Part Two: The Tenets of Faith

Part Two: The Tenets of Faith
Prologue
Chapter One: Believing in Allah the Mighty & Majestic
Chapter Two: Believing in the Angels
Chapter Three: Believing in the Books
Chapter Four: Believing in the Messengers
Chapter Five: Believing in the Last Day
Chapter Six: Believing in Predestination

 Chapter One: Believing in Allah –the Majestic–
Section One: The Meaning of Believing in Allah; its Effects, and its Evidences
Section Two: Evidence from the Legislation indicating Having Belief in Allah
Section Three: Intellectual Evidence indicating Having Belief in Allah
Section Four: Empirical Evidence indicating Having Belief in Allah

Section One: The Meaning of Believing in Allah, its Effects, and its Evidences
Firstly: The Meaning of Believing in Allah, and that which it Comprises
Having faith in Allah is to firmly believe in the existence of Allah; that He is the Lord of everything and its Sovereign, that He is the sole Creator and Organiser of the universe, that He is the One deserving of being worshipped alone without any partners, and that everything worshipped besides Him is false and futile, and that He –the One free from all imperfections– possesses the attributes of perfection and majesty, being far removed from every imperfection or flaw.[205]

It becomes clear from that which has preceded that believing in Allah comprises four matters:
1. Believing in the existence of Allah:
This is achieved by believing in His perfect existence that was not preceded by nonexistence and is never-ending.

2. Believing in His Lordship:
This is achieved by singling Him out –He the Mighty and Majestic– with His actions; and that He has no partner in His creation, His Dominion, His Organization, and other than that from the requisites of Lordship.

3. Believing in His Names and Attributes:
This is achieved by having faith that He has the most Beautiful Names and Perfect Attributes; without resembling Him to His creation, negation, or questioning how they are.

4. Believing in His right to be singled out with Worship:
This is achieved by singling Him out –He the Mighty and Majestic– with the actions of the servant; without directing any act of worship to other than Him –He the Exalted and Most High–.[206]

Secondly: The Benefits of Believing in Allah
Believing in Allah yields many great fruits which benefit individuals and society as a whole – both in this world and the Hereafter.

From these fruits are:
Achieving complete serenity and guidance, as well as succession authority, and power upon the earth.

Also from its benefits is:
Living a fine life, being given good, granted blessings, and guided to every virtue; being saved from loss, and gaining the protection, victory, and aid of Allah.

Further benefits include:
Rising of a person’s rank, an expiation of his sins, admittance into the gardens of Paradise, and salvation from the Fire.

In summary, believing in Allah results in all good both in this world and in the Hereafter; and destruction and loss are caused by a lack of faith, or an insufficiency in faith.[207]

Thirdly: Evidences indicating the Oneness of Allah –the Exalted & Most High–
The proofs indicating the Oneness of Allah are many in number, with His bearing witness –He the Mighty and Majestic– for Himself being sufficient in this regard.

This is just as occurs in His saying:
]شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَآ إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُوْلُواْ العِلمِ قَآئِمَا بِالقِسطِۚ لَآ إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ العَزِيزُ الحَكِيمُ]

 Sura aali-`Imraan; (3):18
 ]Meaning: Allah bears witness that there is no deity except Him, and so do the angels and those of knowledge - that He maintains the creation in justice. There is no deity except Him; the All-Mighty, the All-Wise.]

The Oneness of Allah, His being singled out with creation and provision, and deserving to be worshipped alone is further proven by a person’s innate nature, Islamic Legislation, the intellect, and one’s senses.

Together these evidences indicate the existence of Allah as well as the three categories of monotheism; which are: monotheism of Lordship, monotheism of worship, and monotheism of Allah’s Names and Attributes. These categories are inseparable – whoever sets up partners with Allah in one of them, then he has done so regarding them all.

For example:
Whoever calls upon other than Allah regarding something that none but Allah has ability over, then his supplication is an act of worship dedicated to other than Allah, and means he has set up partners besides Allah in worship.

The supplication made to other than Allah entails belief of the supplicant that the one they call upon has the power to dispose of affairs alongside Allah and is able to actualise such. This is setting up partners with Allah in Lordship.

Furthermore, he did not call upon him except due to his belief that he hears him. This is setting up partners besides Allah regarding His Names and Attributes due to his belief that the one he calls upon has the ability to hear everything whether near or distant. Thus, it is evident that setting up partners besides Allah in worship necessitates setting up partners besides Him in Lordship and regarding His Names and Attributes.[208]

Further detail concerning the proofs of Allah’s Oneness will follow in the coming sections – with a mention of intellectual and physical evidences.

Mention of how the natural disposition of a person is indicative of the Oneness of Allah has preceded under the topic of Islam being the religion of one’s natural disposition, and the natural disposition mentioned in the Quran is the religion of Islam according to the most correct opinion.

As for evidences from the Islamic legislation proving the Oneness of Allah and belief in Him then they are clear and well-known. Everything that the Messengers came with and that which was revealed in the Books conclusively prove the Oneness of Allah. All of the divine books explicitly mention this; as well as that which they contain from rulings beneficial to the servants in their worldly lives and their Hereafter – such as the prayer, Zakat, Hajj, and other than it – and that which they contain from mention of signs within the universe, and affairs of the unseen that are proven by fact – all of this indicates it must originate from a wise, knowledgeable Lord Who deserves to be worshipped alone without any partners.[209]

The evidences in this regard are almost innumerable and will be mentioned in many subsections of this treatise.

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(205) See: ‘A`lamus–Sunnah al–Manshura li I`tiqad at–Taa•ifah an–Najiyah al–Mansura’ of Shaikh Haafidh al–Hakami (pp. 50).

(206) See: ‘Rasaa•il fil–`Aqeedah al–idencesIslamiyyah’ (pp. 11–17).

(207) See: ‘Taysir al–Latif al–Mannan fee Khulasah Tafsir al–Quran’ of Ibn Sa`di (pp. 130–134).

(208) See: ‘A`lam as–Sunnah al–Manshura’ (pp. 77), Q. no. 73.

(209) See: ‘Rasaa•il fil `Aqeedah’ (pp. 11–12).