Introduction to Islam and pillars of Iman

In the name of Allah Most Gracious Most
Merciful
Islamic Studies in English
‫باللغة‬ ‫اسالمية‬ ‫دراسات‬‫االنجليزية‬
Dr Zakaryia Almahasees
7/2/2020
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Syllabus
• 1. Introduction to Islam
• 2. Islamic Creed ( Pillars of Iman)
• 3.Pillars of Islam
• 4. The sources of Islam
• 5. Islamic Culture and thought
• 6. Questions concerning Islam
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Abbreviations
• ISs : Islamic Studies
• PBUH: Peace Be Upon Him
• SW: Subhanahu Watala
• SAAW: Salla Allah Allihi Wasalam
• RA: Radhi Allahu 'anhu/a” (May Allah be pleased with him)
• AS: Alayhis Salaam (Peace be upon Him)
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Islamic Greetings
Greeting (salaam) means that a person wishes the very best to the one
he greets. The word “salaam” is mentioned 33 times in the Holy Quran.
As-Salaam is one of the names of the Great Allah which means that He
is free of human flaws such as frailty and mortality. It is only Allah who
can save people from all these misfortunes.
Greeting a person implies establishing some connection with him so
that he could trust you. When Muslims meet, they greet each other by
words “assalamu aleykum”. These words are also a dua (prayer) for
peace and prosperity. When someone greets us, we greet him the
same or even better way in response.
Allah says in Quran:
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Common Islamic Greetings
• Peace be upon you ‫عليكم‬ ‫السالم‬
Peace and Blessings be upon you ‫هللا‬ ‫ورحمة‬ ‫السالم‬ ‫وعليكم‬
‫وبركاته‬
• Blessed Friday ‫مباركة‬ ‫جمعة‬
• Stay blessed ‫هللا‬ ‫برعاية‬
• All the praises are due to Allah ‫هلل‬ ‫الحمد‬
• may Allah reward you with good ‫خير‬ ‫كل‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫جزاك‬
• may Allah give u barakah ‫بك‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫بارك‬
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Islam is a complete way of life. It is the guidance for all Mankind from Allah,
the creator. It covers all the things that people do need in their life time. Islam
tells us the purpose of our creation, our final destiny and our place among
other creatures. It shows us the best way to conduct our private and public
affairs, including social, political, economic, moral and spiritual activities.
Islam is an Arabic word which means submission and obedience to the will of
Allah. Submission is acceptance of Allah’s commands into practice. Obedience
means putting Allah’s command into practice. Submission and Obedience to
Allah bring peace, which is why Islam also means peace. A person who
accepts the Islamic way of life and acts upon it is a Muslim.
Islam is the religion which was given to Adam, the first man and the first
prophet of Allah and it was the religion of all prophets.
Read Page 17&18 in your book
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Allah(‫,)هللا‬ another Arabic word, is the proper name of God. Muslims prefer to
use the word Allah rather than the word God. Allah does not mean ‘the God
of Muslims, as some people wrongly believe. Rather, it is the name of the
creator of everyone and everything. He is unique and has no son, daughter,
helper or competitor. Muslims should begin their actions by saying Bismillah,
which means ‘in the name of Allah’.
Allah is the one, unique and none has the right to be worshiped but Him
alone. He says in the Quran
“He is the Lord of the Heavens and the earth and all that is in between
them, so worship Him and be patient in His worship. Do you know equal
unto Him?” (19:65)
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The purpose of Human Creation
Allah created Human beings to do what He wants and Obey His commands. Allah says in
the Quran
“I have not created Jinn and Mankind (for any other reason) except to Worship
Me”. (51:56)
Worship means total obedience to Allah’s commands. The Quranic Word for Worship is
Ibadah ( (‫عبادة‬ Everything we do is Ibadah, if we do it we do it for the sake of Allah
‫هللا‬ ‫لوجه‬
The purpose of Ibadah is to please Allah through Ibadah. Ibadah is the way to achieve
success and happiness in this life and the hereafter.
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Islam or Mohammedanism
Islam is sometimes wrongly called ‘Mohammedanism, the followers of
Mohammad. Other religions have been named after their founder or after the
community in which the religion proposed. Fore example, Christianity has
been named after Christ, Judaism after the tribe of Judah. Buddhism, named
after Buddha, Hinduism after Hindus. Islam has not been named after
Mohammad (pbuh).
