Basics of Religious Education — Page 6
6 6 6 6 6 B ASICS OF R ELIGIOUS E DUCATION - F IFTH E DITION The first five Articles of Faith are specifically mentioned together in dif- ferent chapters of the Holy Qur’an (2:178, 4:137), while the sixth article is mentioned separately in other chapters (25:3, 65:4). Let us now briefly discuss these Articles of Faith one by one: Belief in God, the Creator and the Master of the Universe, is common to all religions. But the Islamic name ‘Allah’, in Arabic, applies only to One God and to no one else. Islam advocates belief in the absolute Unity of God in its entire purity as its very foundation. Oneness of God means that He is the God of all people on the earth: past, present and future. Islam stresses the need to have firm belief in various attributes of Allah, the Creator and the Controller of the Universe. He is the Lord of all the worlds. He is the Gracious, the Merciful. He is the Master of the Day of Judgment. The Holy Qur’an refers to over one hundred names of Allah, signifying His various attributes. (Also, see Part 2). Angels are a form of spiritual beings created by Allah to perform various assigned duties. There are numerous angels. They are bound to obey the commands of Allah. Unlike human beings, they have not been given the choice to do either right or wrong. In the Holy Qur’an, angels are frequently referred to as malak and rasool which, in Arabic language, means power and messenger , respectively. These literal meanings indicate the nature of various duties of the angels. Angels do not possess any fixed material form. They cannot be seen with our physical eyes due to our limited faculties. But when they appear to human beings (e. g. , in a spiritual vision), they appear in such forms which are imaginable by us. For instance, the Archangel Jibra’eel (Gabriel) is known to have appeared to the Prophet Muhammad sa in the form of an ordi- nary human being. The same Archangel, however, seemed to have appeared to Jesus Christ as in the form of a dove. The names of some important angels of Allah are as follows: Jibra’eel (Gabriel) Mika’eel (Michael) Israfeel (Raphael) Izra’eel (Israel) Some of their assigned tasks are given below: ♦ The Archangel Jibra’eel controls the communication of divine revelations to the Prophets. It was he who used to bring the Qur’anic revelation to the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa. ♦ The Chief Angel Mika’eel controls the provision and maintenance of life. I I I I I S L A M S L A M S L A M S L A M S L A M — S — S — S — S — S ET ET ET ET ET O F O F O F O F O F B B B B B ELIEFS ELIEFS ELIEFS ELIEFS ELIEFS 1. 2 1. 2 1. 2 1. 2 1. 2 Belief in Allah (One God) Belief in Angels of Allah