| There are six articles of faith in Islam: | |
| God (Allah): | Allah is one and can have no partner (shirk) attached to him (la ilah ill Allahu). Allah is omnipotent and omniscient. |
| Angels (Malaikah): | These are messengers of Allah, and are created beings of light. Gabriel (Jibrail) is the greatest, who revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad, and is also known as Rul ul' Amin, or the Holy Spirit. Some angels also record, while the watch over humans. Mikail is the provider, Israfil is the trumpeter of doom and Izrail is the custodian who looks after the dead. The Jinn are not angels, but spirits, good and evil, and were created by Allah out of smokeless fire before Adam was made from clay. |
| Prophets (Nabi): | Allah chooses special people to assist humanity. He reveals his Book to them all, and though all received such faithfully all but the Qur'an were corrupted, so Muslims believe. Prophets exist in the Hebrew Bible and in the Christian New Testament. The nine main prophets are Noah, Abraham, David, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, all of whom are regarded as perfectly ordinary humans but special because they were chosen. There are other prophets too. |
| Books (Kutub): | Only 4 of 104 books remain of revelation given by Allah. These are the Torah (Taurah) to Moses, the Psalms (Zabur) to David, the New Tesament (Injil) to Jesus and the Qur'an to Muhammad. Jews and Christians are called ahl al-kitab or the people of the Book. |
| Day of Judgment (yawm al-akhirah) and resurrection after death (basi bad al-maut): | Signs and catastrophes will come first before these linked events along with the anti-Christ (Dajjal) but then Christ comes. The trumpet sounds twice and the resurrection follows, at which people will wander for forty years while the recording angels give up their books and the deeds of individuals are weighed - across a bridge some fall into hell but are rescued but though some are saved some are also damned into hell for all eternity. |
| Allah's sovereign decrees/ Predestination (Taqdir): | Allah has supreme and sovereign power to do whatever he wishes and whenever. Knowing all, he already knows: it is written (maktub), it is decided (maqdur), it is my lot (kismat). |
| In addition to these articles, there are, of course the five pillars of Islam: Confessing the faith (Shahadah), Prayer (Salah), Fasting (Sawm), Charity (Zakat), Pilgrimage (Hajj). | |
Adrian Worsfold
Pluralist - Liberal and Thoughtful