Islam is one of the world’s largest and the fastest-growing major religion with over 1.8 billion followers. It is a monotheistic faith based on revelations received by the Prophet Muhammad in 7th-century Saudi Arabia. The Arabic word Islam means “Submission” reflecting the religion’s central principle of submitting to the will of God. Followers of Islam are called Muslims. Here are the primary eight beliefs of Islam Religion.
1. Six Articles of Faith
(i) Belief in one God – The main belief of Islam religion is that “God is One.” Only God should be worshipped, and the biggest sin of the Islam religion is to worship some being other than God. It is also considered a sin in God’s eyes if one dies before repenting his sin.
(ii) Belief in Angels – Angels are said to be the celestial beings that are created by the God, and they work tirelessly and continuously for God in full obedience to him. Angels are believed to surround us all the times keeping in account our good and bad deeds.
(iii) Belief in Prophets of God – Muslims believe that God communicates with people through the Prophets he sent on the Earth. These prophets include Adam, Noah, Jesus, Muhammad, etc. The main message of all the prophets to the humans is the same that the God is only one and he alone is worthy to be worshipped.
(iv) Belief in Books of God – Muslims believe that God revealed his teaching and instructions in his books that he gave to prophets, but the original teachings of these books got lost with time. Muslims believe that Quran is God’s last revelation and he gave it to Prophet Muhammad and is believed to be carefully preserved till this day.
(v) Belief in the Day of Judgment – Muslims believe that life of this world will come to an end one day. That day the God himself will come on this Earth and raise every dead person to judge each person individually according to his deeds. Muslims believe that those who believe in God and have always done good deeds, those will be awarded an eternity in Heaven and those who do not believe in God and do bad deeds will be punished in Hell.
(vi) Belief in Destiny – Muslims believe in destiny, and they believe that everything happens in the eyes of the God, and nothing happens without his knowledge. But this belief does not go against the idea of free will. Human beings are allowed to make their own choices, but the only difference is that these choices are already known to the God.
2. Five teachings of Islam
(i) Declaration of Faith – Muslims believe that declaration of faith goes beyond any statement that a person can give. Instead, the faith in God must be shown by one’s actions.
(ii) Daily Prayer – In the Islamic religion, prayer is considered as through which one can connect to the God and can gather strength. Muslims believe in performing five prayers a day.
(iii) Zakah – Muslims believe that all the wealth is a blessing of the God and it is the responsibility of the wealthy to give charity to the poor and the needy.
(iv) Fast of Ramadan – For one complete month in each year a Muslim is expected to fast from dawn to sunset. This fast consist of no food, drink or sex. This fast is to teach Muslims about self-control and focus on devotion.
(v) The Hajj Pilgrimage to Mecca – The Hajj Pilgrimage is considered to be the most intense spiritual experience for a Muslim. This experience consists of the pilgrimage to the most sacred sites in the Mecca.
3. The Universe
In Islamic Religion it is believed that the Universe is the direct creation of the God (Allah) and all except God are his creatures. It is given in Quran that “When the earth and the skies were joined, then God created every living being out of the water. And since Allah is the one to create this Universe, he will be the only one to destroy it.”
4. Beliefs about Jesus
Muslims believe that they must believe in all the prophets to be a true Muslim and due to this, their belief in Jesus is also true. Muslims also believe that Jesus was born without a father and was given birth by Virgin Mary. They believe that Jesus lived a sinless and innocent life. Muslims believe that Jesus performed many miracles and that he was one of the greatest prophets sent by the God, but he was not God himself. They do not believe that Jesus was the son of the God, but he was a human being that was sent by the God with the task of conveying people the message about God and to preach that God is only one. One other belief that is contradicting for Christians and Muslims is that Christians believe that Jesus was crucified, but Muslims believe that one of the other humans was made to look like him and he was crucified while Jesus was raised to the heaven by the God.
5. True Repentance
Muslims believe that all the people are born in a state of natural submission to the Allah. If one truly repents the sin he had committed, then he is returned to his original sinless form.
6. Other Religions
Muslims believe that there is no compulsion on anyone to be of some particular religion. But they believe that their religion is the true religion, and they invite all other people belonging to different castes, races or religions to be the part of the Islamic religion. It is also believed that Islam is closely related to other two religions – Christianity and Judaism.
7. Belief in Afterlife
Since Muslims believe in the day of Judgement, the day God will himself come on this Earth to raise all the dead, to judge everyone and sentence everyone the eternity in Heaven or Hell, they also believe in the afterlife (life after death). They believe that soul still exists after the one’s death. It is believed that until the day of Judgement these souls remain waiting in their graves for their resurrection.
8. Mahdi
Mahdi is believed to be the one who will come to the Earth before the Judgement day to cleanse the world of all kinds of Injustice. Mahdi is not mentioned in Quran, but many Muslims believe that he is the descendant of Muhammad and will have the same name. They believe that the day he will return will coincide with the day the antichrist will rise and there will be the solar eclipse in the month of Ramadan. It is also believed that he was taken by Allah when he was five years old and the year of his return will be the odd year. He will first appear in Mecca, and initially many will fear him, but eventually many will start following him.
