The Basic Doctrine of Islam

The basic doctrine of Islam is nothing but the prohibition of idol worship. It is the fundamental premise of Islam not to worship any creature or thing in the universe as a god, and on this premise the teaching of Islam, i.e., absolute submission to Allah, the Creator of the whole universe, is founded.

The Declaration of Faith

In Islam, to bear witness to the two statements glaailaha illa Allah (there is no god but Allah)h and gMuhammad rasul Allah (Muhammad is the apostle of Allah)h is the confession of faith.
There are no formalities for conversion to Islam, and the person who witnesses these two statements to be true is considered to be a Muslim by this alone in the common view, while, an atheist or a polytheist becomes a Muslim only by professing glaailaaha illa Allahh according to the legal theory of the Hanafi School. ?

The Denominations

It is said that the population of Muslims in the world today is about 1,200,000,000. The Muslims are classified roughly into the two major denominations, the Sunnis (90%) and the Shias (10%). ?
The Sunni doctrine has six pillars of faith: Belief in (1) Allah (the One God), (2) the Angels, (3) the Scriptures, (4) the Apostles, (5) the Hereafter and (6) divine providence, while the Shia doctrine, has five: Belief in (1) the uniqueness of Allah, (2) the justice of Allah, (3) the? Prophecy, (4) the Imamah (religious leadership), and (5) the Afterlife.
I will outline below the pillars of faith which are common to both the Sunnis and the Shias, i.e., belief in Allah, the Apostles (the prophets), and the Hereafter sequentially.

Allah

All the beings in the universe are limited in as far as they are governed by the space-time continuum, and all limited beings are nothing but creations. The universe and everything in it was created by the Being beyond time and space. This Creator of the universe beyond time and space is the Unique God, whom Islam names Allah. Allah is the Creator of space-time and thus He is not Himself restricted in anyway by time and space.
Although He transcends time and space and has no form, Allah is the personal God who communicates with human beings.

The place where this communication between God and human beings takes place is not a body located in space. It takes place in the heart and language is the medium. By the term gpersonal Godh we mean that Allah is the God who speaks to human beings, and through His words He has commanded us to do good deeds, forbidden us to do wrong and established His Law .
As the Creator-Legislator, Allah is the root of the existence of the universe as well as the source of the human law-ethic.

The Apostles

Allah is the God who speaks to us, and the door of communication between Allah and human beings is always open. However, direct communication between Allah and human beings rarely occurs, particularly so when His messages are for the whole, rather than an individual. Those who are especially chosen to deliver such social messages to the people are called apostles. The person whom Allah selects to be an apostle must be someone excellent in his intelligence and character who can gain the confidence of the people, because he is burdened with the mission of conveying Allahfs message to those people without error.
Allah has sent apostles to all races, but, at a point in time when human civilization reached a certain stage, He sent His final message which is valid until the end of time for the entire human race. This last message is the QurO}n and the apostle chosen to deliver it was MuAammad, a descendant of Abraham of Arabic origin.

The Hereafter

Allah is not only the Creator of the universe but also the source of ethics unique
to human beings, and He has sent us apostles to establish laws, command us to do good deeds, and forbid evil.
However, in the temporal social order, justice is not always accomplished, and it is not unusual to see evil prospering, while good perishes, because freedom of choice has been given to all human beings.
When this world finally comes to an end, Allah will bring all the human beings who ever walked on this earth back to life, read the record of each individual?fs deeds during their lifetime, and then give judgment on them. No good deed will be overlooked. The suffering a righteous person endured without reason will be rewarded, his grieving will be compensated, fair judgment will be given, and no one will be treated unfairly. On the other hand, no evildoing will be overlooked or escape punishment, but Allah is merciful and He will overlook the bad deeds and exempt from punishment anyone for whom there is smallest room for forgiveness.
Human life extends eternally beyond the life and death of this world, and the time and place where Allah, the One God?fs divine justice and mercy will be completed for everyone is on Judgment Day in the Hereafter.

NEW! (8/May/2008)

・Characteristics of Public Law in Islam (PDF)