Understanding Islam

What Do Muslims Believe?

You could spend a lifetime studying Islam because, like any other religion, it’s a complex thing. Here’s a very basic approach to understanding the Principles of Islam:

• Belief in One God (Called Allah by Arabic speaking people, if you haven’t heard this name by now).
• Belief in ALL of God’s messengers.
• Belief in ALL of God’s sacred texts (the Bible, Torah, and Qur’an).
• Belief in angels.
• Belief in Judgment Day, Heaven, Hell and Life after an earthly Death.
• Belief that everything that will ever happen has already been decided and recorded by God (predestination/fate).

Islam and Terrorism

Religion…(Islam or any other)…can provide an enormous sense of comfort, understanding and community to people. On the flip side, it can act as a shield for people to hide behind when they want to do something terrible and un-Godly.

Islam teaches peace, personal freedom, tolerance and charity; the same basic principles taught by Christianity and Judaism. A lot of war-torn countries happen to be in countries that are predominantly Muslim, so it’s easy to get confused about what is causing the violence. The Qur’an doesn’t advocate war or violence anymore than the Bible does but some people use it as an excuse to commit terrible atrocities. It’s important to understand that these people don’t accurately represent what the more than one billion Muslims worldwide represent. Please note, religious stereotyping is as lame as racism, sexism and all other forms of bigotry and/or prejudices.

In closing, Islam has (5) Pillars:

Basically, if we take a moment to pause in thought, every major religion’s pillars are sort of the same. I’m just saying…

THE  FUNDAMENTALS OF ISLAMIC BELIEFS

The Specific Basic Islamic Beliefs

1) Belief in God:

Muslims believe in one, unique, incomparable God, Who has no children, no partners, and that none has the right to be worshipped but Him; alone. He is the TRUE God (Creator of the Heavens and the Earth), and every other deity is false. He has the most magnificent Names and sublime perfect Attributes. No one shares His divinity, nor His attributes. In the Quran, God describes Himself:

Say, “He is God, the One. God, to Whom the creatures turn for their needs. He begets not, nor was He begotten, and there is none like Him.” (Quran, 112:1-4)

No one has the right to be invoked, supplicated, prayed to, or shown any act of worship, but God; alone.

He alone is the Almighty, the Creator, the Sovereign, and the Sustainer of everything in the whole universe. He manages all affairs. He stands in need of none of His creatures, and all His creatures depend on Him for all that they need.

God is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing, and the All-Knowing. In a perfect manner, His knowledge encompasses all things; the open and secret, and public and private.

He knows what has happened, what will happen, and how it will happen. No affair occurs in the whole world except by His Will. Whatever He Wills will be, and whatever He does not Will will never come into fruition. His Will is above the will of all the creatures. He has power over all things, and He is able to do everything.

He is the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, and the Most Beneficent. In one of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, we are told that God is more merciful to His creatures than a mother to her child.

(1) God is far removed from injustice and tyranny. He is All-Wise in all of His actions and decrees. If someone wants something from Him, he/she can simply ask Him directly, without asking anyone else to intercede with God for them.

(2) God is not Jesus, and Jesus is not God. Even Jesus himself rejected this. God has said in the Quran:

Indeed, they have disbelieved who have said, “God is the Messiah (Jesus), son of Mary.” The Messiah said, “Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord. Whoever associates partners in worship with God, then God has forbidden Paradise for him, and his home is the Fire (Hell). For the wrongdoers, there will be no helpers.” (Quran, 5:72)

(3) God is not a trinity. This is in opposition of the 1st and 2nd Commandments. God has said in the Quran:

Indeed, they disbelieve who say, “God is the third of three (in a trinity),” when there is no god but one God. If they desist not from what they say, truly, a painful punishment will befall the disbelievers among them. Would they not rather repent to God and ask His forgiveness? For God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. The Messiah (Jesus), son of Mary, was no more than a messenger… (Quran, 5:73-75)

Islam rejects that God rested on the seventh day of the creation, that He wrestled with one of His angels, that He is an envious plotter against mankind, or that He is incarnate in any human being.

Islam also rejects the attribution of any physical human shape, form or quality to God. This is anthropomorphic and anthropopathic. Such created things are considered blasphemous. God is the Exalted. He is far removed from every imperfection. He never becomes weary. He does not become drowsy nor does he sleep. He doesn’t need to be angry or sad because He knows everything in every way; and He can do anything in any way.

The Arabic word “ALLAH” means God (the one and only true God who created the whole universe). This word Allah is a name for God, which is used by Arabic speakers, both Arab Muslims and Arab Christians. This word cannot be used to designate anything other than the one true God. The Arabic word Allah occurs in the Quran about 2700 times. In Aramaic, a language related closely to Arabic and the language that Jesus habitually spoke,  God is also referred to as Allah.

