Belief in Allah

What is Belief in Allah and its effects The Islamic faith is based on belief in Allah. When a person believes that the heavens and the earth and the world around him have been created by Him, and it is He who is governing them and it is He who will one Day call all mankind to account, then this is the beginning of religious awareness. Quite obviously, it is necessary that people have a true conception of their Creator. For this, they must have knowledge of the rational grounds of His existence as well as knowledge about gaining His correct recognition (ma`rifat).In this article we shall dwell upon these twin issues. | We shall first take up the issue of the Almighty's existence. A logical starting point in this regard would be to analyze all human sources of knowledge. A little deliberation shows that, apart from Divine Guidance revealed to the Prophets, man has three sources of knowledge. We shall examine each one of them. a) Faculty of Intuition: Certain a priori information exists in every person's intuition: it pertains to the knowledge which is not learned through the senses but which is innate and inborn in an individual.This innate information consists of various concepts. For example the concept of contradiction is information present in our intuition. This concept, of course, is not a tangible thing. However, we apply this concept to a certain phenomenon and conclude that contradiction exists. b) Faculty of Sense Perception: Similarly, man receives knowledge through his five senses from the external environment. A person's senses are his receptors, which link him to the outside world. He sees, hears, touches, smells and tastes a thing and gets information about it.Moreover, this information gathered by the senses is transmitted to the later generations and such information becomes established history. c) Faculty of Reason: Now, the human faculty of reason collates the information that it receives through the senses with the innate information present i n human intuition. This internal analysis produces results, which, if proven correct, become facts and add to the treasure of human knowledge. One form of this analysis is called induction i. e. general laws are deduced by analyzing particular examples.Many conclusions reached in this regard are not tangible facts. In fact, these conclusions are supported by evidence that exists in the external world. Most scientific laws which have been discovered are of this nature. One does not see the force of gravity, yet undeniable proof exists of its existence. Similarly, it is a fact that the earth is rotating on its axis at a very high speed and also, at the same time, revolving round the sun. Obviously, these are things our senses do not register; yet this rotation and this revolution are irrefutable realities.The Oneness of Allah We sent no Messenger before you without revealing to him, â€Å"There is no god but Me, so worship Me (alone)†Ã‚  (Al-Anbiya  21:25). The Oneness of All ah, known as  tawhid,  is the first and paramount constituent of the Islamic concept, as it is the fundamental truth of the Islamic faith. It is also one of the chief characteristics of the Islamic concept because, among all the belief systems and philosophies currently prevailing among human beings, only the Islamic faith can be characterized as having a pure form of monotheism.This is why we have included â€Å"The Oneness of Allah† as one of the characteristics of the Islamic concept. The evidence of reason that Allah exists: all these created things, past, present and future, must have a Creator Who brought them into existence, because it is not possible for them to have created themselves or to have come into existence by accident. It is impossible for them to have come into existence by themselves because a thing cannot create itself; before it existed it was non-existent, so how could it be a creator?!And it is impossible for them to have come into existence by acc ident, because everything that happens must have a cause. Moreover, this creation is done in a wondrous and precise manner, and every created being is in harmony with the rest of creation, and there is a strong connection between cause and effect. All of this makes it impossible that this universe could have come into being accidentally, because what happens accidentally does not happen in a precise and perfect manner, so how could it remain so precisely balanced?If it is not possible for these things to have created themselves or to have come into existence by accident, then there must be One Who brought them into existence, namely Allah the Lord of the Worlds. Allah has mentioned this rational evidence and definitive proof in Surah At-Toor, where He says: â€Å"Were they created by nothing? Or were they themselves the creators? † (Glorious Qur'aan: Surah At-Toor, 52: v35) All the basic principles of Islam are fully dealt with in the Holy Quran, and so is the doctrine of fai th in God, where of the corner stone is belief in the unity of God. Tawhid is the most important Islamic belief. Belief in Allah What is Belief in Allah and its effects The Islamic faith is based on belief in Allah. When a person believes that the heavens and the earth and the world around him have been created by Him, and it is He who is governing them and it is He who will one Day call all mankind to account, then this is the beginning of religious awareness. Quite obviously, it is necessary that people have a true conception of their Creator. For this, they must have knowledge of the rational grounds of His existence as well as knowledge about gaining His correct recognition (ma`rifat).In this article we shall dwell upon these twin issues. | We shall first take up the issue of the Almighty's existence. A logical starting point in this regard would be to analyze all human sources of knowledge. A little deliberation shows that, apart from Divine Guidance revealed to the Prophets, man has three sources of knowledge. We shall examine each one of them. a) Faculty of Intuition: Certain a priori information exists in every person's intuition: it pertains to the knowledge which is not learned through the senses but which is innate and inborn in an individual.This innate information consists of various concepts. For example the concept of contradiction is information present in our intuition. This concept, of course, is not a tangible thing. However, we apply this concept to a certain phenomenon and conclude that contradiction exists. b) Faculty of Sense Perception: Similarly, man receives knowledge through his five senses from the external environment. A person's senses are his receptors, which link him to the outside world. He sees, hears, touches, smells and tastes a thing and gets information about it.Moreover, this information gathered by the senses is transmitted to the later generations and such information becomes established history. c) Faculty of Reason: Now, the human faculty of reason collates the information that it receives through the senses with the innate information present i n human intuition. This internal analysis produces results, which, if proven correct, become facts and add to the treasure of human knowledge. One form of this analysis is called induction i. e. general laws are deduced by analyzing particular examples.Many conclusions reached in this regard are not tangible facts. In fact, these conclusions are supported by evidence that exists in the external world. Most scientific laws which have been discovered are of this nature. One does not see the force of gravity, yet undeniable proof exists of its existence. Similarly, it is a fact that the earth is rotating on its axis at a very high speed and also, at the same time, revolving round the sun. Obviously, these are things our senses do not register; yet this rotation and this revolution are irrefutable realities.The Oneness of Allah We sent no Messenger before you without revealing to him, â€Å"There is no god but Me, so worship Me (alone)†Ã‚  (Al-Anbiya  21:25). The Oneness of All ah, known as  tawhid,  is the first and paramount constituent of the Islamic concept, as it is the fundamental truth of the Islamic faith. It is also one of the chief characteristics of the Islamic concept because, among all the belief systems and philosophies currently prevailing among human beings, only the Islamic faith can be characterized as having a pure form of monotheism.This is why we have included â€Å"The Oneness of Allah† as one of the characteristics of the Islamic concept. The evidence of reason that Allah exists: all these created things, past, present and future, must have a Creator Who brought them into existence, because it is not possible for them to have created themselves or to have come into existence by accident. It is impossible for them to have come into existence by themselves because a thing cannot create itself; before it existed it was non-existent, so how could it be a creator?!And it is impossible for them to have come into existence by acc ident, because everything that happens must have a cause. Moreover, this creation is done in a wondrous and precise manner, and every created being is in harmony with the rest of creation, and there is a strong connection between cause and effect. All of this makes it impossible that this universe could have come into being accidentally, because what happens accidentally does not happen in a precise and perfect manner, so how could it remain so precisely balanced?If it is not possible for these things to have created themselves or to have come into existence by accident, then there must be One Who brought them into existence, namely Allah the Lord of the Worlds. Allah has mentioned this rational evidence and definitive proof in Surah At-Toor, where He says: â€Å"Were they created by nothing? Or were they themselves the creators? † (Glorious Qur'aan: Surah At-Toor, 52: v35) All the basic principles of Islam are fully dealt with in the Holy Quran, and so is the doctrine of fai th in God, where of the corner stone is belief in the unity of God. Tawhid is the most important Islamic belief.