Lecture 4 Part 1

General Overview of Islam.

Iman

Derives from the verb amuna, to be faithful, reliable, trustworthy, and from the verb amina, to be safe, to feel safe.
It is the essence of tawhid, i.e., a faith confirming that there is no other god but Allah SWT, and the Prophet Muhammad SAW is His Messenger.
It is the fitrah of all human beings that have made the covenant with Allah SWT before they come into this world.
The Prophet SAW defined the word iman by saying, “Faith is knowledge in the heart, a voicing with the tongue, and an activity with the limbs.”

There are six principles of Iman:

Believe in Allah SWT and all His Divine attributes and names.

He is the Creator and Sustainer of everything that exists, either in the invisible world or in the visible world.
He is Unique in His Attributes, Eternal, Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient.
He is the Creator of the universe, the Creator of cause and effect, the Creator of all natural laws.
He is All-Powerful, All-Wise, All-Knowing, All-Seeing.
He is free from every flaw and weakness and none may have the power to interfere with His work. He is the Creator, Controller and Governor of the entire universe.
He is the only One, and none can be compared with Him.

Believe in Allah’s Angels:

The Arabic word for angel, malak, or malaikah, means “messenger”.
They are messengers in the sense as the one who carries the message from Allah SWT, or carries the order or command of Allah SWT (35:1).
They were created from light, and their first function is only to glorify Him.
Their number is numerous, and they carry various other functions such as reciters, glorifiers, dividers, casters, pluckers, writers, watchers, envoys, and etc.
There are angels who always carrying the Throne of Allah SWT (40:7). Others who circle around the Throne, always praising and glorifying Him.
They witnessed the creation of Adam AS (2:34), and they are also entrusted to carry the human soul to the embryo in the womb. And there are angels who provide our sustenance (2:98). And when death comes, they are the one who is entrusted to take our souls, and the one who will question the souls in the grave.

Believe in all the Revealed Books:

There are many revealed scriptures being revealed to many of the Prophets before Prophet Muhammad SAW. The important ones are the Books of Ibrahim AS, the Taurah of Musa AS, the Zabur of Daud AS, and the Injil of Isa al-Masih AS.

These books are part of our faith and we must believe in them as much as we believe in the Last Revelation, the Word of Allah SWT, al-Qur’an.
Al-Qur’an is a Divine miracle, and it has been preserved in its pristine purity, unlike the other books which only exist in the form of translation and has been mixed with words created by man.

Believe in all the Prophets:

There are 124, 000 Prophets and there are 25 important of them mentioned in the Qur’an.
5 of the Prophets are considered as أولو العزم : Prophet Nuh AS, Prophet Ibrahim AS, Prophet Musa AS, Prophet Isa AS, and Prophet Muhammad SAW.
The Prophets have been appointed to guide his people, and were being given revelation in the tongue of his people, as in the Qur’an, “We have sent no messenger save with the tongue of his people” (14:4).
The essence of the message is the same, which is to guide people to confess Tawhid, i.e., the Unity of Allah SWT, and submit to the only One Lord. However, the details of the message is different, “To every one of you (Messengers) We have appointed a right way and an open road. If God had willed, He would have made you one nation” (5:48).

Believe in the Life after Death:

That the life of this world and all of that is in it will come to an end on an appointed day. Everything will be annihilated. That day is called Qiyamah, i.e., the Last Day, or Qiyamah al-Kubra.

That all the human beings who have lived in the world since its inception will then be restored to life and will be presented before Allah SWT Who will sit in judgement on that day. This is called Hashr (Resurrection).

That the entire record of every man and woman—of all their doings and misdoings—will be presented before Allah SWT for final judgement. The one who excels in goodness will be rewarded; one whose evils and wrongs outweigh his good deeds will be punished.

That those who emerge successful in this judgement will go to Paradise, and those who are condemned and deserve punishment will be sent to Hell.

There is also Qiyamah al-Sughra, the lesser qiyamah or the world of barzakh (23:99-100) and (25:53). It is the next life in the grave where there will be immediate questioning, reward and punishment.
Our Prophet SAW said, “People are asleep, and when they die, they wake up.”

Believe in Predestination (Divine Decree):

Allah SWT has created and decreed everything in its specified measurement, all the natural laws, and all the good and evil of human actions.

Believe in قضاء (divine decree, destiny) and قدر(divine foreordainment, predestination).

Qada’ is a divine decree on all human beings. It is a decree in the womb concerning which the angel is ordered to foreordain one’s sustenance and term of life, and whether he shall be unfortunate or prosperous. It is also a decree of Allah SWT on the good and evil that befall on human beings at times appointed by Him.
Such decree may be changed as Allah SWT said, “Allah erases what He will, and He consolidates what He will, and with Him is the Mother of the Book” (13:39).

Qadar is a divine foreordainment on all His creatures, that everything is decreed in its specified measurement: “Surely We have created everything with a measuring out,” (54:49), and “With Him are the keys to the Unseen; none knows them but He. He knows what is in land and sea; not a leaf falls, but He knows it. Not a grain in the earth’s shadows, not a thing, fresh or withered, but it is in an explicit Book,” (6:59).

Two different schools of theology, Qadariyyah and Jabariyyah, which have 2 opposite views on human freedom and Allah’s Over-powering Will.