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Organization for Islamic Learning |
"Know Your Islam"
Introduction | What is the Qur'an? | What is a Muslim? | Fundamental Beliefs | Mysticism | Arts & Science
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Fundamental Beliefs of Islam
There are three important areas in which Islam directs the life of its followers:
1. Religious Beliefs, known as Usul al-Din (Roots of Religion) 2. Religious Practice, known as Furu' al-Din (Branches of Religion) 3. Religious Ethics, known as Akhlaq and Adab (Virtues and Manners of Conduct)
The two highly respected sources of Islamic teachings in these three areas are the Qur'an, regarded by Muslims as the "Book of God," and the Sunna, the exemplary conduct of the Prophet and his virtuous successors to the prophetic mission. The Qur'an consists of the revelations the Prophet received intermittently from the time of his call as the messenger of God in 610 C.E. until his death in 632 C.E. Muslims believe that the Qur'an was directly communicated by God through the archangel Gabriel, and accordingly, it is regarded as inerrant and immutably preserved. It has served as the source for ethical and theological doctrines and principles for the public organization. The Sunna (meaning "trodden path"), has functioned as the elaboration of the Qur'anic revelation, providing details about each and every precept and deed, traced back to the Prophet's own precedent. The narratives that carried such information are designated as hadith. In the ninth century, Muslim scholars developed an elaborate system for the classification of these hadith-reports to ascertain their reliability and to derive from them the beliefs, practices and ethics for the community.
The function of beliefs in any religious community is to
connect people spiritually and morally in their common goal of serving
There are five Fundamental Beliefs - usul al-din, which must be understood individually and intelligently:
An Overview of the Belief System
The Islamic belief system is founded upon Tawhid, that is, an affirmation that there is one God, the sustainer of the entire universe, Who is worthy of human devotion and dedication. Belief in God constitutes the integrity of human existence, individually and as a member of society. The Qur'an speaks about God as the being whose presence is felt in everything that exists; everything that happens is an indicator of the divine. Faith in God results in being safe, well‑integrated, sound, and at peace.
Life is the gift of God, and the body is the divine trust given to humankind to enable it to serve God as completely and fully as the wonderful creation of God has made that serving possible. The humble origin of humans is established by the Qur'anic reference to their creation from "dry clay of black mud formed into shape." (Q. 15:26) Through the well-proportioned creation of human being in God’s image and the perpetual guidance provided to perfect it both spiritually and morally, human beings have been given the trusteeship of their body. On the Day of Resurrection, all parts of the human body will have to account for the actions of the person whose bodily organs they formed.
The Qur'an affirms reverence for human life in reference to a similar commandment given to other monotheists: "We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all humankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he saved the life of all humankind." (Q. 5:32) This passage has provided Muslims with religious justification to engage in all scientific and humanitarian activity to protect humanity against peril by choosing to save oneself and others from perdition and serve humanity as service to God.
The corollary of the belief in God's guidance is human accountability to further God’s purposes on earth. The purpose of creation is to allow human beings, created with the capacity to learn and to exercise their will, freely to accept the responsibility of perfecting their existence by working with the laws of nature grasped by the God-given innate disposition (fitra) and understanding the nature of things that regulate their well-being. The Qur'an emphasizes God's benevolence, all-forgivingness, and mercy. But it also puts emphasis on God's justice, and stresses that humanity should develop moral and spiritual awareness (taqwa) in fulfilling everyday requirements of life.
Human existence is not free of tension and inner stresses caused by rejection of truth (kufr) and impairment of moral consciousness. To help humanity in realizing its actual potentials, God sends prophets "to remind" humanity of its covenant with God (Q. 7:172). There have been 124,000 prophets from the beginning of history, of whom five (Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad) are regarded as "messengers" sent to organize their people on the basis of the guidance revealed by God. The prophets, then, are role models for their followers. They provide them with all the necessary practical guidance to live as an ethical community. This practical guidance takes the form of religious laws, the Shar`ia, which is in need of constant elaboration to make it relevant at all times.
In order to provide this critical role of the practical guidance even after the prophets have successfully delivered God’s message to the people, the Qur’an speaks about the function of an Imam – a spiritual and moral leader – in human communities. These well-qualified and exemplary leaders – the Imams - call people to observe fairness and abide by justice in their dealings with one another. By molding their own lives upon the teachings of the Prophet, they provide incontestable evidence for their leadership. There are twelve such Imams, beginning with Imam `Ali (d. 660 C.E.), who succeeded the Prophet in his role as the spiritual and moral leader of the community. The Twelfth and the last Imam al-Mahdi continues to guide his community in all matters connected with its spiritual and moral well-being.
In Islam there are a number of religious practices that Muslims are required to perform as their duty to God and their responsibility towards fellow humans. Whether performed individually in the privacy of one’s home, or collectively in the designated places of worship, it is the intention directed towards acquiring “closeness” to God through acts of obedience and dedication – `ibadat - that make these practices spiritually rewarding. More importantly, religious practices have a direct impact upon the development of conscience – that faculty or ability in human beings to judge the moral content of their actions in honesty. Hence, the Qur’an repeatedly reminds Muslims to observe their duty to God so that they can expect to live a conscientious life.
