Imaan: the governing articles of Islamic Faith

Imaan (or eemaan) is the term used to describe 6 essential elements of the Articles of Islamic Faith. For a person to be a Muslim it is important that they believe in all of them. These articles form the basis on which the whole vision of Islam stands and the Creator’s guidance for humanity was revealed. In a nutshell these articles are as follows:

1-                  Belief in Allah as the only God and the Creator of all existence. Nothing exists as partner to Him. He is not manifested in any human bodily form nor is He incarnated in any shape. He is worthy of all devotion and worship.

2-                  Belief in the existence of Angels as God’s messengers. Historically, people have exhibited two main types of attitude towards the existence of angels. Either no belief in their existence, or a belief that is contrary to the notion of Tawheed, i.e. people called them the daughters of God, or feared them or held some other fancy belief regarding them. The Quran confirms their existence as God’s messengers, who act in accordance to the roles designed for them by Allah. They are a creation of Allah, created out of Light.

3-                  Belief in Allah’s Books. This is essential, as His teachings and guidance have, over the millennia, been revealed to certain prophets in the form of scriptures. The known Books are the Torah, the zabur, the Gospel and the Quran.  It is thought that other scriptures may have existed. Indeed many other prophets and Messengers, like Abraham, may have been given Books from Allah, but with the passage of time these have simply disappeared.

 Although Allah is the source of the revealed books and they all preach and provide the guide for a uniform belief system for humanity, the laws and certain rules contained in them may differ from one nation to another.

4-                  Belief in Allah’s prophets and messengers is also an essential element in Islamic belief system. The Quran mentions 25 prophets and messengers within its pages of revelation. These 25 names were familiar to the people of Makkah and to the Jews and Christians and other nations around them. However, the Hadith makes it clear that their number was much higher, as prophets and messengers were sent out to all nations of the world throughout human history. In one hadith the number mentioned is one hundred and twenty four thousand, of which 315 were messengers. The first Prophet was Adam, the father of humanity and the last is the Prophet Muhammad, peace and mercy of Allah be upon both of them. Jesus is regarded as one of the prophets and messengers and as one of the five prophets and messengers of Firmness and resolve.

5-                  Belief in the Day of Judgement. This essential belief leads to certain other beliefs; i.e. accountability for one's deeds, Paradise and Hell. It presents a new order where people will be shown and reap the consequences of all their actions and deeds. It plays an important role in the life of a person in terms of their thoughts, actions, dealings with others and in the realm of ethics and morality.  Every good action will be rewarded ten fold and every wrong action will be punished by the like of it.

This belief also demonstrates God’s ability to create a new world, even as He has created the existing one and that all people, from the very first to the very last, will be resurrected and brought to account.

6-                  Belief in destiny, whether it brings good or affects us adversely. Everything takes place with the knowledge of Allah and He is the Creator of all things.

Keeping all the above 6 articles of faith in mind, one needs to understand the following hadith, narrated by Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, from the Prophet, peace and mercy of Allah be upon him, which says: ‘Imaan is over seventy divisions, the most excellent of it is the saying of ‘laa ilaha illah’  there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah – and the lowest of it is removing harm from the path, and modesty is a division of imaan. By Imam Bukhari and Imam Muslim

From this it is clear that imaan is far from being just a passive set of beliefs, but is intended to govern the state of one’s mind in situations where we must make a decision or take action.  Consciously removing all harm and evil from a decision, or an action, makes them more excellent in the Sight of Allah.

Hence, it is part of the Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamah’s beliefs that Imaan has the ability to increase or decrease and it does so in accordance to our intentions and deeds. The Quran has plenty of examples expressing this. The Prophet, peace and mercy of Allah be upon him said: ‘No thief steals while he is stealing and he is a believer, and no fornicator while he is engaging in the fornication, he is a believer’. Why, because those acts are contradictory to the state and requirements of imaan!

Imaan sets out a life pattern for Muslims where people increase or decrease in their degree of Faith in Allah in accordance to their following of His teachings. Once this mindset develops in people and they become worried about their decrease or lack of belief in Allah, they will no longer commit any wrongdoing or atrocity.

To sustain an increase in Imaan, Allah has asked people to enlist a consciousness of Him in everything they do. This is called Taqwa. Taqwa always helps people to increase in Imaan and be closer to Allah, but it also helps to purify people’s intentions and focus on what would please Allah. 

Once people dedicate themselves with a greater consciousness of Imaan there will be less evil in their lives and better decisions will be made. A life that is then focussed wholly on the avoidance of wrongdoing and on following the right path will benefit from the pleasure of Allah.