Chapter 5
The Central Beliefs of Islam
Chapter Summary
Basic creed – God – God is beyond all our concepts – analogy – the Beautiful Names of God – Muslim names – God guides and judges – Angels – jinn – the Shaytan (Satan): Iblis – Prophets – Books – the power and foreknowledge of God – freewill – predestination – human accountability – death – awareness in the grave – the Last Days – return of Jesus – victory of good over evil – general resurrection – judgement – heaven and hell.
"I believe in God, in his Angels, in his Revealed Books, in all his Prophets, in the Day of Judgement, in that everything, both good and evil, comes from him, and in the Life Hereafter." This simple creed, called Iman al-Mufassal, guides the discussion of this chapter.
God: At the heart of Islamic belief in God is the concept of tawhid (absolute oneness). God is totally unique and above all language and anthropomorphism. The greatest sin in Islam is shirk (associating partners with God, Q. 4.48). The Qur'an is filled with descriptions of God's character. God is at once transcendent, beyond time and space (Q. 2.115, 7.7), and immanent, nearer than one's "jugular vein" (Q. 50.16).
The Qur'an and Hadith provide "Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names" for God: the Most Great, the Just, etc. The 99 names are a prominent feature of Muslim piety, including naming. One name not used for God is "father" (Q. 4.171). God is continually involved with creation, the ultimate guide (Q. 92.12) and judge (Q. 88.21–26).
Angels and Jinn: Angels are the messengers who bring God's message to human beings. Angels are spirit beings 'created of light' whose bodies take different forms and who do not eat, drink or reproduce (Q. 19.64–65; 35.1). They have no free will (they are absolutely muslim) and cannot corrupt God's messages. Some angels—Jibril, Izra'il, Munkar and Nakir among them—are identified, but most are not. Every human is accompanied by two angels recording good and bad deeds, to be weighed at the final judgement (Q. 6.61, 17.13–15).
Islam teaches that Shaytan (Satan) is not an angel but one of the jinn, beings alongside humans and angels (Q. 7.12–18). While humans are created from clay and angels from light, jinn are created from fire. Unlike angels, jinn possess some free will: some are obedient and some rebel. Iblis was a jinn who refused God's order to bow down to Adam and was thus cast to the earth (Q. 2.30–34; 15.28–42; 38.71–85). Belief in the power of jinn is a central feature of popular Islam.Prophets: The prophets exemplify the muslim way of life and lead others on the straight path. Muslims are required to believe in all Prophets without distinction but it is Muhammad for whom the most accurate and extensive data of his life and teaching exists.
Books: God sends guidance to humanity in the form of revealed Books, in essence the same through human history, teaching the muslim way of life. The criterion for their interpretation is the Qur'an.
The problem of God's sovereignty and human free will has interested Muslim scholars through the ages. Some emphasize God's justice while others emphasize God's mercy. Islam generally focuses on God's will rather than on human autonomy. God is all-powerful and wills all things, but does not take pleasure in all things. Humans can thus rebel against God, for God wills the free humanity of free will. If there is not a dynamic tension between primary and secondary causality, one can slip into a form of fatalism. To combat the human tendency of forgetfulness (Q. 39.8), Muslims are taught to begin every action with the words "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate." This phrase from the Qur'an teaches that God's mercy outweighs God's wrath (see also Q. 2.286, 6.152).
Death: This life is a preparation for the afterlife (akhira), which begins in the grave as a period of timeless awareness. In the grave, the deceased is interrogated by Munkar and Nakir, who show them either the hope of heaven or the torment of hell.
The Last Days: At the beginning of the Last Days, the al-Mahdi will appear to establish justice on earth (for Shi'i, the Twelfth Imam). Sunnis believe Jesus ('Isa) will return after al-Mahdi to lead the battle of good versus evil, led by al-Dajjal. After Jesus defeats al-Dajjal and rules the world in complete islam, he will die and be buried alongside Muhammad in Madina. Time will then end.
After all who are alive die, all humanity will be resurrected with new bodies (Q. 56.60–61), to stand before God for judgment (Q. 35.18). The records of the recording angels will be weighed in the scales of God's justice (Q. 17:13–14). The prophets will also be questioned. Once each person is weighed in the balance, they are sent to either heaven or hell.
Heaven and Hell: Both heaven and hell are beyond our capacities to understand (Q. 32.17). Heaven is described as a garden (al-Jannah). Hell has many names, all associated with unimanginable torment and loss. Some Muslims (relying on Q. 11.107–108) believe that hell is a place for purification that will be overwhelmed by God's mercy, although the Qur'an says that the sin of shirk will never be forgiven (Q. 4.48).
Key Names, Terms, and Concepts
- Iman al-Mufassal
- tawhid
- shirk
- Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names
- sifat
- tasbih
- jinn
- Shaytan
- Iblis
- Taqwa
- shari'a
- Bism' Allah al-Rahman al-Rahim
- akhira
- taqwa
- sabr
- barzakh
- Munkar and Nakir
- al-Mahdi
- al-Dajjal
- al-Jannah
Questions for Discussion and Reflection
- How are the Names of God used in Muslim piety?
- What is one tension between modernity and Islamic concepts of free will?
- How has Islam grappled with the question of God's sovereignty over the world? Why might a concept of primary and secondary causality be important in this discussion?
- How do Islamic beliefs in the Last Days and Judgment compare to what you know of Jewish and Christian beliefs regarding the last days?
- Reflect on the chapter's concern for fatalism. Why is this a serious problem for Islam?
- Muslims take seriously the supernatural aspects of their faith because the Qur'an takes them seriously. How do these commitments compare to your religious sensibilities?
For Further Reading
Books
- Muhammad Saed Abdul-Rahman, Islam: Questions And Answers: Polytheism Shirk And Its Different Forms (London: MSA Publications, 2003).
- David Cook, Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic (Princeton: Darwin, 2002).
- David Cook, Contemporary Muslim Apocalyptic Literature (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005).
- Sachiko Murata and William C. Chittick, The Vision of Islam (New York: Paragon House, 1995).
- Annemarie Schimmel, Deciphering the Signs of God: A Phenomenological Approach to Islam (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1994).
Web sites
- "An Introduction to Islamic Monotheism." This page contains a discussion of both tawhid and shirk. (http://www.muhajabah.com/tawhid.htm)
- "Tawhid and Shirk." (http://www.bahagia.btinternet.co.uk/tawhid.html)
- "The Charge of Fatalism." This lecture was delivered in 1927 by British convert and Qur'an interpreter Marmaduke Pickthall. (http://muslim-canada.org/pickthall_fatalism.htm)
- "End Times & the Apocalypse." A page from beliefnet.com collecting apocalyptic perspectives from Judaism, Christianity and Islam. (http://www.beliefnet.com/index/index_10006.html)
