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The second
condition: Beleiving in Allah (SWT).
The
pillars of Imaan as Allah jalla wa ‘alaa has obligated are six. The correct
belief that Allah accepts is not achieved except by having faith in these
pillars, the way Allah wants us to believe in them and not the way our desires
or we want. If one of the pillars is deficient or lacking then Allah does not
accept this Imaan and Islam.
Allah
jalla wa ‘alaa says:
O
you who believe! Believe in Allah, and His Messenger (Muhammad may Allah
bless and grant him peace), and the Book (the Qur'an) which He has
sent down to His Messenger, and the Scripture, which He sent down to those
before (him), and whosoever disbelieves in Allah, His Angels, His Books,
His Messengers, and the Last Day, then indeed he has strayed far away. (4:136)
THE
PILLARS OF IMAAN
1 -
Belief in Allah: is the firm conviction and absolute belief that Allah is
the Lord, Creator and Master of all things. As he alone is the Creator of the
creation so too he alone is the possessor of the right to legislate and lay down
laws that regulates their lives; that He alone is worthy of undivided worship
(which takes the form of prayers, fasting, supplication, hope, fear, submission
and surrender); that He is distinguished by all the attributes of perfection and
completeness and that He is above any faults or deficiencies.
2 -
Belief in the Angels: this is the firm conviction that Allah’s angels
exist; that they are honorable slaves created from light. They do not disobey
any of Allah’s commands and they carry out the functions He instructs them to
fulfill. They are beings of light, having no physical body that can be discerned
by the human senses. They are unlike man in that they don’t eat, drink, sleep,
marry or procreate and they are not male or female.
It
is a particular obligation to believe those whose names have been mentioned in
Quran and authentic a hadeeth of the Prophet like (Jibreel, Mikaeel, Israfeel,
Ridwaan and Maalik) and in the duties and functions entrusted to them like
carrying the throne, protection and recording (deeds). As for the angels who
have not been mentioned, we should believe in them on the whole and only Allah
knows how many there are.
3 -
Belief in Divine Scriptures: to believe in the Books that Allah
revealed to His messengers and Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon
them all. Allah has mentioned the names of some of these Books to us in the
Quran and there are others that He has not mentioned to us. Those that He has
informed us about in the Quran are Torah to Musa; Injeel to Isa; Zabur to Dawud
and the scriptures revealed to Ibrahim and Musa, peace and blessings upon all of
them.
It
is also obligatory to believe that all the Books revealed by Allah been revealed
with truth, light, guidance; the Tawheed of Allah in His Lordship, worship,
names and attributes. Anything incorporated in them that contradict these
aspects has been added and changed by man. We believe that all the Books
excluding the Quran have been changed. As for the Quran Allah has guarded and
protected it from alteration, substitution, distortion and corruption. The Quran
is the last Book revealed by Allah and its rulings remains till the day of
judgment without alteration, substitution and change and that it has been
revealed to all man and jinn. It is obligatory that we follow its commands, seek
judgment from it in every big and small issue, avoid its prohibitions, believe
its accounts and reject anything, which contradicts it.
Belief
in the books that were revealed before the Quran and were then distorted is to
believe that they were originally revealed by Allah but that they no-longer
contain the words of Allah, except for what concurs with the Quran and Sunnah of
the Prophet, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
4 -
Belief in the Messengers: it is the firm
conviction that Allah has messengers whom He sent to guide the creation in their
life in this World and about the hereafter. It is obligatory upon us to believe
in everyone of them that is mentioned in the Quran and the Sunnah of the Prophet
and the belief that Allah sent others besides them whose numbers and names only
He knows.
5 -
Belief in The Last DAY: it is the firm
belief in all that Allah mentions in the Quran, and in all that the Prophet has
informed us, about the afterlife: the fitna of the grave, punishment and reward
therein, resurrection, the gathering, the records, the reckoning, the scale, the
fount, the bridge ‘as-sirat’, intercession, Paradise and the hellfire and
everything which Allah has prepared for those who will dwell in them.
6 -
Belief in Al-Qadaa’ wal Qadar (Divine Preordainment) Whether Good or
Bad is in the control of Allah: Allah does not accept ones belief in Qadaa
wal Qadar except if he believes in the following four:
(1)
Belief in the eternal knowledge of Allah and that He knows the actions of His
creation before they do them. Allah has recorded it in the Lawh-al-Mahfuz (the
Book of Decree).
(2)
The belief that what Allah Wills happens and what He does not Will, will not
happen. Any movement or tranquility that takes place in the heaven or earth is
by Allah’s will.
(3)
The belief that Allah created all creation, that He is the creator of everything
and all their actions. Everything else besides Allah is created and whatever is
in the universe is by the will and preordainment of Allah.
(4)
Allah creates all the actions of His servants, but they have a will of their own
and act accordingly. The servants have ability to fulfill their actions and they
have a will, but Allah created them, their ability and will. To believe that
whatever you receive, you would never have missed and whatever you have missed
you would have never received it.
Allah
jalla wa ‘alaa says:
Verily,
We have created all things with Qadar (Divine Preordainments of all things
before their creation, as written in the Book of Decrees- Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz).
(54:49)
Man
will be held accountable for his actions, if it is good then good will be his
reward and if it is bad then bad. Allah subahana wa ta’ala has created in man
the ability to know the good from the evil, the truth from falsehood and gave
him the freedom to choose.
Allah
is not pleased with disbelief for His servants nor does He order His servants to
commit kufr (disbelief).
Allah
knows what will happen, when it will happen and how it will happen before it
happens. Allah subhana wa ta’ala knows before He creates a person how he will
be after he is created, whether he will believe or disbelieve or whether he will
die upon belief or disbelief.
Everything
that has been written down will come to pass as Allah has ordained but this does
not mean that Allah has compelled a person to disbelief or to belief because
Allah has given his slave the freedom to choose Imaan (faith) or kufr
(disbelief). Therefore he will be held accountable for his choice and will be
rewarded accordingly.
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