Gardens of Wisdom

THE FUNDAMENTAL BELIEFS

The fundamental beliefs are the beliefs that a person needs to have in life as the framework of his thought. They are often referred to as the Pillars or Articles of Faith.

For anyone to become a Muslim, he must understand and be convinced that there is no god but Allah and that He (Allah) is alone without a partner. The Decision he takes to serve Allah alone (without associating partner with Him) makes him a Muslim.

In searching for guidance, a Muslim understands and becomes convinced that al-Qur’an is from Allah and that Muhammad (who was a human being like him) brought and acted according to it.

Allah is All-Powerful that He does not need the strength of anyone. Allah is [bm]All-Knowing[/b] that He does not need the knowledge of anyone. Allah is absolutely Independent that He does not need the help of any creature. Allah has no relative and is therefore not closer to anyone except by at-Taqwa. Allah is absolutely Just and Perfect that He is free of mistakes.

Muhammad is a human being among the creatures of Allah. Muhammad is not a partner to Allah in His affairs but a servant among the servants of Allah. Al-Islam belongs wholly to Allah that Muhammad is in no way a partner.


SELF-AWARENESS
Every human being enters into this world without any knowledge of himself. Learning begins in this world.

As a child, every human being develops the concept of self. This learning is done inattentively.

At adulthood, a person begins for the first time to discover himself. This is where we talk of self-awareness.

A person who does not know what he does and why is not yet an adult. An adult is a person who is in charge of himself.

As an adult, a person is blessed with al-Aql by which he distinguishes Truth from Falsehood.

As an adult, a person is blessed with accumulation of facts which he gathered throughout the period of childhood and he is still gathering.

As an adult, a person is expected to use his Aql to extract meanings out of the facts. This is how an adult becomes wise and grows in the world of awareness.

Allah (in Q40:67) says:
هُوَ الّذي خَلَقَكُمْ مِنْ تُرابٍ ثُمّ مِنْ نُطْفَةٍ ثُمّ مِنْ عَلَقَةٍ ثُمّ يُخْرِجُكُمْ طِفْلاً ثُمّ لِتَبْلُغُوا أَشُدّكُمْ ثُمّ لِتَكُونُوا شُيُوخًا وَ مِنْكُمْ مَنْ يُتَوَفّى مِنْ قَبْلُ وَ لِتَبْلُغُوا أَجَلاً مُسَمّى وَ لَعَلّكُمْ تَعْقِلُونَ

“He it is Who created you from dust, then from a drop (of seed) then from a clot, then brought you forth as a child, then (ordained) that you attain full strength and afterward that you become old men though some among you die before; and that you reach an appointed term, that haply you may use your Aql.”

Self-awareness therefore, is the first and the central pillar that an adult has to erect in his life. There is no how an adult can learn wisdom without self-awareness. How can a person know Allah and yet he is not aware of himself? What will that Allah be? Whosoever knows himself has indeed known his Lord.


KNOWLEDGE OF GOD
Every human being (by nature) is created to believe in a god. There is no conscious creature that does not build his life into a hierarchy of beliefs and values. ‘God’ is the name given to anything that has the highest value in a person’s life.

Al-Islam does not preach that there is god because there is no need for that. What al-Islam preaches is monotheism - that there is just a God instead of gods.

The god of a person determines the shape of his life. The adoration shown to the god (which is also a natural process) is known as worship. Every human being worships at least a god.

Monotheism is to understand and be convinced that there is just a single Lord behind all the creatures and activities in life.

A Monotheist does not regard, love or obey anything that is not in line with the Lord.

A Monotheist understands that Allah (the only Lord) is absolutely Aware, Wise, Just and Powerful. A Monotheist therefore pursues Allah as the absolute TRUTH and does not give regard to anything that stands on his way (be it his lower desires or any other creatures).
A Monotheist only knows and gives allegiance to Allah as against the selfish and rebellious governments in the world today. Whosoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed is indeed a rebel.

The Sunnis and Shias announce loudly in their Azan daily that they do not recognize any authority but Allah and also say in their prayers daily that they worship and seek help from Allah alone whereas they continue in their practical life to be part and parcel of nationalist governments. What a joke!

Shariati comments:
We see that the teaching of monotheism ends in the schools of the traditional centers of learning and, if, after this, any mention is made of it, it is discussed only in the groups of Divine sages and spiritual Gnostics and that, in the form of words, philosophical and subjective conversations removed from life and alien to the people; the emphasis is more upon proving the existence of God and not monotheism. In practical terms, “Monotheism means nothing. It is a subject which has been solved,” and solved at the command of the enemy, or, at least, to his benefit! Hajj by Ali Shariati p. 4


COMMUNICATION WITH THE LORD
A Monotheist knows and understands that the Wise Lord can not leave him without guidance - so, he seeks for His guidance.

It is in this search of a Monotheist that he comes across or hears of people who claim to have brought or are preaching the messages of Allah. Those people are known generally as the prophets of Allah. A prophet is a person appointed by Allah to promulgate His messages to the servants.

All prophets were guided people and therefore were guides.

When people accept a prophet and they become a community, the prophet becomes the leader of the community. Leadership is human control and coordination of activities of two or more people that are relating and their interaction needs coordination. Where there is neither interaction nor need for coordination, there is no leadership.

While every just person is a guide, not all just people are prophets.

A Monotheist, knowing the justice of Allah, understands pretty well that the Lord would not leave any community without at least a guide. There is no moment in life of which there is not at least a guide. It is left for whoever is thirsty to discover where there is water.