2) Belief in the Angels:

Muslims believe in the existence of the angels and that they are honored creatures. The angels worship God alone, obey Him, and only act by His command. Amongst the angels is Gabriel. He was the angel who brought down the Quran to Muhammad. He was also the same angel who spoke to Noah regarding the flood, who visited Abraham and Lot. He was present with Moses in the form of the “Burning Bush”, and presented himself to Mary and Jesus on numerous occasions to inform them of things God wanted them to know urgently.

3) Belief in God’s Revealed Books:

Muslims believe that God revealed books, to His messengers as proof for mankind and as guidance for them. Among these books is the Quran, which God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, the Torah and the Bible. God has guaranteed the Quran’s protection from any corruption or distortion like no other Book before it. God has said:

Indeed, We have sent down the Quran, and surely We will guard it (from corruption). (Quran, 15:9)

The way He kept this so is to every Muslim remember and recite its verses precisely, without altering a single vowel.

4) Belief in the Prophets & Messengers of God:

Muslims believe in the prophets and messengers of God; starting with Adam, including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus (peace be upon them). But God’s final message to man, a reconfirmation of the eternal message, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad . Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last prophet sent by God, as God has said:

Muhammad is not the father of any one of your men, but he is the Messenger of God and the last of the prophets… (Quran, 33:40)

Muslims believe that all the prophets and messengers were created human beings who had none of God’s divine qualities, no matter how great or small their presence and/or abilities were.

5) Belief in the Day of Judgment:

Muslims believe in the Day of Judgment (the Day of Resurrection) when all people will be resurrected for God’s judgment, according to their beliefs and deeds.

6) Belief in Al-Qadar:

Muslims believe in Al-Qadar, (which is Divine Predestination), but this belief in Divine Predestination does not mean that human beings do not have freewill. This simply means that God already knows the choices that we are going to make before we make them. In other words, this means that we can choose right or wrong and that we are responsible for the choices we make.

The belief in Divine Predestination includes belief in four things: (a) God knows everything. He knows what has happened and what will happen. (b) God has already recorded all that has happened and all that will happen. (c) Whatever God Wills to happen happens, and whatever He Wills not to happen doesn’t. (d) God is the Creator of everything. Everything is in need of Him and He is in need of nothing.

The Qur’an, the Bible and the Name “Allah”

THE QUR’AN & THE BIBLE

WAS THE WORD ALLAH USED IN THE BIBLE?

“Allah” is the proper noun applied to the Supreme Being, Who is the Creator of everything and sole possessor of all perfect attributes. He is free from all defects and Who exists necessarily by Himself. The word Allah is not a common noun. It is used exclusively for the Omnipotent/Almighty.

All Divine attributes, mentioned within the Holy Qur’an, are qualities of the proper name Allah. No other language (other than Arabic) has a distinctive (viz. non-associative) name for the Divine Creator of the Heavens and the Earth. The names found within other languages are either attributive or descriptive and can also be used in a plural and anthropomorphic form. The word Allah is strictly used for the Almighty only.

The English word “God”, which is the common Teutonic word for a personal object of religious worship; applied to all supernatural beings of non-temporal causalities & mythologies and who exercises power over all creation, should not be used or considered as an approximate substitute for this unparalleled word.

Many Christian argue that if the word “Allah” was authentic, it would have been used in the Bible. Well, it has been used in the Bible numerous times. The problem with this argument is that they only understand the Bible that they have in their possession (i.e. written in English). If they would research this, using a concordance or Bible dictionary (preferably The Strong’s Concordance), they would conclude that their summation was at least incomplete.

The word “elahh“, “eloahh“, and “elohiym or eloheem” are derivations of the word Allah. If an individual truly wanted to know the truth, they would discover that these names where used regularly in the Old Testament. In fact, it has been recorded that Christ used this name (in his “Aramaic” tongue), in the New Testament, when he asked, “My God, my God, why have thou forsaken me?”

Whether some Christians would choose to refute this or not, Jesus Christ even prophesized the coming of the Prophet Muhammad and the spirit of Islam after him.

The irony of it all is that there are some who say and truly believe that Jesus was praying to himself. Just something to think about.

“The Message” The Story of Islam (cartoon version)

For Muslims and non-Muslims alike, “Taleem al-Haqq” is an excellent book to learn all the basics about Islam. It includes everything from basic beliefs to all the fundamental principles regarding Islam. (Tap the highlighted link)

WHAT ARE THE SCHOOLS OF JURISPRUDENCE? WHY DO MUSLIMS FOLLOW THEM?

As an Imam, I’m often asked difficult questions. The questions that are not so difficult are often times not easily explainable in order to make lucid, in a word or two. Here is an example of such a question.

