The Pillars of Iman!!

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.

"Verily, all praise is due to Allah. It is due to Him, and to Him alone. We praise Him and we seek His help and forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evil of our own selves and from the evil of our actions. And whomsoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide him, and whomsoever Allah leads astray none can guide him aright. I testify that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah, alone with no partner, and I testify that Muhammad (SAWS) is His slave and messenger. Indeed the best speech is the book of Allah, and the best guidance is that of Muhammad (SAWS). The worst affairs are the newly invented matters, for every newly invented matter is an innovation, and every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire." 

Today's topic is faith in Islam and what that entails. The five Pillars of Islam, the ones we addressed in the previous post are built on the articles of faith. Which can simply be broken down into the following: 1. God: There is only one God with no associate or partner. All that happened the past, is happening now and is going to happen in the future is by the will of God. It is declaring that God is the Creator of everything and the sustainer of everything, it is He who gives life and causes death, and that He is unique in His Names and Attributes.

2. The Angels: Angels are created from light and execute the commands of God without question. God describes them: "Who disobey not, (from executing) the commands they receive from Allah, but do that which they are commanded." (66:6) Only Allah knows how many they are. Among them are:

Gabriel: In charge with delivering Divine revelations to the Prophets and Messengers.
Michael: In charge with the rain
The angel of death who is charged with collecting human souls
The bearers of the throne of Allah SWT
The guards of paradise and Hell, and
The two Angels who record people's deeds.
There are many more who are charged with various duties but only Allah knows how many.

3. The books of God: These include the Torah whih was revealed to Moses, the Palsm of David, the Gospel, revealed to Jesus and the last book the Qur'an which was revealed to Muhammad PBUH. THe Qur'an is the word of God, sent down to mankind for guidance against distortion, adulteration, addition or harm. Allah says:

"Verily, We, it is We who have sent down Dhikr(i.e. the Qur'an), and surely We will guard it (from corruption)." (15:9)
More than 1400 years have elapsed and not a single word of this Qur'an has been changed.

4. The Prophets of God: There were thousands of Prophets who preached God's message. Prophet Muhammad PBUH was the last Prophet for all humanity and completed the message of God. It is incumbent upon all Muslims to believe in all the Prophets and Messengers. He who denies one of them denies all. The Messengers were all sent with one mission:
Allah says: "And verily, We have sent among every Ummah (community, nation) a Messenger (proclaiming): 'Worship Allah (Alone), and avoid (or keep away from) Taghut." (16:36)

5. Day of Judgement: On this day all mankind will be raised back to life and judged by God. Those whose good deeds outweigh their bad deeds will be allowed to enter paradise and those whose bad deeds outweigh their good will be condemned to hell except whom has mercy on. Life after death: there is eternal life in paradise where one will be rewarded for living a righteous life on earth, or the fire of Hell where one will be punished for the evil that one committed.

6. Divine Decree: God's predestination of all things and events and his decree. Nothing in the universe can occur without the knowledge of God. Whatever he desires, it occurs and whatever He does not desire, doesn't occur. There is no power or any movement except by God. Islam is believing and fully accepting that there is a higher power who is responsible for creating this unimaginable world. We all know that no human is capable of such wonders, they've tried and failed miserably!

Islam is logically coming to a conclusion that a higher power exists without having to see it. Allah has shown us countless signs that He is there. All you need to do is look in the mirror. As humans we are very defiant when it comes to the unseen in religion but when it's our everyday things we don't even think to argue about it. How many of you can see the wind? Yet we all know it blows. My point is we are all ready to believe worldly things. But if u sit and really contemplate about this world, who created all of it? When you come to the answer I hope you do, ask yourself don't you think that Allah deserves all the thanks and appreciation for just creating us not mentioning all the blessings and luxury this world has to offer. We should all have faith in our Lord for He created everything. So He definitely knows what is decreed for all of us and we should be comforted with that alone that our destiny is in the hands of our Maker and not a human being or a statue that we created with our own hands.

On the authority of Omar, who said : One day while we were sitting with the messenger of Allah there appeared before us a man whose clothes were exceedingly white and whose hair was exceedingly black; no signs of journeying were to be seen on him and none of us knew him. He walked up and sat down by the prophet. Resting his knees against his and placing the palms of his hands on his thighs, he said:"O Muhammed, tell me about Islam". The messenger of Allah said: "Islam is to testify that there is no god but Allah and Muhammed is the messenger of Allah, to perform the prayers, to pay the zakat, to fast in Ramadhan, and to make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able to do so." He said:"You have spoken rightly", and we were amazed at him asking him and saying that he had spoken rightly. He said: "Then tell me about eman."He said:"It is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and to believe in divine destiny, both the good and the evil thereof." He said:"You have spoken rightly". He said: " Then tell me about ehsan." He said: "It is to worship Allah as though you are seeing Him, and while you see Him not yet truly He sees you". He said: "Then tell me about the Hour". He said: "The one questioned about it knows no better than the questioner." He said: "Then tell me about its signs." He said: "That the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress and that you will see the barefooted, naked, destitute herdsman competing in constructing lofty buildings." Then he took himself off and I stayed for a time. Then he said: "O Omar, do you know who the questioner was?" I said: "Allah and His messenger know best". He said: "He was Jebreel (Gabriel), who came to you to teach you your religion." Narrated by Muslim.

Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.