Islamic Concepts
"The best deed
is the belief in Allah and His Messenger." (Al-Bukhariyy)
What is Islam?
Linguistically, Islam means submission. According to Islamic terminology,
Islam means a specified submission. It is the submission to what
the prophet brought. This takes place by uttering the THE TWO
TESTIFICATIONS OF FAITH. Belief, on the other hand, linguistically
means certitude. According to Islamic terminology, it means a
specified certitude. It is to accept as true what the prophet
brought. The least of Belief is to belief in the THE TWO TESTIFICATIONS
OF FAITH. Islam and Belief cannot be disassociated. One of them
is not accepted without the other, although their original meaning
are not identical. Imam Abu Hanifah said in Al-Fiqh Al-'Akbar:
"Islam is not acceptable without Belief and Belief is not
accepted without Islam. They are like the front of something and
its back." Islam is the Religion of all the prophets.
What are the Two Testifications of Faith?
The Two Testifications of Faith are: I bear witness that no one
is God except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad the son of
^Abdillah is the prophet of Allah. The non-Muslim embraces Islam
by believing in the Two Testifications of Faith and uttering them
with the intention of leaving out blasphemy. The first Testification
means that no one or thing deserves to be worshipped except God
Who is the Creator of everything.The second Testification states
that Muhammad the son of ^Abdillah who was born in Makkah about
1400 years ago is a messenger of God. He was sent to convey what
God revealed to him so that the humans believe in and work with
the Laws he received and brought. He is truthful in all what he
conveyed. The Two Testifications reject the Godhood of anyone
or anything other than God. They confirm the Godhood of God only
with the acknowledgment of the message of prophet Muhammad.
Basic Islamic Belief One has to believe
that the Creator, Allah, exists, and is not similar to anything.
He is the only Creator and the only One Who deserves to be worshipped.
He does not need anything and everything needs Him. God has Attributes
of perfection that befit Him and any imperfection is not attributable
to Him. Any imperfection, such as ignorance, place, direction,
body, soul, organ, children, change or weakness, is not attributed
to God. The rule is simple: Whatever you imagine in your mind,
God is different from it. God sent messengers the first of them
was Adam and the last one was Muhammad. All the messengers, including
Jesus and Moses, were truthful, ordered their people to believe
in One God, Allah, and not to associate any partner with Him.
Hence, their Religion was the same: Islam.
How Does One Become a Muslim? One becomes
a Muslim by believing in the Two Testifications of Faith and uttering
them with the intention of leaving out blasphemy. The Two Testifications
of Faith are: I bear witness that no one is God except Allah and
I bear witness that Muhammad is the prophet of Allah.
Who is Prophet Muhammad the son of ^Abdillah?
Prophet Muhammad was born in Makkah in Arabia in 6th century.
His father was ^Abdullah the son of ^Abd al-Muttalib, the son
of Hashim the son of ^Abdi Manaf from the tribe of Quraysh- the
head of the Arab tribes. His father died while his mother was
still pregnant with him. He was raised by his grandfather, the
head of Quraysh, after the death of his mother. His uncle Abu
Talib, later on took care of him and supported him. He received
the revelation in Makkah when he was 40 years old and stayed in
Makkah after that for 13 years. He immigrated to al-Madinah and
lived there for 10 years before he died there. His age was 63
years old when he died. He was buried in al-Madinah and it is
rewardable to visit his grave there. Prophet Muhammad revived
the call for Islam after Jesus was raised and after none of the
Muslim followers of Jesus were alive. Prophet Muhammad conveyed
that there will be no prophet after him, and Jesus will come back
to rule according to his teachings. This was also revealed to
the prophet in the Qur'an . Qur'an spoke about other prophets
like: Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron,
David, Solomon, Elias, and Jesus. All of those prophets were prophets
of Islam. Prophet Muhammad exerted successful efforts in calling
for Islam and was supported by God with miracles. By that, prophet
Muhammad proved to others that he is a prophet and truthful. Before
the death of prophet Muhammad his companions reached about 100,000
Muslims. Today, the Muslims are about 1 billion. Since the time
of the prophet, Muslims have kept, one generation after the other,
conveying the teachings and following the rulings of prophet Muhammad.
Believing in Islam is not valid if one does not believe in prophet
Muhammad and that he is the final messenger.
What is the Qur'an? The Qur'an is revelation
from God to the prophet. Neither angel Gabriel, nor prophet Muhammad
composed the Qur'an. The Qur'an was revealed by Allah and conveyed
by the prophet. The Qur'an is a long-lasting miracle. The prophet
challenged others, Arabs and non-Arabs, to bring something like
it. The challenge is still valid. None was able to bring anything
like it and no one will be able to do that.God promised to save
Qur'an from perversion. This is readily noticed. Today, all over
the world, Muslims refer to one Qur'an. Qur'an is written in the
book of al-Mushaf. Al-Mushaf is one. Muslims follow today, as
always, the same Mushaf. If one goes back in history, one will
still see that Muslims had one Mushaf- the same Mushaf which we
refer to it today. As a matter of fact, the original copies of
the Mushaf which was written by the companions is still available
in Muslim museums in Turkey and other countries. Muslim children
and adults memorize all the Qur'an by heart. This is an Islamic
tradition which was preserved since the time of the companions
of the prophet. One generation of Muslims will convey Qur'an to
the next generation. They keep following the methods for reciting
Qur'an as these methods were originally conveyed by prophet Muhammad.
The lineage to the prophet is extremely strong. From here, one
realizes that it is impossible to tamper with Qur'an. The Qur'an
is the evidence Muslims use to learn about and rule according
to Islam. Muslims also refer to the traditions conveyed by prophet
Muhammad called Sunnah which is also revelation. The Muslims also
refer to the unanimous agreement of the top Muslim scholars on
religious issues. Ruling on new issues is established based on
proofs given by Qur'an, Sunnah and consensus following a particular
method for deducing judgments. Only individuals who are highly
qualified may deduce judgments in Islam.
Some of the Attributes of Allah God has
Attributes of perfection which befit Him. Some of these are Existence,
Existence without a beginning, Existence without an end, Oneness,
Non-resemblance to creations, non-neediness to creations, Life,
Will, Power, Knowledge, Hearing, Sight and Speech without letters,
sounds or languages.
ISLAMIC OBLIGATORY KNOWLEDGE
“The person whom Allah
willed to grant goodness, Allah makes him knowledgeable about
the Religion.” (Al-Bukhariyy)
What is Islamic
Obligatory Knowledge? Islamic Obligatory Knowledge
is the knowledge that every accountable person is obligated to
know. It includes the knowledge of Islamic Belief, cases of Islamic
Law about Purification, Prayer, Fasting and the like. It also
includes knowledge of the rules pertaining to dealings and contracts.
One has also to learn the Obligatory Knowledge about the sins
of the heart and body organs like the tongue, stomach, hands,
private parts and the like. Ask for your copy of: "The Summary
of ^Abdullah Al-Harariyy Ensuring Personal Obligatory Knowledge
of the Religion", by his Excellency al-Muhaddith, shaykh
^Abdullah Al-Harariyy.
