- Tawheed - [Oneness
of God] -
The most fundamental aspect of all beliefs revolves around the
total acceptance of the Absolute and Perfect Creator. Belief in
the Originator of all causes and effects with no effect on Him and
that He is One, Everliving, Beneficent and Merciful. He has
neither a colleague nor a partner. He begets not, nor is He
begotten, and there is none like Him. The Almighty God is Unique
and is Absolute in the Absolute sense. No entity in His Universe
can ever comprehend His true state and none should even bother to
try for it will lead to futility and insanity. Yet there is no
doubt in any sane mind that His existence precedes all and His
presence is Absolutely ubiquitous (everpresent). For anyone to say
that God does not exist is a liar and a fool because such a person
can NEVER disprove His existence, whether scientifically or
philosophically, or for that matter in any method known. Because
He is Absolute and none is like Him, no one in the relative world
can ever physically define Him, and thus all idol worshippers and
those who ascribe a shape or a body to Him are wrong. Ascribing a
shape to the One who is beyond our limited perceptions would be
tantamount to lying and giving a false appearance and a false
representation. In addition, to believe that one can see God in
the physical sense of sitting on a throne like some mythical being
is certainly an untrue statement and should never be accepted. The
Almighty Creator brings to existence everything with utmost
Perfection and nothing in His Universe is imperfect. Thus to state
that the Creator has created imperfect things is certainly a false
statement. He is the One and Only and is Absolutely independent of
anything and everything that exists. Glorified be His names, the
Most High!
- 'Adl -
[Justice] - Essentially part of
Tawheed. Belief that God is Just. He will reward or punish any
person according to his deeds and thus the notion of
predestination (where all decisions are God's and not any one
else's) in one's deeds does not exist. It is absolutely forbidden
in Islam to believe that the Almighty, Merciful Allah planned our
destiny and that the good and the bad are just His Will and there
is no choice for us between them (God forbid!). Those who ascribe
to such lies do so because they want to blame their own evils on
Allah and claim the good for themselves! Although the attribute of
Allah's Justice is not a separate entity of Allah for certainly
the Almighty God can never be compartmentalized nor defined in any
relative terms, it is nonetheless absolutely compulsory to believe
and fully understand the importance of this attribute in Islam so
as not to allow the evil suggestions of Iblees (curse of Allah be
upon him and his progeny) and his companions from leading us
astray.
- Nubuwwat
- [Prophethood] - Belief in the
Prophets (PBUT) of God who excel all other persons for whom they
are sent for. All prophets of Allah are perfect and sinless (ma'soom).
Prophet Muhammad Mustafa (PBUH&HF) is the last of the prophets
sent by God and the sealer of prophets for NO more are to come,
EVER! The total number of prophets (PBUT) that were sent by God to
mankind is 124,000 and every nation on earth was given guidance
through them. In fact, all major religions today on earth can be
traced to have these divinely guided teachers as their original
propagators of the Truth of Allah. The best of His messengers all
came from the same tree i.e. family lineage and many of them are
mentioned in the Holy Qur'an which describes who they were and
what their mission on earth was. It is important to note that no
prophet on earth ever negated or rejected any of the other
divinely ordained prophets and thus their message was always the
same and one in purpose. Each established the law of the One and
Only God and showed the way of life for humans to observe. From
the very first creation of mankind, there was always a prophet on
earth which was Prophet Adam (PBUH). This guidance from the
Merciful Allah to establish His complete laws continued to the
last Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HF) who exemplified the letters of
the law in his most perfect behavior. He completed and perfected
the one and only True religion, Islam. With the revelation of the
last Holy Book, the Qur'an, which is the most protected and
perfect book of God with us, he established as part of his
mission, every concievable and practical law for mankind to follow
in order to attain spiritual perfection. Great prophets such as
Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Ismail (Ishmael), Ishaaq (Isaac),
Yaqoob (Jacob), Yusuf (Joseph), Dawood (David), Sulaiman
(Solomon), Musa (Moses), Yahya (John), and Isa (Jesus), - (Peace
be upon them all) - all came from the one blessed lineage of
Prophet Adam (PBUH) and ended with the last Messenger, Muhammad (PBUH&HF).
It is also important to note that anyone who ascribes
imperfections or mistakes to these divinely guided personalities
is ascribing it directly to Allah who is certainly free from such.
Acceptance of such ideas is also rejection of the message of Allah
entirely. Thus with prophethood, a believer has to accept in their
complete message without any reservations of possible errors or
mistakes.
- Imamate -
[Guidance] - Belief in the
divinely appointed leadership after the death of the Holy Prophet
(PBUH&HF) to protect and guide mankind with the revealed
Truth, the Holy Qur'an and the true practices of the Holy Prophet
himself. The roles of these leaders is an integral part in the
protection of all the Messengers and their divine Messages. The
Almighty Allah appointed through the Holy Prophet himself, twelve
Guides (Imams) to protect mankind from misrepresenting and
misinterpreting the Truth. Belief in this is most important in
Islam and no doubts about their positions should be allowed. They
are indeed sinless (ma'soom) and perfect in the highest sense of
the word. The Imams have direct knowledge from God, and their
verdict is the verdict of God. After the Holy Prophet, only they
can interpret and guide mankind in every aspect of life and death
and all believers must acquire guidance from them or else they
will certainly be lost. They do NOT bring any new laws nor do they
ever innovate their own laws. They always exempliy and elucidate
the practical (Sunnah) and the written (the Holy Qur'an). It is
also important to note that they NEVER disagree with each other in
their manners and duties nor in their representations of the
Divine Laws. They are from the best and the most blessed and
purified lineage of the last Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUT) and
their names are as follows: (1) Imam Ali ibn Abu Talib, the cousin
and son-in-law of the Holy Prophet who called him his only brother
in this world and in the next, (2) Imam Hasan son of Ali, (3) Imam
Husain son of Ali, (4) Imam Ali son of Husain, (5) Imam Muhammad
son of Ali, (6) Imam Ja'far son of Muhammad, (7) Imam Musa son of
Ja'far, (8) Imam Ali son of Musa, (9) Imam Muhammad son of Ali,
(10) Imam Ali son of Muhammad, (11) Imam Hasan son of Ali, and the
last and living Imam Muhammad son of Hasan, the establisher of the
Truth till the end of this world (PBUT). There is no successor to
the Twelfth Holy Imam Muhammad ibnul Hassan (PBUH) and he is
LIVING today but is in occultation and appears only to those who
are most in need and to those who are most virtuous and pious. By
the Command of Allah, he will reappear to all when he will
establish true justice on earth and will rule mankind
compassionately with utmost perfection as is the Will of the
Almighty Allah. He will abolish the evil establishments on earth
and mankind will live under true guidance as should have been many
centuries ago!
- Qiyaamat
- [Resurrection] - Belief in the
Day of Judgement when all human beings shall be raised from the
dead and all their good and bad deeds shall be ultimately judged
and recompensed accordingly. This belief is most essential WITH
the belief in the One True God. The Day of Judgement will prove to
all in this Universe that the Almighty Allah is the Creator of all
from nothing and is the Absolute Master. His divine presence shall
be most apparent on this important Day for all to witness. It is a
judgement Dayfor His creatures to know themselves and their
relationship to the Creator Allah. Just as pursuit for justice is
inseperable in any society on earth, so is the Ultimate Day of
Justice inseparable for mankind.
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