Beliefs Of A Muslim

Belief in Allah subhana na wa ta'ala

Our belief is that there is only one God (Allah subhana wa ta'ala) and Allah subhana wa ta'ala is present at all time. He existed before time and will exist after time ends. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has no relations or family what so ever, meaning he has no mother, no father, no brother, no sister, no son or daughter. He is totally self-sufficient. He is not dependent on any thing or anyone but the whole universe depends on Him. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) does not get tired or have any need for sleep. He is free from all needs. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) does not oppress anyone.

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has ninety nine beautiful attributes to him which a few are; He is the Most Merciful and does not lie. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is the Most Powerful. He does not get tired or falls asleep He is free from all needs. He can do whatever He wants. He created the skies and the earth and created everything that came before them. Everything dies by His command and He will make everyone come back to life on the Day of Judgement (to account for his or her deeds).

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is One and has No partners. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) is alone in His rule over the universe. All movements in the universe are Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)'s creation. No leaf can move without His permission and blessing. Every order of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has to be obeyed whether we understand it or not. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) alone is the Most Worthy of worship. Nobody is allowed to worship the idols, Sun, Moon, trees, water, Angel or prophet's etc.

Belief in Prophecy

A prophet is a man whom Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has sent with orders to guide the people onto the right path. Miracles accompany him to show that he is indeed a messenger of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). The greatest miracle that came with our prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) is the living miracle which we have with us today - the Holy Qur'an. The first prophet was Hazrat Adam (alayhi salaam) and the last prophet Hazrat Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

Altogether the number of prophets that were sent to this world were approximately 124,000. Out of all the prophets 313 were messengers, from whom there were five messengers known as the 'resolute' messengers. The difference between a prophet and a messenger is that a messenger received a scripture or a book of revelation. Every messenger is a prophet, but not all prophets are messengers. In the Holy Qur`an, only a few of the prophets and they stories are mentioned. Even though the other prophets names are not mentioned in the Holy Qur`an, we still must believe that they were prophets and the things that they taught, and preached, to the people was the truth.

Prophets are free from all sins. None of the prophets committed any sin, neither big nor small. Jews and Christians believe that prophets could commit sins. But Muslims believe that a prophet has never committed a sin neither before nor after he was announced as a prophet. A prophet can see Jinns, Satan, Angel and other things that are invisible to our eyes. Prophets can communicate with animals, plants and other things, which are incapable of communicating with humans.

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) informs them the knowledge of the past and future as they need it. A Prophets decision is safe from errors, but even with all these skills prophets still need the guidance of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). Even if a miracle appear from a prophet's hands, it is only able to appear with Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)'s command and will. A prophet cannot be disabled in any form, i.e. have one eye. A person cannot become a prophet by just worshipping Allah (subhana wa ta'ala), only those people whom Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has chosen can be prophets, and that is why whoever was a prophet was born a prophet.

Usually prophets announce themselves to the people at the age of 40, but Hazrat Isa (alayhi salaam) (Jesus) announced his prophecy when he was a baby. All the prophets have been men, none of them have been women. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) gave revelation to His prophets in different ways. Sometimes the Angel brought it to them and sometimes Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) put it directly in to the prophet's heart, or sometimes in their dreams or when they were awake. Prophecy started in line from Prophet Adam (alayhi salaam) to Prophet Isa (alayhi salaam), but when Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) sent Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam) prophecy finished. If anyone claims and says that, "I'm a prophet after Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam)" he is a liar and a non-believer, whoever says and believes that this person is a prophet then that person also becomes a non-believer himself.

Belief in Angels

Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) created Angel from light. We can't see or hear them in their actual form. They are free from sins. They come in any form or shape they wish. They always obey Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) orders. Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has given them different duties for example: Two Angel stay with every person, one on the right and one on the left. The Angel on the right side writes down the good deeds that the person performs, and the Angel on the left side writes down all the bad deeds that the person commits. There is no place in the universe where there are no Angel. Nobody knows how many Angel there are except Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). From amongst the Angels there are four that are well known these are:

Hazrat Jibraeel (alayhi salaam) (Gabriel) is the chief of the Angel. He has got 70, 000 wings and his job was to carry messages from Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to His prophets.

Hazarat Mikaeel (alayhi salaam) (Michael) distributes the food and controls the weather.

Hazarat Israfeel (alayhi salaam) will blow the horn. When Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) orders him to blow it, It will destroy the whole universe before the Day of Judgement begins.

Hazarat Izraeel (alayhi salaam) He is the "Angel of Death", who extracts the peoples soul at the time of death.

Belief in the Books

Muslims faith is that all the books and scriptures sent by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to his messengers are true. From amongst them the books and scriptures which have been sent down there are four well known:

Towrat (Original Torah). This book was revealed by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to prophet Musa (alayhi salaam) (Moses).

Zaboor (Original Psalms). This book was revealed by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to prophet Dawoud (alayhi salaam).

Injeel (Original Gospel). This book was revealed by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to prophet Isa (alayhi salaam) (Jesus).

The Holy Qur'an. This book was revealed by Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) to Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alayhi wa sallam).

The Holy Qur`an is Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)'s last book and everything inside it is true, nothing has been taken out and nothing new has been added. It will remain perfect until the Day of Judgement. It is Allah (subhana wa ta'ala)'s last perfect book and Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) promises in the Holy Qur`an that He will never let anyone change it.

With the Torah the Psalms and the Gospel we have to believe that at the time that these books were revealed, everything in them was true, but after some time, people have taken verses out of those books and added new verses of their own. Now if we see anything in these books which the Holy Qur'an verifies then we believe in that. And if we see anything which is in contradiction to the Holy Qur'an or Ahadeeth we have to reject it. If we see something which is not mentioned in the Holy Qur'an or Ahadeeth, we cannot say anything about it except that "Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) knows best".

Apart from these four books Allah (subhana wa ta'ala) has sent other books and scriptures to the messengers and although we don't know the details of these books and scriptures we must believe that at the time they were revealed what was written in them was true.