Islam and Muslim s are words used in the Quran as the following Verses
“ Surely the way of life acceptable to Allah is Islam”. (3:19)
“ He named you Muslims before and in this”. (22:78)
The message of all the prophets from Adam to Muhammad is the same: obey
Allah and none other. This message sent through completed religion at the
time of Muhammad who was the last chain of prophethood as mentioned in
the Quran
“This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favors upon
you and have chosen Islam as your way of Life”.(5:3)
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‫ع‬‫ن‬‫قال‬ ‫عنه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫رضي‬ ‫الخطاب‬ ‫بن‬ ‫عمر‬:‫عليه‬ ‫جبريل‬ ‫جاء‬
‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ ‫محمد‬ ‫النبي‬ ‫إلى‬ ‫السالم‬‫صورة‬ ‫في‬
‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬ ‫فقال‬ ‫واإلحسان‬ ‫واإليمان‬ ‫اإلسالم‬ ‫عن‬ ‫يسأله‬ ‫أعرابي‬
‫اإليمان‬ ‫عن‬ ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬:"‫و‬ ‫وكتبه‬ ‫ومالئكته‬ ‫باهلل‬ ‫تؤمن‬ ‫أن‬‫رسله‬
‫واليوم‬
‫اآلخر‬‫وشره‬ ‫خيره‬ ‫بالقدر‬ ‫وتؤمن‬‫رواه‬‫مسلم‬
“The requirements of faith are that you should believe in
Allah and in His Angels and in His Books and in His
Prophets and in the Last Day and that you should believe
in Allah’s determination of good or of evil (Decree of
Allah)”. (Muslim)
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The Pillars of Iman ‫األيمان‬ ‫أركان‬
1.Believing in Allah ‫باهلل‬ ‫األيمان‬
2. Believing in His Angels ‫ومالئكته‬
3. Believing in His Books ‫وكتبه‬
4. Believing in His Messengers ‫ورسله‬
5. Believing in the Last Day ‫األخر‬ ‫واليوم‬
6. Believing in Destiny ‫خيره‬ ‫والقدر‬
‫وشره‬
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General Points to Islamic pillars of
Faith (Iman)
• The creed in Islam ( (‫االسالمية‬ ‫العقيدة‬ is one whole
integrated unit-if any pillar collapses, then the
entire creed collapses, and the person cannot be
a believer.
• We all believe that the source of our creed is the
revelation to our prophet (pbuh) from Allah.
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1.Believing in Allah ‫باهلل‬ ‫األيمان‬
The first Iman requirement is to believe in the oneness of
Allah (Tawhid/monotheism). Tawhid is the main part of
Islam and is beautifully expressed in Suratul Ikhlas.
“Say, He is Allah, the one. Allah is Eternal and Absolute.
None is born of Him, nor is He born. And there is none
like Him”.
Tawhid is the belief in Allah with all His powers. Allah is All-Knowing, All wise, All
Powerful. He is the Merciful, the Kind and the Most Loving. He sees us, but we do not
see Him. He was, is and always will be. He is the First and the Last. He has no partner,
son or daughter, nor he born of any one. He gives us life and takes it away. Everyone
must return to Him.
The First duty of a Muslim is to declare his faith. He must say in words and believe in
his heart
( La Ilaha illa Allahu Muhammadur rasululah/ there is no god except Allah;
Muhammad is the messenger of Allah). The saying of these Arabic words is called
(Ash-Shahadah/ Decelaration of Faith.
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To believe in Allah, you should believe in the oneness of Allah and that there is no deity
but He. This is in turn means many things, amongst which are
1. He has no partner, no son or daughter. He has no associate in His Divinity. There is
nothing resembles or equals Him.
“There is nothing whatever like unto Him, he is the All Hearing, the All-seeing”
(42:11).
2.He is the real Creator, to Him belongs the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth.
Other so called ‘deities’ do not create. “To Him belongs the keys of the heavens and
the earth. He enlarges and restricts provision for whom He wills. Verily He has
knowledge of everything” (42:12)
3. He has the most magnificent names ‫الحسنى‬ ‫االسماء‬and perfect attributes. No being
shares His divinity, nor His attributes. “Allah! There is no god but He, the Living, the
Everlasting. Slumber does not seize Him, nor sleep. To Him belongs all that is in the
heavens and the earth. Who is there that shall intercede with Him except by His
permission?” (2:255).
3. He has guided humankind onto the straight path.
4.He is free from weariness and weakness because of His infinite power. He says
“Verily, we created the heavens and all that is between them in six Days and no
weariness touched Us” (50:38)
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2. Believing in His Angels
• Angels are a special creation of Allah, created from divine light (Nur) to
perform specific duties. By comparison Adam, the first man was created
from clay, and the Jinn from Fire. Iblis the devil, is from the Jinn. Some
people think Iblis was the leader of the angels. This is not true according to
the Quran
• “And when We said to the angels, ´Bow yourselves to
Adam´; so they bowed themselves, save Iblis; he was one
of the jinn, and committed ungodliness against his Lord´s
command. What, and do you take him and his seed to be
your friends, apart from Me, and they an enemy to you?
