What is Faith?
Faith (Eemaan in Arabic) is to confess with one’s mouth and believe in one’s heart everything that has come from Allah, totally submit to His will, out of love, hope and fear, and translate that into reality.
Allah Almighty says:
> “Believers, believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Book which He has revealed to His Messenger and the Books which He revealed before. Whoever denies Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Day of resurrection has indeed strayed far away.” (Soorat An-Nisaa’, 4:136)
Discuss:
What is the difference between hope and fear?
---
The Pillars of Faith
The Muslim faith rests on six pillars, namely:
1. Belief in Allah
A Muslim believes that Allah Almighty exists and believes in His names and attributes.
He equally believes that He is the Lord and sole Creator of this vast universe, to whom belongs everything in it, who manages all its affairs and provides sustenance to all His creation, that there is no god worthy of worship besides or instead of Him and that He has perfect attributes.
2. Belief in the Angels
A Muslim believes that the honourable angels exist, that it is Allah Almighty who created them and that they worship Him, execute His commands and never disobey Him. He also believes in their attributes and duties which are mentioned in the Book and the Sunnah.
3. Belief in the Divinely Revealed Books
A Muslim believes that Allah sent down divine books to His Messengers to guide people to the truth and teach them their religion.
These include:
The Torah (At-Tawraah)
The Zaboor
The Gospel (Al-Injeel)
The Qur’an
He also believes that the Qur’an is the last of them and that it has final authority over them all.
4. Belief in the Prophets
A Muslim believes that Allah Almighty sent messengers to their people and supported them with miracles to prove their truthfulness. He sent them to give the believers good news of reward, warn the unbelievers of punishment and teach their people their religion.
Muhammad ﷺ was the final prophet whom He sent to all mankind.
5. Belief in the Last Day
A Muslim believes in Resurrection Day. He believes that Allah will raise the dead from their graves on that day and judge and repay them according to their deeds. Some will enter Paradise while others will enter Hell.
6. Belief in the Divine Decree
A Muslim believes that everything in this universe, whether good or evil, happens according to Allah’s decree, that He foreknows all events which He has already written in the Preserved Tablet, and that everything in this universe happens according to His will.