Forty Gems of Beauty — Page 18
18 Explanatory Notes The above tradition carries a definition of faith which, as expounded in the teaching of Islam, consists of six fundamental articles of faith: 1. Belief in Allah Who, as the Creator and Master of the world, is the central theme of all faith and religion. It should be remembered that, in Arabic, the word Allah is not applied to any being other than the One God, and it denotes a being free from all defects and drawbacks, possessing all the best attributes, having all knowledge and all powers. 2. Belief in Angels, who are an invisible but extremely important creation of God. Angels operate the working of the universe under Divine Command and supervise the God-created chain of causes. They also act as media of communication between God and His Prophets. 3. Belief in Books revealed by God through which the world comes to know of the Divine Purpose. The last and everlasting of these books is the Holy Quran which has superseded all the earlier laws that were of a periodic and race-based character and henceforth, there is no law, till the Last Day, except the Quran. 4. Belief in the Prophets of God to whom were revealed, from time to time, inspired Books and who acquainted the world with the purpose of God, by personal example. Prophets appeared among every people, but of Divine messengers, the last law-giving prophet, the Master Prophet, is the Prophet Muhammad (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him), who was raised in Arabia 1,400 years ago, and is the pride of the progeny of Adam (May peace be on him), and topmost of the prophets.