FAITH

 

The basis of any religion is faith. Faith is not merely conviction of the truth of a given principle, but it is essentially the acceptance of a principle as a basis for action. Without faith, a man is like a car without a steering wheel, drifting aimlessly upon a sea of doubt and confusion. 

What is faith in Islam? It is belief in the Unity of God or Tawheed. This is expressed in the primary Kalimah (Word) of Islam as: “Laa ilaaha illallaah", meaning: “There is no one worthy of worship but Allaah.” 

This beautiful phrase is the bedrock of Islam, its foundation and its essence. It is the expression of this belief, which differentiates a true Muslim from an unbeliever, or one who associates others with God in His Divinity.

The acceptance or denial of this phrase produces a world of difference among human beings. The believer finds out the right path, knows the truth and chalks out the course of life in the light of reality; the unbeliever chases one illusion after the other and gropes into the dark. For the believers, there is the promise of unhampered progress and resounding success in this world and in the Hereafter; whereas failure and ignominy are ultimately the lot of those who refuse to believe in it.

In fact, Tawheed is a revolutionary concept, a tremendously forceful doctrine and is the very starting-point of Islam. However, the difference between believers and unbelievers is not the result of merely uttering a few words. The real force lies in the conscious acceptance of this doctrine and its stipulations, and complete adherence to it in practical life.

Meaning of: “There is no one worthy of worship but Allah” لا إله الاّ الله:

In Arabic, the word ‘Ilaah’ means 'one who is worshipped', i.e., a Being which on account of its Greatness and Power is considered worthy to be worshipped, to be bowed to in love, humility and submission. Anything or any being possessing powers too great to be comprehended by man is also called Ilaah. The concept of Ilaah also includes the possession of infinite powers that may astonish others. It also conveys the sense that others are dependent upon Ilaah and He is not dependent upon any one else.

It appears from humankind’s ancient history and the oldest relics of antiquity that we have been able to obtain, that in every age, man had recognized some deity or deities and worshipped them. Even in the present age, every nation on the face of the earth -- from the most primitive to the most civilized -- believes in and worships some deity. It shows that the idea of having a deity and of worshipping is ingrained in human nature. There is something within man's soul, which forces him to do so.

Acceptance of the doctrine of Unity of God is what is termed faith in Islam. However, faith in the Islamic sense is not merely intellectual assent to a certain dogma or a subjective emotional response to a great personality, but a volitional and dynamic reaction to belief in one God, Who stands for the highest perfection and belief in the Hereafter -- a belief that fully assimilates both intellectual and emotional responses. It is at once an affirmation of a truth and a surrender to the truth affirmed.

Intellectual apprehension plays an important part in Islamic faith. The Qur'an, in several places, appeals to human reason in arriving at true belief. It says (what means):

"And thus do We explain the Signs in various ways that the truth may become established and that they may say: "Thou hast read out what thou hast learnt' and that We may explain it to a people who have knowledge." [Qur'an 6: 106]

Addressing the unbelievers, the Qur'an asks (what means): 

"Those who associate gods with Allah say: 'If Allah had pleased, we would not have associated gods with Him, nor would our fathers, nor would we have made anything unlawful.' In like manner did those who were before them accuse God's Messenger of falsehood, until they tasted of Our wrath. Say: "Have you any knowledge? Then produce it for us. You only follow mere conjecture. And you only tell lies." [Qur'an 6: 149]

"Surely, the worst of beasts in the sight of Allah are the deaf and the dumb, who have no sense." [Qur'an 8: 32]

The faith in which knowledge, emotion and will are all involved, is manifested not in the form of a doctrine or dogma, but in the form of an ideal value.

Faith in Islam is the moral ground and basis for action and not a dogmatic assertion of salvation-justification like Christianity. The well-being of man, therefore, depends upon faith that is accompanied by good actions.

Thus, faith is firm belief arising out of knowledge and unshakable conviction in the Unity of Allah, in His Attributes and revealed guidance. One who believes as such is called Mu'min (faithful).

This faith invariably leads man to a life of obedience and submission to the Will of Allah, and a person who lives this life of submission is known as a Muslim. Thus, we find that faith is the starting point that leads man to a life of submission to Allah, and that a man cannot become a Muslim without faith.

The Unity of God is the most fundamental concept in Islam. The first step in discussing the concept of faith in Islam is to establish the existence of God, because if He does not exist there is no question of believing in Him. Therefore, the proof of existence of Allah is the basis of the whole concept of Islamic faith. 

