Iman

The first of the five pillars of Islam

Part 2
Find out more about Islam here

(...Continued from Iman - the first of the five pillars of Islam Pt 1)

These are the actions that demonstrate the belief;

Iman is the first of the five pillars of Islam. It consists of the belief in:
(a) Allah (The Arabic name of God), and Prophet Muhammad as His Messenger,
(b) All the Angels who are the spiritual beings of God,
(c) All the Prophets and Messengers of God,
(d) All the Scriptures revealed by God for the guidance of mankind,
(e) The Hereafter: The Day of Resurrection and Judgement.
Also the Islamic doctrine: that God is all wise, all-powerful. And all human beings are
accountable for their own actions. Quran states:
The Prophet believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the
men of faith. They all believe in God, His angels, His scriptures and His messengers,
making no distinction among His messengers (2: 285)
Prophet Muhammad was asked: What is Iman He replied:
To believe in God, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Last Day.
(a) The belief in God and Muhammad as His Messenger:
Muslims should know how to declare the Shahadah, the Declaration of Faith, which is
the first article of Iman. It is the testimony that there is no deity except God and that
Muhammad is His Messenger. This first act of worship is to believe with the heart and
declare with the tongue that there is nothing worthy of worship but Allah, the source
of all creation, and Muhammad is His Messenger.
Without the declaration of the Shahadah, none of the other pillars of the Islamic Faith
are counted. People cannot call themselves Muslims unless they make this
Declaration of Faith.
(b) The belief in all the Angels who are the spiritual beings of God:
God, who created the human beings, is able to create any kinds of creatures. Human

beings are not the only intelligent beings God created. Another kind of beings is
angels, who serve God in many ways. Unlike human beings, angels were not created
with free will. They are absolutely obedient to Gods commands, carrying out their
duties of obeying, serving and worshipping Him.
There are many angels but we know only a few of them:
(1) The Archangel Gabriel is the angel of revelations. He dictated the Quran to
Prophet Muhammad in a period of twenty- three years. When Muhammad was forty
years of age, the revelation came down to him. The Archangel Gabriel appeared to
him and said: Read, but as Muhammad was an illiterate man, he said to the Angel: I
cannot read, I am not a reader. The Angel then repeated his request and Muhammad
repeated the same answer: I cannot read. The Angel said: read, in the name of your
God, who created, created man from. Read.
(2) The Angel Israfil, the Angel who will announce the event of Resurrection.
(3) The Angel Azrail, the Angel of death.
(4) The Angel Michael and some others.
There are angels before and behind us, who act as guardians and watch over us.
But verily, over you are protectors (angels), kind and honorable, writing down (your
deeds), they know all that you do. (82: 10-12)
He sends down His angels with inspiration of His command to such of His servants
as He pleased, (saying): Warn (man) that there is no god but I, so do your duty to
Me. (16: 2)
(c) The belief in all Prophets and Messengers of God:
The third article of Iman is the belief in Gods Prophets and Messengers. There are
many prophets and Quran mentioned a few of them e.g. from Adam, Noah,
Abraham, Ismail, Isaac, Moses, Elias. to Jesus and Muhammad. Quran says:
Say: We believe in God and in what has been revealed to us and what was revealed
to Abraham and Ismail and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes (of Israel), and in what
was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord.
We make no distinction between one and another among them, and to Him do we
submit ourselves. (2:136, also 3: 84-85)
So, submission to God means Islam, therefore Islam is not a new religion. It is the
original religion that goes back to Adam, Noah and Abraham and their descendants.
Its teachings brought by the many different Messengers of God in different times.
Muslims believe that all prophets were truthful and faithful men. They have the same
human needs and feelings but they were only of special qualities, whom God had

chosen to carry out His commands. They committed themselves to convey His
mission, with which they were entrusted. Each one of them conveyed the message
that suited the people they addressed at that particular time. Prophet Muhammad
was the last Messenger of God. His message was the final one of Gods instructions
and guidance to mankind for all time to come.
(d) The belief in all the Scriptures revealed by God for the guidance of mankind:
Muslims believe in all previous revelations of God, which He gave in Books to several
prophets from Adam to Abraham, who each received ten Books. Many other Devine
Books were delivered to different prophets in between. All these Books are believed
to be lost. Other Sacred Books were revealed to other prophets and messengers of
God. Moses was given the Torah, Jesus was given the Injeel and Muhammad was
given the Quran.
Because all these Books were sent from one God, and because it is believed that,
apart from the Quran, many alterations have undergone to the present copies of
these Books, Muslims believe that any passage, which is not in harmony with or is
contradicting the teachings of the Quran is not a true revelation.
It is He Who revealed to you (Muhammad) the Scripture (the Quran) in truth,
confirming what went before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Injeel before this
as guidance to mankind (3: 3)
The final Sacred Book is the Quran. It means in the Arabic language The Reading. It
was revealed to Prophet Muhammad through Archangel Gabriel over a period of
twenty-three years, started when Prophet Muhammad was at the age of forty until his
death, when he was sixty-three years old.
Quran is the only Devine Book, which has been preserved to the present time in its
original form. It is kept and recited in Arabic, the language in which it was revealed.
Even those Muslims, who do not know Arabic, never recite the Quran in the Islamic
prayers or any religious occasion, in translation.
As people believe that the Revelations did come from God, they should follow this up
with the real understanding of what is revealed by putting it to good practical use.
And give good news to the believers who work deeds of righteousness.(17: 9)
If any do deeds of righteousness, be they male or female and have faith, they will
enter paradise, and not the least injustice will be done to them. (4: 124)
(e) The belief in the Hereafter: The Day of Resurrection and Judgement.
The fifth article of Iman is the belief in the Last Day, the Day of Resurrection. Human
beings are responsible for their own actions and will be asked about their right and
wrong doings in the course of their life on earth.
Then how can you reject faith in God, seeing that you were without life and He gave

you life? Then He will cause you to die and will bring you to life again, and again to
Him will you return. (2: 28)
Muslims believe that body and soul will be raised and assembled together on the day
of Resurrection, which its time is secret to all of us.
Does not man see that it is We Who created him from sperm? and forgets his own
creation. He says: Who can give life to bones when they are decomposed? Say:
He will give them life Who created them the first time, for He knows about every
kind of creating. (36: 77-79)
In the end, Iman starts with Shahadah, Declaration of Faith and include the
responsibility to family, contributions to the society and practicing the codes of
morality by observing social behaviour, justice and good character. Prophet
Muhammad said:
The most perfect of the believers in faith are the best of them in morals.
There is a reward for kindness to every living animal or human.
So, a true Muslim must have a good understanding of the articles of Iman and
perform the acts of the Islamic Faith which form the five pillars of Islam and which
come from Quran and the sayings of Prophet Muhammad. Muslims also have to
recognize and appreciate the blessings of the Creator and be thankful to Him for His
blessings.
Authors Details: Fathy Fares - C/o spiritual.com.au
(The five pillars of Islam)