How evil is that exchange for the evildoers! “ (18:50)
• The jinni who does not obey Allah is called Satan or the Devil. Satan’s
role is to instil evil in, and among humans.
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Belief in Angles requires in the acceptance of the following points
• They were created of light, and require no food or drink or sleep. They have
no physical desires of any kind, nor material needs.
• They are honoured creatures. They are created to worship Allah alone and
obey Him and act only by His command. They spend their days and nights
in the service of Allah worshipping Him all the time.
• We can not see them, but the prophet Mohamamd (pbuh) saw Jabril (the
angel Gabriel) in his real form, with six hundred wings that covered the
horizion.
• Angles can also change shape and appear in any form. Angel Jabril once
appeared in human form before a gathering of the companions of the
prophet. He came to teach them, but only the prophet knew he was an
angel.
• Angles are assigned certain duties.
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Duties of Allah’s angels
Name of the Angel Duty
• Jebrail/ Jibril Gabriel ‫جبريل‬/‫جبرائيل‬
• Mikail/ Mikal Michael ‫ميكائيل‬/‫ميكال‬
• Malakul Almawt (Azrail)
• Israfil Israfil ‫اسرافيل‬
• Malik Maalik ‫ماللك‬
• Ridwan Ridwan ‫رضوان‬
• Eight angels
• Two angels
• Munkar and Nakir
• Revelation ‫الوحي‬/‫الرسالة‬
• Rain/ providing ‫الغيث‬/‫الرزق‬
• The Angel of Death ‫الموت‬ ‫مللك‬
• Soor (Trumpet) ‫الصور‬
• The keeper of the hell ‫النار‬ ‫خازن‬
• The keeper of the paradise ‫الجنة‬ ‫خازن‬
• Carry Allah’s Throne ‫العرش‬ ‫حملة‬
• Two angels for every human being
• They question the dead person his/her
and ask him/her about their Lord,
their Religion and their Prophet.
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3. Believing in His Books‫وكتبه‬
• Allah’s greatest favour to mankind is His guidance contained in the revealed
books. The pure perfect and most useful knowledge comes only from Allah,
the wisest and the greatest.
• Quran is the only divine book remains unchanged, preserved in its original
form.
• “Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur'an and indeed, We will
be its guardian” (15:9)
• The original tawrah, Zabur and Injil no longer exist. The texts available
were written by their followers many times after the death of their prophets.
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Allah’s Books revealed to His
messengers as mentioned in the Quran
Name The Prophet
• . The Tawrah (Torah/ the old
Testamnet)
• The Zabur (Psalms) .
• The Injil (Gospel/
Scriptures/Bible/ The new
testament)
• The Suhuf (Scripture)
• The Quran
• Musa/Moses ‫عليه‬‫السالم‬
• Dawud/ David ‫عليه‬‫السالم‬
• Issa (Jesus) ‫عليه‬‫السالم‬
Ibrahim/ Abraham ‫عليه‬‫السالم‬
Muhammad ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬the
Seal of the Prophets/ The
seal of revelations
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The Quran is regarded as the seal of the Revelations. It is as Allah says “a
guidance to the people and clear signs of guidance and the criterion between
right and wrong” (2:185). Allah says “we have sent down to you (O
Mohammad) the Book (the Quran) in truth, confirming the Scripture that
came before it and muhayminan (stands as trustworthy in highness and a
witness) over old Scriptures” (5:48).
The original texts of most of the former Divine Books were lost altogether and
only their translations exist today. The Quran, on the other hand, exists
exactly as it was revealed to the Prophet- not a word, nor even a syllable of
it has been changed. It is available in its original texts and the Word of Allah
has preserved for all time.
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There are some Quranic verses where Allah mentioned that such scripture
were corrupted by their people. The message of Allah sent through them was
either lost or distorted. Allah says in Quran
“So woe to those who write the "scripture" with their own hands, then
say, "This is from Allah," in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to
them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they
earn.” (2:79)
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Some of the qualities of the Quran:
• Preserved as discussed before.
• It contains the summery of the divine teachings
and commandments by the previous Books
(Torah, Zaboor and Injeel).
“And We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], the
Book in truth, confirming that which preceded it of the
Scripture and as a criterion over it”.(5:48)
• The Quran came easy for people to understand
and follow.
