Introduction

The word Islam basically means “submission to the will of Allah Almighty” or to get peace by surrendering yourself and your wishes to the will of God. Islam is a monotheistic religion which teaches belief in the unity of God like Judaism, Christianity, and Sikhism etc. The difference of Islam from some other monotheistic religions and major resemblance with Christianity and Judaism is its Abrahamic line of prophets. Sikhism and other such religions don’t believe in the prophethood of Abraham (PBUH) and prophets followed by him whereas Christians and Jews like Muslims trace their roots to the Prophet Abraham which unites them in a strong relationship.

Articles of Faith

Islam emphasizes on some articles as the primary injunctions for the faith of a Muslim; among them is Faith in Allah, Angels, Prophets, Holy books, Day of Judgment and in the concept of destiny. These articles primarily deal with the inner beliefs of a human being and have nothing to do with outward practices.

Belief in Allah: The first and the most belief is in Allah. The main difference of Islam with other religions is that Islam does not teach Trinity or other such concepts rather Islam says that God is one and only one and no one can ever aspire to reach his level. This concept of oneness of God has been concentrated into a single word “Tauheed”.

Belief in Angels: The second most important article of faith is the belief in angels. Islamic says that there is an unknown number of angels who are obedient servants of God and worship him day and night without committing sins. Among them, four are the most powerful and magnificent and those archangels are Jabriel (Gabriel), Mikael (Michael), Israfel and Azrael with specific jobs assigned to them. Gabriel (a.s) brings the message of God to the prophets; Mikael (a.s) is responsible for dropping the rain; Israel (a.s) is responsible for blowing the trumpet before the Day of Judgment and Azrael (a.s) is responsible for snatching the souls of humans.

Faith in Prophets: According to the Islamic teachings God has sent more or less 102400 Prophets from time to time and that of all of them the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) is the last messenger.

Faith in Books: This article of faith establishes that God has revealed treatises and books upon his messengers. The four holy books that have been revealed include Torah, Gospel, Zabur, and Quran.

Day of Judgment: This article of faith says that to be a Muslim one must believe that God will judge each and every person on the basis of his or her deeds whether good or bad and that each person will be sent to hell or heaven on that pretext.

Destiny:  Destiny means that a Muslim must believe that whatever he faces in his daily life is predestined from God.

Pillars of Islam

The practical embodiment of faith mainly consists of five pillars: Kalma Tayyaba, Salat (Prayer), Fasting, Zakat (charity) and Hajj (Pilgrimage).

Kalima Tayyab: A person has to recite Kalma Tayyaba and must believe that from the heart to be called a Muslim. The meaning of Kalma Tayyaba is that “There is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah”.

Prayer: Prayer is an important practical manifestation of faith and even Holy Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) has called it the difference between a Muslim and Non-Muslim. A Muslim has to pray five times a day from dawn to dusk. There are several other types of prayers too but are not mandatory.

Fasting: In the 9^th month of the Islamic Calendar, Muslims observe complete abstinence from food, water, and many other things starting from dawn till the dusk. This month is called “Ramadan” and is the month in which Quran was revealed to the Prophet.

Charity: This pillar of Islam provides the basis for the Islamic economic system. Zakat is mandatory for every Muslim to pay but there are several other optional charities ( sadqat) too that Islam has apprised Muslims to pay.

Pilgrimage: A Muslim has to pay pilgrimage to Mecca at least once to fulfill his obligation. One such pilgrimage is called “Hajj” and other is called “Umrah”. Hajj is performed in the month of Zil Haj and is mandatory once in life whereas Umrah can be offered at any time or is not mandatory.

Sects of Islam

The Islamic world is divided into many sects and sub-sects on the basis of political and intellectual discourse. The main branches of Islam are Sunnis, Shias, and Non-followers (Ahle hadith).

Sunni: Sunni is a word derived from “Sunnah” and their point of view is that they follow the Sunnah of Prophet (s.a.w). According to Sunni theology, Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) did not choose any particular person before his death and that Muslims had the right to appoint Syedna Abu Bakar (r.a) as the caliph. There are four sub-branches or Imams of Sunnis: Hanafi, Shafi, Hanbali, Maliki.

Shia: Shia is a word basically derived from their original “Shian-e-Ali”. Shian-e-Ali means the followers of Syedna Ali (r.a). Shia differs in the succession to the Prophet from the Sunnis and according to them, Hazrat Ali was the rightful Imam after the death of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w). The mainstream Shias follow twelve Imams whereas other differs on the basis of succession.

Ahle-Hadith: This Jamat is also called “Salafist movement” or “Ghair Muqalideen”. This sect doesn’t follow any specific imam and they believe that one should follow “Salaf-e-Saliheen” instead of Imams and that blind taqlid is Haram.

There are many other sects of Islam who are less dominant or many have in fact vanished with time. One of them is Kharijite which is now confined in the form of “Ibaddiya”.