Allah sent messages and sent prophets to preach those messages when the world was divided. To believe in all the previous prophets is to believe in the justice of Allah and to understand that all the prophets preached the same message (ideology-wise).

Now that the world is one, Allah sent Muhammad with a complete and protected message.

It is because the message is protected from adulteration (unlike the previous books) and it is because it is meant for all mankind that there is no need for any further prophet- hence Muhammad was the last prophet of Allah.

Al-Qur’an therefore, is the Imam of all human beings for all time and the only Book that contains all the general laws for all time.

A prophet was either sent in the past to bring the message of Allah or to clarify the message where it had been adulterated. There is no need now for a messenger or a prophet because al-Qur’an is enough. The holy prophet lived his life according to the Qur’an and warned that everything must be judged according to al-Qur’an alone. Whosoever judges not by the Qur’an is a Kafir.

To belief in the previous prophets is not to follow their books of law but to understand that all the prophets preached monotheism - لا اله الا الله and the same religion – al-Islam.


HEREAFTER
A Monotheist knows and understands that life without Hereafter is totally meaningless. A drama that does not follow up a complete cycle of desire and satisfaction is meaningless therefore the drama in life can not be terminated abruptly.

If everything in life is meaningful as we inherently believe, we must of necessity understand that life as a whole is meaningful. We can not see any meaning in life if there is no continuation to Hereafter.

To regard anything as meaningful, it must make a complete cycle of desire - satisfaction. It must be a complete event.


CONCLUSION
The fundamental beliefs which every Muslim must have from Adam down to the end of time have been mentioned in the Qur’an in Suratul-Baqara verses 1-5

ذلِكَ الْكِتابُ لا رَيْبَ فيهِ هُدًى لِلْمُتّقينَ
This is the Book; in it is guidance sure without doubt to those who have at-Taqwa.

الّذينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِالْغَيْبِ وَ يُقيمُونَ الصّلاةَ وَ مِمّا رَزَقْناهُمْ يُنْفِقُونَ
Those who believe in the Unseen and are steadfast in prayer and spend out of what We have provided for them.

وَ الّذينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِما أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَ ما أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ وَ بِاْلآخِرَةِ هُمْ يُوقِنُونَ
And who believe in the Revelation sent to thee and sent before your time and (in their hearts) have the assurance of the Hereafter.

أُولئِكَ عَلى هُدًى مِنْ رَبِّهِمْ وَ أُولئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ
They are on (true) guidance from their Lord and it is these who will prosper.


The Sunnis belief in ‘predestination of good and evil’ is totally irrational if the meaning negates free-will and negates the absolute justice of Allah. Allah could not have compelled a person to do a thing and then punish the person for it.

The Shias belief in 12 designated persons (Imamate) to run the affairs of the world till the end of time is irrational and unrealistic. It suffices that there is no 12th Imam as the eleventh Imam died without a son.

To claim that Allah guided previous generations of Muslims with physical and apparent beings but decided to live the present generations without such guide(s) creates huge logical problem and puts the justice of Allah to question.

If right from the time of Adam, people have had complete faith yet without the doctrine of Imamate, what will make it a condition of faith at this present time and what would that mean?

Those 11 Imams might be good people and the leaders of their time. While there is much wisdom to be learnt from them and from the prophets, they can not be our practical Imams in our present life. They are the community that have gone – for them is what they earned and for us is what we earned and we shall not be questioned concerning what they use to do. (Q2:134)

In matter of legislation, Al-Qur’an is the only book of authority. The Qur’an has been revealed so that we can use our Aql to comprehend. (Q12:2) Al-Hadith, like any other collections, can be approached for the sake of wisdom and not instruction.

The Sunnah of the prophet is the meaning and wisdom in his life and not the actual practical activities. The Sunnah of the prophet is no doubt al-Qur’an. Aisha (the mother of the Mumineen) reportedly confirmed this when she was questioned concerning the character of the prophet.

A community is born around a leader. A Muttaqi is alone until he finds a person whom he understands to be better than him in at-Taqwa – he joins him and takes him as a leader – there is no compulsion in belief - no body would be called to account for what he did not understand.

The belief that there is a hidden leader (Imam) for over 1000 years who is not available to provide practical leadership is totally irrational and the story is not substantiated by credible and logical evidences. Refer to the article Imam al-Mahdi - a Reality or a Fiction in Article Forum

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Therefore, the fundamental beliefs after SELF-AWARENESS are: MONOTHEISM; THE MESSAGE (AL-QUR’AN); and THE HEREAFTER.

The belief in the message necessitates the belief in the Messengers (Angels and Men) and necessitates the belief in the Apostles generally because they all preached the same message.

The Qur’an, as we have it today, is the only book of Allah’s legislation in al-Islam. Al-Hadith, like any other saying, is only relevant when it explains the Qur’an.

To believe in the Qur’an, one must believe in the Prophet because he brought the Qur’an - hence, believe in Allah and the prophet. To obey Allah, one must listen to the prophet hence obey Allah and His prophet.

The holy prophet was a Guide, a Messenger, and a Leader. While he remains a guide, he has completed his mission as a Messenger and he is no more a leader. A leader has to be alive to coordinates the practical activities of the living Muslims. The Wise/Learned ones are the inheritors of the prophet in this area.

The holy Qur’an definitely contains all the general laws that are needed at all time. What is left for the Prophet and the Muttaqun Leaders that inherit him are the specific laws that are conditioned by time and environment.

The holy prophet was the leader of the community at his time and was therefore in charge of those specific orders.