Understanding Islam: Beliefs and Teachings
There are so many claims about who Muslims are and what they believe in that it can be confusing at times to know what’s real and what’s not. One of the most difficult things to do is to separate the religion from the politics, especially since the two seem to be intertwined so much, but they’re really not. In this guide we will look at the religion of Islam—what it is, and what it isn’t.
The Foundation for Islamic Beliefs
Muslims have an organized religion with clear cut teachings drawn from two primary sources. These sources are the Qur’an—which Muslims believe is the revealed word of God—and the hadith, or personal sayings of the Prophet on various topics and issues. Muslims believe that the two sources compliment each other, but also that only the Qur’an is holy and infallible.
The Main Teachings of Islam
Muslims have seven main beliefs. These are as follows:
- A belief in a single, unitary God who is all-powerful, all-knowing, and without any children or family of any kind.
- A belief in angels who are made of light and who can assume any form they wish, much like a hologram.
- A belief in revealed scriptures (oral or written) that are given to prophets. These include the Torah of Moses, the Psalms of David, the Gospel of Jesus, and the Qur’an of Muhammad.
- A belief in the concept of prophets, or chosen guides who are contacted by God and given a mission to teach and/or lead.
- A belief in a last day for the earth, when it will all end and then all souls will be brought back to God for a review of their record of beliefs and actions.
- A belief in the foreknowledge of God regarding the future.
- A belief in a next life. The soul will live on after judgment day and exist in either Paradise or Hellfire. Some souls, whose sins are minor, will be allowed to leave Hellfire and enter Paradise after their punishment has been served.
The Islamic Way of Life
The Islamic way of life encompasses acts of worship, the doing of good deeds to all living things and the opposition to injustice and evil. Here is a partial list of some of the practices that Muslims are supposed to make a part of their lives:
- Declaring faith in God. Muslims must remind themselves daily about their beliefs to reinforce for themselves their purpose in life and whose example they must follow. They do this by repeating a simple phrase that says, “I declare God is one, and I declare Muhammad is His messenger.”
- They must pray five times a day at fixed points. This serves to remind them who they are supposed to live for, and what is most important in life.
- Muslims must fast for an entire month, neither eating nor drinking from sunrise to sunset, but more importantly, also refraining from telling any lies, getting angry, or doing any bad deeds, in an exercise designed to help them avoid sins throughout the rest of the year.
- Finally, Muslims are obligated to struggle for the good and to oppose evil. This struggling is called “Jihad” which in our modern times is a loaded word, but it doesn’t mean what you may think.
Do Muslims Believe in Violence?
One of the most damaging claims against the Islamic religion is that it promotes or somehow tolerates the use of violence in the promotion of its goals. This claim is bolstered by those who lift a handful of verses from the Qur’an out of their context and present that as proof. In context, however, those verses talk about specific situations that faced the Muslim community of the time, and involved vastly superior forces that were seeking to vanquish the small monotheistic movement known as Islam. The Qur’an puts it this way:
And why shouldn’t you fight in the cause of God and in the cause of those who, being weak, are mistreated: the men, women and children whose only cry is, “Our Lord! Deliver us from this land whose people are oppressors. Send us someone from You who will protect us, and send us someone from You who will help!” [4:75]
Any battles fought under the leadership of Muhammad were defensive in nature and occurred only after hostilities were already declared against the Muslims. The Qur’an and the policies of Muhammad delineated the proper justifications for war, and also imposed rules for its humane conduct. These rules include such things as non-combatants are not to be harmed, wanton destruction is forbidden, quarter must be given to surrendering troops, and peace negotiations when offered must be accepted.
When critics of Islam use the few verses of the Qur’an that talk about war out of context, they are just as dishonest as the few extremists in our midst who also twist the meanings and give them an interpretation that is unknown in traditional Islam.
The truth of the matter is that the turmoil you see emanating from the Muslim world is not based on religion, but rather on serious political grievances and issues of social justice. Sometimes religion is used as a cloak for this or that cause, but the underlying factors that fuel the conflicts are no different than those that cause upheaval and revolution in any other part of the world.
This quick guide only scratches the surface of Islam, a religion that is as rich and varied as the Muslim culture itself. For more information, check out our Quick Guides How to Fast for Ramadan and How to Offer Ramadan Greetings, as well as The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Islam, Third Edition.
by Yahiya Emerick