“Is it obligatory for Muslims to follow or adhere to one of the Sunni Schools of Thought? If so, which school is most authentic and adheres closest to the Prophet’s Sunnah?”

Because our Deen (i.e. the totality of all the provisions and legal injections that transform religion to a lifestyle) is so complex and sophisticated, I often times say that this is a very deep issue and one of the most heavily debated in the current Muslim World. I have no intention to ignite the fuel anew or start some kind of fitnah (i.e. strife and conflict), but I’m also curious to know if they’re asking about the adherence to only the 4 Sunni Schools of Thought, excluding all the others? Are they also asking are the other Schools wrong, given that their fatwas and masaails, related to certain important topics, differ from one School to the other?

My straight forward answer (because I’m Hanafi) is that we first need to differentiate between the basic belief schools and jurisprudence schools.

Belief Schools/Sects (Major only):
*Sunni (Ashari, Maturidi, & Athari)
*Shi’a

• Jurisprudence Schools: (Sunni only)
  *Maliki
  *Hanifi
  *Shafi’i
  *Hanbali

If you follow a school you should only follow one belief school. There are differences between recognized sources for each of the schools, which lead to differences in rulings.

You are allowed to follow any of the recognized sources or schools of jurisprudence by Sunni’s.

There is a consensus that argues that it’s not obligatory to follow one specific school. However, to that consensus I question: How are non-scholastic Muslims supposed to follow the Deen? Do they pick and choose what feels right to them, or do they make it up as they go along, using their own understanding from what was written?

Now, for a more academic response, I often say that it mostly depends on one’s personal ideals and/or level of education and understanding of Islam. The main disagreement between Sunni and Shia was a political one. Most of the founders of other thoughts weren’t intending to create something new to divide people. They were scholars searching for the truth and had some ideas to solve detail problems. All of them were right at some points and actually were trying to solve real problems of their times.

There is a saying: “Be on the side of the king more than the king himself.” I point this out because the people thought that some scholars were more right than others, so the others scholars had to be wrong, thus should be condemned. They may have actually been wrong, but that wasn’t their intention. They were humans after all.

Its like being a fanatic of a specific football team. They play and you are the one fighting and cheering over who is better.

There are also teachings, of some scholars, which makes some lay-Muslims think false about each other. For example, I heard from a Shiite that Sunnis were on the side of Muawiyah, although he was very hateful by many Sunnis. I don’t know about others, but from a Turkish Sunni Teaching, I was taught that Ali(ra) was right on that issue. Also in Turkey and some regional states around them, there are news casts that occasionally propagate that Iranian Shiites are cursing the first 3 caliphs during salat etc. What’s sad about that is that so many people believe such things.

There is an issue in Islamic Societies called TAKFEER. It means that you are claiming somebody isn’t a real Muslim, but a Mushrikh. Although it is very dangerous to do so, according to authenticated hadith, there are so many scholars and sheikhs committing this heinous act everyday; constantly.

I think that the problem is this: Most of the Muslim world is so uneducated; so intolerant that they can’t live with the fact that they may be wrong. Or for us ordinary people; our sheikhs can’t be wrong. So many people see their spiritual leaders as infallible, can’t be wrong, all honest.

Furthermore, the people who see his/her sheikh or scholar as infallible, would outright say that it is FARD/obligatory. Because according to their view, most ordinary people can’t understand Quran, thus shouldn’t think with their minds. They should follow one true leader. Who is this man? It isn’t whoever speaks parallel to their prejudged minds.

Pointing this out, I must say that some of their point of view is correct. However, they are not qualified to speak on this.

So, since I’m Hanafi, who is Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān b. Thābit b. Zūṭā al-Fārisī, known as Abū Ḥanīfa for short or reverently as Imam Abū Ḥanīfa by Sunni Muslims, was the founder of the Sunni Hanafi school of fiqh?

Note: Interfaith Library’s primary intent is to be an objective guide. Our only “value statements” are: (1) religion is interesting; (2) knowledge is good.

(Class #2)… LEARNING ARABIC THE EASY WAY

Before we begin, allow me to point out that the best way to learn any language is to sit with a qualified teacher. What is presented here is a basic presentation that will get you started and prayerfully strengthen your courage and resolve to take formal lessons. For more personal and formal instructions, please join me, (Imam, Mekye Abdus Salaam), at “Masjidullah” of Philadelphia, on Tuesdays (4PM-7PM) and/or on Sundays (times to be scheduled shortly). Or contact me at “interfaith_library@yahoo.net” to set up classes in your area.

With that said, before learning any language, one must first learn the “alphabet” of that language and the proper way to articulate them. Below are the letters of the Arabic alphabet and the proper way they are said.

Intro To Arabic

The MADINAH UNIV. ARABIC COURSE (Vol. 1)

*Information above is provided by Mekye Abdus Salaam and Aziz Nathoo.