the time. Especially
at times of, for example, childbirth, marriage, going to or rising
from bed, leaving and returning to his home, starting a journey or entering a city, riding or driving,
before or after eating or drinking, harvesting, visiting graveyards and at
time of distress and sickness.
ZAKAT
Obligatory charity giving is an act of worship and spiritual investment. The literal meaning of Zakah
is purity and it refers to the annual amount in kind or coin which a
Muslim with means must distribute among the rightful beneficiaries. Zakah does not only purifies
the property of the contributor but also purifies his heart from selfishness
and greed. It also purifies the heart of the recipient from envy and jealousy, from hatred and uneasiness
and it fosters instead good-will and warm wishes for the
contributors.
Zakah has a deep humanitarian and social-political value; for example, it frees
society from class welfare, from ill feelings and distrust and from corruption. Although
Islam does not hinder private enterprise or condemn private possession, it does not tolerate selfish
and greedy capitalism. Islam adopts a moderate but positive and
effective course between individual and society, between the citizen and the state, between capitalism
and socialism, between materialism and spiritualism.
Zakah is paid on the net balance after paying personal expenses, family expenses, due credits, taxes,
etc. Every Muslim male or female who at the end of the year is in
possession of the equivalent of 85 grams of gold (approx. $1400 in 1990) or more in cash or articles
of trade, must give Zakah at the minimum rate of 2.5%. Taxes paid to
government do not substitute for this religious duty. The contributor should not seek pride or fame
but if disclosing his name and his contribution is likely to encourage
others, it is acceptable to do so.
The recipients of Zakah are: the poor, the needy, the new Muslim converts, the Muslim prisoners of
war (to liberate them), Muslims in debt, employees appointed to
collect Zakah, Muslims in service of research or study or propagation of Islam, and wayfarers who
are foreigners in need of help.
Note the obligatory nature of Zakah; it is required. Muslims can also go above and beyond what they
pay as Zakah, in which case the offering is a strictly voluntary
FASTING
Fasting is abstaining completely from eating, drinking, intimate sexual contacts and smoking from
the break of dawn till sunset. It is a matchless Islamic institution which
teaches man the principle of sincere love to God. Fasting teaches man a creative sense of hope, devotion,
patience, unselfishness, moderation, willpower, wise saving,
sound budgeting, mature adaptability, healthy survival, discipline, spirit of social belonging, unity
and brotherhood.
Obligatory fasting is done once a year for the period of the month of Ramadan; the ninth month of the
Islamic year. Recommended fasting includes every Monday and
Thursday of every week, three days in the middle of each Islamic month, six days after Ramadan following
the Feast Day and a few days of the two months before
Ramadan. Fasting of Ramadan is a worship act which is obligatory on every adult Muslim, male or female
if he/she is mentally and physically fit and not on a journey.
Exceptions: women during their period of menstruation and while nursing their child, and also in
case of travel and sickness for both men and women.
HAJJ
It is a pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in a lifetime and it is obligatory upon every Muslim male
and female who is mentally, physically and financially fit. It is the
largest annual convention of faith on earth (in 1989: 2.5 million). Peace is the dominant theme.
Peace with Allah, with one's soul, with one another, with all living
creatures. To disturb the peace of anyone or any creature in any shape or form is strictly prohibited.
Muslims
from all walks of life, from every corner of the globe assemble in Mecca in response to the call of Allah. There is no royalty,
but there is loyalty of all to Allah,
the Creator. It is to commemorate the Divine rituals observed by the Prophet Abraham and his son
Ishmael, who were the first pilgrims to the house of Allah on earth:
the Ka'bah. It is also to remember the great assembly of the Day of Judgement when people will stand
equal before Allah.
Muslims go to Mecca to glorify Allah, not to worship a man. The visit to the tomb of Prophet Muhammad
at Madena is highly recommended but not essential in making
the Hajj valid and complete.