SALAT (namaz) is daily worship, required five times a day: at dawn, midday, afternoon, evening, and night. These prayers are very short, and require bowing and prostration. A Muslim may worship anywhere, preferably in congregation, facing Mekka. Muslims are required to worship as a community on Fridays at midday and on two major religious holidays. The congregational prayer gives expression to the believer's religious commitment within the community. The Qur'an prescribes the state of physical purity for the worshipper through the performance of ablutions and a full washing after sexual intercourse or a long illness prior to undertaking worship. Women are required to perform a full washing after the menstrual cycle and childbirth because blood is regarded as ritually unclean. Islamic law prescribes regular cleansing and physical hygiene as expressions of one's faith. Prayer in Islam is regarded therapeutical. Besides seeking medical treatment Muslims are encouraged to seek healing, especially in pyschological illnesses, by praying to God. Many illnesses, according to the teachings of the Prophet, are caused by psychological conditions like anxiety, sorrow, fear, loneliness, and so on. Hence, prayer restores the serenity and tranquility of the soul. SAWM is the fast of the month of Ramadan, marked according to the Muslim lunar calendar that has been in use since the seventh century. Since the lunar year is shorter by 10-11 days than the solar one, the fasting occurs in different seasons. Ramadan is also regarded as the holy month during which the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. During the fast, which lasts from dawn to dusk, Muslims are required not only to refrain from eating, smoking, and drinking; they are also to refrain from sexual intercourse and acts leading to sensual behavior. The fasting is meant to alter the pattern of life for a month, and Muslims are required to make necessary adjustments in their normal schedules of work and study. The end of the month is marked by a festival, `Id al-fitr, after which life returns to normal. The discipline engendered by Ramadan varies from individual to individual. Although instituted to cultivate individual spiritual and moral self-control, Ramadan also provides a community experience in which families and friends share both fasting and evening meals in the spirit of thanksgiving. Like prayer fasting also possesses therapeutic value. Prophetic medical tradition prescribes fasting for different kinds of ailments, including psychological problems caused by fear and anxiety. It is regarded as a remedy for curing excessive sexual drive. HAJJ is the annual pilgrimage, which all Muslims are required to undertake once in their lives, provided they have the financial means. The rituals of the pilgrimage at Mekka are a collective commemoration of the sacrifice story of the prophet Abraham and of lessons to be derived from it. Its spiritual objective is to inculcate a form of asceticism accompanied with renunciation of worldly desires (sexual intercourse, use of perfumes, and so on), the value of sacrifice in accomplishing divinely required obedience, and constant concern with the hereafter. The experience brings together Muslims of diverse cultures and nationalities to achieve a purity of existence and a communion with God that will exalt the pilgrim for the rest of his/her life. ZAKAT is the mandatory "alms-levy" (zakat). The Muslim definition of the virtuous life includes charitable support of widows, wayfarers, orphans and the needy. Islamic law includes technical regulations about how much zakat is due and upon what property it is to be levied. These legal rulings, which originated in early Islam before the disintegration of the Islamic public order, do not necessarily prevail in contemporary Muslim nations. Although zakat has for the most part been left to the conscience of Muslims, the obligation to be charitable and contribute to the general welfare of the community continues to be emphasized. KHUMS (the Fifth) is another mandatory donation that a person should give annually after deducting all legitimate expenses connected with living and supporting one’s family. The donations collected under this category of religious requirement are divided into two shares. The first share is spent to support the poor, the orphans, the needy and the wayfarers among the descendants of the Prophet. The second share goes towards maintaining institutions that essentially provide religious education and training of the personnel engaged in its propagation through preaching and publication. Islamic law provides detailed rulings about the items on which khums is levied and the ways in which it should be distributed. JIHAD is to “strive and struggle” with the spiritual and moral development of the self, so that it becomes capable of withstanding the temptations and defending oneself and others against those who threaten their physical and spiritual well being. Islam teaches the duty of jihad as an instrument of self improvement and the improvement of one’s living conditions in such a way that human society learns to conduct its social transactions in fairness and justice. AMR and NAHY - “instituting good and preventing bad” - is an important part of Islamic social ethics. It requires Muslims to do everything possible to help themselves and others in instituting good manners and actions and to avoid becoming indifferent to the ethical improvement as an important strategy of social transformation. Similarly, the duty requires Muslims to prevent unjust behavior among themselves and others without resorting to violence. TAWALLA and TABARRA – “befriending and disassociating” – is another social ethical duty to be more selective in one’s choice of friends. Friendship is an important part of human urge to relate to someone who shows compatibility and affinity with one’s values. Without engaging in value judgment about others, one needs to determine the value of relationships: Are they helping us to improve or are they leading us to abandon spiritual and moral standards? Hence, to befriend the Prophet and the good among his family and companions leads one to learn about them and practice what they taught about being a good person. Likewise, to disassociate from those who have negative impact upon our character and behavior is also necessary and in some cases obligatory.