“And We have certainly made the Qur'an easy for
remembrance, so is there any who will remember?”. (54:17)
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4. Believing in His Messengers
• Risalah is the channel of communication between Allah and Mankind.
Allah, The Most merciful, has provided man with guidance to follow the
right course and make this world a happy and a place to live.
• Allah has sent prophets at all times to ask people of their time to obey and
worship Allah alone. They taught, guided and trained the people to follow
the way of Allah. The prophets were human beings. Therefore, we should
not refer to them as the Sons of Allah. Allah is one and He has no partner,
so or daughter.
• The message of all the prophets is one and the same. As Allah is one, so is
His message. The message is to worship Allah alone and to reject all false
gods.
• “We had certainly sent Noah to his people, and he said, "O my people,
worship Allah ; you have no deity other than Him. Indeed, I fear for you the
punishment of a tremendous Day.”
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According to a saying of Prophet Muhammad ‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬ ‫صلى‬the
number of prophets is one hundred and twenty four thousands. The
Quran only mentions only twenty-five most prominent by name:
It is well known that all Messengers came with the same message,
that is oneness of Allah. But each had a different legislation
depending on the nature and time of its people. Only Prophet
Muhammad’s (pbuh) message was for all humanity as it is the final
message.
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Prophets mentioned in Quran
According to a saying of Prophet Muhammad ‫صلى‬
‫وسلم‬ ‫عليه‬ ‫هللا‬the number of prophets is one hundred
and twenty four thousands. The Quran only
mentions only twenty-five most prominent by
name:
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The greatest messengers/ ULUL'AZM
• Allah, the Almighty says: “Therefore be patient (O Muhammad) as did the
Messengers of strong will and be in no haste about them (disbelievers)”. ( 46:35)
• The most accurate opinion is that they are five: Our Prophet Muhammad, Noah,
Abraham, Moses, and Jesus (peace be upon them).
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Muhammad the Messenger of Allah:
Muhammad (pbuh) is the Messenger of Allah through whom
Allah conveyed the message of Islam to humanity. He was born
in 571 AD in the city of Makkah, in Arabian Peninsula. His father
died before his birth and when he was six his mother died too.
He was then raised by his grandfather till the age of eight.
When his grandfather passed away, his uncle raised him. He was
an unlettered man, grew up as a shepherded and trader in the
caravans. Muhammad (pbuh) was married to khadijah (ra) for
twenty years and they had five children. Later on Khadijah (ra)
would be the first person to accept Islam, and she is the
devoted wife in Islamic History.
Muhammad (pbuh) was a man of kind qualities he was
known as the trustworthy and honest and at the age of 40 he
received the revelation from Allah the Almighty.
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Like all other Prophets who were sent by Allah before him, Prophet
(pbuh) suffered for delivering the message of Allah. He was ridiculed
and persecuted, and the opposition was so intense that He and His
followers left the city of Makkah and migrated to the city of Madinah.
This migration is an important event of the Islamic history. It took
place in 622 AD, and it marks the first year of the Islamic calendar. He
established a city-state, gave it a written constitution which proved
that he was a very successful politician, statesman, warrior, general
and ruler. When he migrated to Madinah the number of fellow Muslims
was approximately 5000. When he passed away at the age of 63, the
whole Arabian Peninsula was under the fold of Islam and at the time
of his last pilgrimage, at the city of Makkah, he delivered his famous
Farewell Address to150,000 people who had come to Makkah as
pilgrims. Within hundred years, Islam became an established religion
in the Asian, African and European continents.
Islamic calendar starts with prophet (pbuh) Hijra to Maddinah.
Gregorian calendar start with the birth of Jesus (Pbuh)
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Miracles of the Prophets:
Allah bestows miracles on his prophets to prove their faithfulness
and truthfulness of their message. Miracles are usually to challenge people in
what they are expert. Examples of those miracles are:
Fire was made cold for Prophet Ibrahim when he was thrown into it.
For dead birds were made alive in front of him. Prophet Saleh (as) brought a
living camel out of the mountain as a proof of his Prophet hood. Prophet Isa
(as) made bird out clay and breath into it became a bird by Allah’s leave. He
healed those born blind and lepers. He alive the dead by Allah’s leave. Musa
(as) was given a rod which used to turn into a snake for Firun and his people.
Musa has also the miracle of splitting the sea.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) split the moon into two parts. He went for
(mairaj) the ascension. The Quran is another miracle of unalterable.
Belief in Messengers directs to appreciate Allah’s mercy and love,
through sending Prophets to guide us . We should be thankful for Allah for this
great favour by showing love and respect to all Prophets and praise them in
what they ought to have.
