Islamic Concepts
"The best deed is to 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. ISLAMIC CONCEPTS 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. ISLAMIC CONCEPTS
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. See
HOW DOES
ONE BECOME A MUSLIM? and WHAT IS ISLAM?ISLAMIC CONCEPTS 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. See THE
TWO TESTIFICATIONS OF FAITH. ISLAMIC CONCEPTS 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. ISLAMIC CONCEPTS
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. ISLAMIC CONCEPTS
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 CONCEPTS
``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.