The Shari'a: Islamic Legal Tradition
Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) developed to determine normative Islamic conduct as detailed in the Shari`a, the Sacred Law. The Shari`a is the divinely ordained blueprint for human conduct, which is inherently and essentially religious. The juridical inquiry in discovering the Shari`a code is comprehensive because it necessarily deals with every case of conscience covering God-human relations (`ibadat) as well as the ethical content of interpersonal relations (mu`amalat) in every possible sphere of human activity. Most of the legal activity, however, goes into settling more formal interpersonal activities that affect the morals of the community. These activities deal with the obligation of doing good to Muslims and guarding the interests of the community.
Islamic legal theory recognizes four sources on the basis of which judicial decisions could be derived: the Qur'an, the Sunna, consensus (ijma`) of the early community of the Muslims, and reason (al-`aql) which recognizes a substantive role for methods of reasoning from data furnished by the Qur'an and the Sunna, in order to estimate the unknown from the known ruling. The legal precedents and principles provided by the Qur'an and Sunna are used to develop an elaborate system of rules of jurisprudence. Human conduct is to be determined in terms of how much legal weight is borne by a particular rule that renders a given practice obligatory (wajib) or merely recommended (sunnat).
As Islamic jurisprudence became a highly technical process, disputes about method and judicial opinions crystallized into legal schools designated by the names of prominent jursits. The legal school that followed the Iraqi tradition was called "Hanafi," after Abu Hanifa (d. 767) the "imam" (teacher) in Iraq. Those who adhered to the rulings of Malik b. Anas (d. 795), in Arabia and elsewhere, were known as "Malikis." Al-Shafi`i founded a legal school in Egypt whose influence spread widely to other regions of the Muslim world. Another school was associated with Ahmad b. Hanbal (d. 855), who compiled a work on hadith-reports that became the source for juridical decisions of those who followed him. Shi`ites developed their own legal school, whose leading authority was the Imam Ja`far al-Sadiq (d. 748). Normally, Muslims accept one of the legal schools prevalent in their region. Most of the Sunnites follow Hanafi or Shafi`i; whereas the Shi`ites follow the Ja`fari school. In the absence of an organized "church" and ordained "clergy" in Islam, determination of valid religious praxis is left to the qualified scholar of religious law (mujtahid). The scope of Shari`a, understood as the norm of the Muslim community as a community, is defined by two essential areas of human life: acts of worship both public and private, connected with the pillars of faith; and acts of public order that insure individual justice. The Shari`a reflects Muslim endeavors to ensure that Islam pervades the whole of life. However, many areas of human existence, including the ethical problems connected with the modern financial structures and biomedical ethics has received little systematic attention in the formulations of the legal thought relevant to the contemporary Muslim life.
In the first half of the eighth century, the debates about qualified leadership, the existence of injustices in the community, and its appropriate response to redress the situation, formed the rudiments of the earliest systematic theology of the group called Mu`tazilites. Before them, some Muslim thinkers had developed theological arguments, including a doctrine of God and human responsibility, in defense of the Islamic revelation and the prophethood of Muhammad when these were challenged by other monotheists. The Mu`tazilites, however, undertook to show that there was nothing repugnant to reason in the Islamic revelation. In defining God's creation and governance of the world, these early Muslim theologians sought to demonstrate the primacy of revelation. At the same time, their theology reflected Hellenic influences. From the ninth century on, translations of the full Greek philosophic and scientific heritage became available in Arabic. The result was the development of a technical vocabulary and a pattern of syntax that enriched theological terminology.
The Ash`arite traditionalists, reacting to Mu`tazilite rationalism, limited speculative theology to a defense of the doctrines given in the hadith-reports, which were regarded more reliable than abstract reason in deducing individual doctrines. The Ash`arites emphasized the absolute will and power of God, and denied nature and humankind any decisive role. What humans perceive as causation, they believed, is actually God's habitual behavior. In their response to the Mu`tazilite view about the objective nature of good and evil, and in their effort to maintain the effectiveness of a God, at once omnipotent and omnibenevolent, who could and did intervene in human affairs, they maintained that good and evil are what God decrees them to be. God transcends the order of nature. Hence, the notion of free will is incompatible with the divine transcendence, which determines all actions directly. Ash`arite theological views remained dominant throughout Islamic history, well into modern times, and had profound effect upon scientific and particularly medical theory and practice among the Sunnites.
The Shi`ite theological and ethical doctrines were based on the thesis about the Justice of God, and the objective nature of moral values. The belief in God’s justice meant that God does not require from humanity anything that is beyond its capacity. Moreover, before God imposes a duty on human beings He gives them will power (volition) and basic knowledge of good and evil (cognition) so that they can follow the guidance implanted in their nature to do the good and avoid the evil. Hence, before holding them accountable for their actions God provides them with the free will so that they can either obey or disobey God’s commands, and face the consequence of their choice. However, human beings need further gifts of divine guidance. These gifts are God’s grace (lutf). The divine gifts take the form of reason as well as the role models in the person of the prophets and their rightful successors. It is here that the Shi`ite theologians regard the necessity of sending the Prophet and designating the Imams by God as a rationally understood requirement for the betterment of humanity.
© Organization for Islamic Learning
October 2007 | |
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