ISLAMIC
OBLIGATORY KNOWLEDGE
"The best deed is to belief in Allah and His
Messenger." (Al-Bukhariyy) What is Islam?
Linguistically, Islam means submission. According to
Islamic terminology, Islam means a specified submission.
It is the submission to what the prophet brought. This
takes place by uttering the THE TWO TESTIFICATIONS OF
FAITH. Belief, on the other hand, linguistically means
certitude. According to Islamic terminology, it means a
specified certitude. It is to accept as true what the
prophet brought. The least of Belief is to belief in the
THE TWO TESTIFICATIONS OF FAITH. Islam and Belief cannot
be disassociated. One of them is not accepted without the
other, although their original meaning are not identical.
Imam Abu Hanifah said in Al-Fiqh Al-'Akbar: "Islam
is not acceptable without Belief and Belief is not
accepted without Islam. They are like the front of
something and its back." Islam is the Religion of
all the prophets.
ISLAMIC
CONCEPTS
What are the Two Testifications of Faith? The Two
Testifications of Faith are: I bear witness that no one
is God except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad the
son of ^Abdillah is the prophet of Allah. The non-Muslim
embraces Islam by believing in the Two Testifications of
Faith and uttering them with the intention of leaving out
blasphemy. The first Testification means that no one or
thing deserves to be worshipped except God Who is the
Creator of everything.The second Testification states
that Muhammad the son of ^Abdillah who was born in Makkah
about 1400 years ago is a messenger of God. He was sent
to convey what God revealed to him so that the humans
believe in and work with the Laws he received and brought.
He is truthful in all what he conveyed. The Two
Testifications reject the Godhood of anyone or anything
other than God.
They confirm the Godhood of God only with the
acknowledgment of the message of prophet Muhammad.
Basic Islamic Belief One has to believe that the Creator,
Allah, exists, and is not similar to anything. He is the
only Creator and the only One Who deserves to be
worshipped. He does not need anything and everything
needs Him. God has Attributes of perfection that befit
Him and any imperfection is not attributable to Him. Any
imperfection, such as ignorance, place, direction, body,
soul, organ, children, change or weakness, is not
attributed to God. The rule is simple: Whatever you
imagine in your mind, God is different from it. God sent
messengers the first of them was Adam and the last one
was Muhammad. All the messengers, including Jesus and
Moses, were truthful, ordered their people to believe in
One God, Allah, and not to associate any partner with Him.
Hence, their Religion was the same: Islam.
How Does One Become a Muslim? One becomes a Muslim by
believing in the Two Testifications of Faith and uttering
them with the intention of leaving out blasphemy. The Two
Testifications of Faith are: I bear witness that no one
is God except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is
the prophet of Allah. See THE TWO TESTIFICATIONS OF FAITH.
Who is
Prophet Muhammad the son of ^Abdillah? Prophet Muhammad
was born in Makkah in Arabia in 6th century. His father
was ^Abdullah the son of ^Abd al-Muttalib, the son of
Hashim the son of ^Abdi Manaf from the tribe of Quraysh-
the head of the Arab tribes. His father died while his
mother was still pregnant with him. He was raised by his
grandfather, the head of Quraysh, after the death of his
mother. His uncle Abu Talib, later on took care of him
and supported him. He received the revelation in Makkah
when he was 40 years old and stayed in Makkah after that
for 13 years. He immigrated to al-Madinah and lived there
for 10 years before he died there. His age was 63 years
old when he died. He was buried in al-Madinah and it is
rewardable to visit his grave there.
Prophet Muhammad revived the call for Islam after Jesus
was raised and
after none of the Muslim followers of Jesus were alive.
Prophet Muhammad
conveyed that there will be no prophet after him, and
Jesus will come back to rule according to his teachings.
This was also revealed to the prophet in the Qur'an .
Qur'an spoke about other prophets like: Noah, Abraham,
Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David,
Solomon, Elias, and Jesus. All of those prophets were
prophets of Islam. Prophet Muhammad exerted successful
efforts in calling for Islam and was supported by God
with miracles. By that, prophet Muhammad proved to others
that he is a prophet and truthful. Before the death of
prophet Muhammad his companions reached about 100,000
Muslims. Today, the Muslims are about 1 billion. Since
the time of the prophet, Muslims have kept, one
generation after the other, conveying the teachings and
following the rulings of prophet Muhammad. Believing in
Islam is not valid if one does not believe in prophet
Muhammad and that he is the final messenger.
What is the Qur'an? The Qur'an is revelation from God to
the prophet.
Neither angel Gabriel, nor prophet Muhammad composed the
Qur'an. The
Qur'an was revealed by Allah and conveyed by the prophet.
The Qur'an is
a long-lasting miracle. The prophet challenged others,
Arabs and non-Arabs, to bring something like it. The
challenge is still valid.
None was able to bring anything like it and no one will
be able to do that.God promised to save Qur'an from
perversion. This is readily noticed. Today, all over the
world, Muslims refer to one Qur'an. Qur'an is written in
the book of al-Mushaf. Al-Mushaf is one. Muslims follow
today, as always, the same Mushaf. If one goes back in
history, one will still see that Muslims had one Mushaf-
the same Mushaf which we refer to it today. As a matter
of fact, the original copies of the Mushaf which was
written by the companions is still available in Muslim
museums in Turkey and other countries. Muslim children
and adults memorize all the Qur'an by heart. This is an
Islamic tradition which was preserved since the time of
the companions of the prophet. One generation of Muslims
will convey Qur'an to the next generation. They keep
following the methods for reciting Qur'an as these
methods were originally conveyed by prophet Muhammad. The
lineage to the prophet is extremely strong. From here,
one realizes that it is impossible to tamper with Qur'an.
The Qur'an is the evidence Muslims use to learn about and
rule according to Islam. Muslims also refer to the
traditions conveyed by prophet Muhammad called Sunnah
which is also revelation. The Muslims also refer to the
unanimous agreement of the top Muslim scholars on
religious issues.
Ruling on new issues is established based on proofs given
by Qur'an, Sunnah and consensus following a particular
method for deducing judgments. Only individuals who are
highly qualified may deduce judgments in Islam.
Some of the Attributes of Allah God has Attributes of
perfection which befit Him. Some of these are Existence,
Existence without a beginning, Existence without an end,
Oneness, Non-resemblance to creations, non-neediness to
creations, Life, Will, Power, Knowledge, Hearing, Sight
and Speech without letters, sounds or languages.
``The person whom Allah willed to grant goodness, Allah
makes him knowledgeable about the Religion." (Al-Bukhariyy)
What is Islamic Obligatory Knowledge? Islamic Obligatory
Knowledge is the knowledge that every accountable person
is obligated to know. It includes the knowledge of
Islamic Belief, cases of Islamic Law about Purification,
Prayer, Fasting and the like. It also includes knowledge
of the rules pertaining to dealings and contracts. One
has also to learn the Obligatory Knowledge about the sins
of the heart and body organs like the tongue, stomach,
hands, private parts and the like.
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