FOODS and GOODS  ISLAM  recommends:

• Organic Honey 
• Organic Olive Oil
• Black Zeera
• Nigella seeds
• Organic Halal food
• Holy Qur'an - Mus'haf
• Hadeeth Collection
• Musallas - Prayer mat
• Miswak - Siwak
• 'Athar - ‘Oud
• Perfumes 
• Original Antimony 
• Head Cap 
• Niqab -Face veil
• Abaya - Burqah
• Scarf - Shawl
• Hand Gloves
• Islamic Dresses
• Halal clothing
• Hijama
• Halal cupping
• Islamic Medicines 
• Halal medicines 
• Islamic treatment

Pillars of Faith :

1- Belief in the oneness of Allah and His Attributes :

This is the first and foremost requirement to confirm one's faith in Islam, to firmly believe that Allah is only One and there's no partners in His Lordship, which simultaneously attests to His Oneness in Sovereignty, Creatorship, His existence without a beginning and without an end and His Absoluteness among all of His other Divine Attributes.

2- Belief in His Angels :

Allah created Angels long long before His creation of Jinns and Humans. They are a creation made out of light, as completely obedient to His Commands to carry out special appointed tasks. Mind you, they are no partners in managing various departments of the affairs of the Universe, as many other religion assumes, but are devoutly humble and obedient mighty beings created to worship Allah loyally and happily carrying out His Orders. 

3- Belief in His Prophets :

After Prophet Adam'sعليه السّلام time, our Most Merciful Creator had sent thousands of prophets and messengers to guide people nations after nations, time after time, giving them plenty of chance to discipline their lives with the right faith and deeds. Allah always allowed people to change their wrong ways time and again, even when they deliberately strayed from the path despite clear instructions and messages from their prophets. And finally, He sent the last messenger, Prophet Mohammadصلّی اللہ علیه وسلّم. All the previous prophets were for their respective tribe or nation, but Prophet Mohammadصلّی اللہ علیه وسلّم was sent for the whole creations - Humans and Jinns - for all times to come until the end. But, to be a true muslim, one is required to believe in all of the prophets A-Z without making any distinction whatsoever between them. 

4- Belief in His Books :

All the revealed Scriptures and Messages given to the Prophetsعليهم السّلام, those of which we are informed of like the Zabur (Psalms), Torah (Talmud), Injeel (Gospel), or the Qur'an, and those which we aren't told of, all of it a person is required to have faith in to qualify as a muslim.

5- Belief in the Last Day, Resurrection, Paradise & Hellfire :

A muslim have to be believing in the final judgement day, when all the people and the jinns are going to be resurrected and gathered in a vast piece of ground, unlike any we can imagine. On this terrifyingly real day, to each one of them will be handed out their account books which will have every bit of detail of their inner thoughts and outer actions recorded, with not even an iota missed out! The sumtotal of the moral value of deeds will be weighed on the Great Scale called Meezaan that day, and not a single soul will be dealt with unjustly. After that, those whose good weighs more will be led into the everlasting blissful gardens, the Jannat and the evil ones will be thrown to the hellfire, the jahannum! 

6- Belief in Al-Qadar (Pre-ordainment or Pre-destination) :

This is an equally very important article of faith that demands us to back up our faith in all of the above with this conviction that Allah, The AlMighty, in His Divine Wisdom and All-Encompassing Knowledge having created us humans and jinns with the freewill to choose between the right and the wrong way, have also already written down the full script of our lives from start to end, as to our lifestyle that we will be opting on our own choice, without His interference. He knows already even before our birth, what path each of us would take in this world. This is what DNA code is all about, which only lately the scientists have stumbled upon and have learnt to contain the complete information of an individual, his/her life personality, lifestyle, tendencies, actions, literally all of it packaged into it....SUBHAANALLAH! People use different phrases to judge the course their lives take, esp. when it takes a bad turn, they say, 'It's my fate!', 'It's written for me to suffer like this', or 'This omen is destined for me!' etc etc. If one doesn't follow a Divine set of moral directives in his life, it's in born within the weak human hearts and minds to condemn and blame someone or something for their misfortunes, rather than evaluate their own actions. Despite the human tendency to mourn and groan, even before any thing else, they have been gifted with a strong natural instinct to identify and differentiate between good and evil. This conscience is bestowed upon one and all without any partiality towards one over the other. Above all, The All-Merciful Lord has put it in our fitrah (nature) to lean towards good, but then there is also the nafs (self) which might misuse the free-will and mislead the mind into doing the evil that it might be inclined to, due to the outer influences and of course not to mention the temptations by the accursed one, the shaitaan (satan), which has been given the permission to reside in the human nafs.

These are the basic fundamentals expected from a sincere muslim/to be.

May Allah The AlMighty help all of us to accept these pillars unconditionally and live up it by submitting peacefully to His Will ....Aameen!

Learn and supplicate with the below given beautiful dua :

اللهم يا مقلب القلوب ثبت قلوبنا على دينك 

Oh our Lord, Oh Turner of the hearts, keep our hearts steadfast upon Your Deen (Way of Life) 

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