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5. Belief in the Day of Judgement/ Hereafter:
Death is a natural even for all living things. It comes to ever
one of us. We will all die. The Quran says “Everyone shall
die” (3:185).
Islam asks us to keep in mind that death can arrive at any
time. Only Allah knows when His servants will die. Death
puts an end to our human body but it does not destroy our
souls.
In Islam, a dead body is ritually washed before it is buried. A
funeral prayer is conducted before the burial. This is
called Salatual Janazah.
Since, Allah gives life and death, and that death is
unpredictable and may occur at any time, every one,
therefore, should try to do good deeds to earn the pleasure
of Allah and abstain from evil.
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The Quran directs us to believe in resurrection ‫البعث‬ after
death and in the day of Judgement ‫القيامة‬ ‫.يوم‬ This measn
that all human beings will stand before Allah who will
pass judgement on that day.
“ Does man think that We shall not assemble his bones?
Yes, surely, yes we are able to restore the very shape of
his fingers”. (75:3-4)
We understand from the day of Judgement that
1. Islam teaches us that this life on earth is a limited one,
and the real and abiding life is the one after death,
whether in paradise or in Hell.
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2. This life is regarded as a test for each individual. Everyone must follow the
commands of Allah in order to achieve success on that day.
3. on the Day of Resurrection, a person will be asked to account for what he
or she did while alive. Those with good records will be rewarded and enter
paradise, while those with bad records will be punished by being sent to Hell.
4. Life after death was assured in both the Quran and Sunnah, which shows
how important belief in it is.
5. Belief in life after death is necessary to know that we will have real justics
on that Day. We all know that in this life many unfair events occur, and
mostly there is no one to judge those responsible for them in this life, so
there must be a Day wherin justice will bring wrong doers to be punished.
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6. We believe in Paradise and Hell. Paradise is the abode of
enjoyment which Allah prepared for the righteous. No eye has ever
seen, no ear has ever heard of, and no human being has ever been
able to imagine the blessings that they will enjoy therein.
“No soul knows what comfort is kept hidden for them as a reward for
their deeds” (32:17)
7. Both Paradise and Hell exist now and will never perish. Allah says
“Whoever believers in Allah and does righteousness, He will admit him
to gardens beneath which rivers flow, to dwell therein forever. Allah
has indeed made for him an excellent provisions” (65:11)
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6. Belief in Destiny:
• Islam teaches that every thing that occurs in the
universe is controlled by Allah, and is part of His
eternal plan. Whatever is happening in this world is
in the knowledge of Allah.
• The following Hadith states: “When you ask
anything, ask God; and if you seek help, seek it from
God. You should know that if people were to unite to
do you some benefit, they could benefit you only
with what God has recorded for you, and if they
were to unite to do you some injury, they could
injure you only with what God has recorded for
you.”
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We believe that Allah has created the universe and He is its Absolute
controller and regulator. Allah has fixed a set course for everything in
this universe, this is called Al-Qadar. Nothing happen without the will
and the knowledge of Allah.
But this does not mean that man has no freedom of will. We know
that man is the Khalifah of Allah on this earth. We also know Allah
does not force us to do anything. It is up to us to obey or disobey
Him. Whether we will obey or disobey is known to Him. But the fact
that Allah knows what we are going to do does not affect our freedom
of choice.
Allah’s knowledge covers all things, even before they happen. He
wrote down everything in the Secured Tablet (Lawh Mahfiz). He says:
“Did you not know that Allah knows all that is in heaven and on earth?
Verily, that for Allah is an easy matter” (22:70).
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Allah has created everything, amongst which are people’s deeds. He says:
“Allah is the Creator of all things; He is the Guardian over all things, and to
Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth” (39:62-63)
Allah is the All-just, and wrong cannot be attributed to Him. If He gives
wealth or any good things, then it is according to His wisdom. At the same
time, if He withholds such good things, it is also according to His Will and
Wisdom. No one knows what is good and what is bad: may be those things
which seem good are actually very good. All matters are Allah’s knowledge
only.
We, as humans, must use all possible and lawful reasons for doing things. We
must not say: “Okay, everything is by Allah’s knowledge and Will, so I have
nothing to do.”
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Belief in the Destiny or Predestination consists of four aspects:
a. The belief that Allah knows everything, past, present and
future.
b. The belief that Allah has recorded what already happened,
what is happening, what will happen and how it will
happen.
c. The belief that nothing happens except by the will of Allah.
d. The belief that Allah is the Creator of all things.
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Assignments:
1. The Names of Prophets mentioned in Quran
2.The most beautiful names of Allah (Al Asma Ul Husna)
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Introduction to Islam and pillars of Iman

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