The Concept of Aqeedah
All of Allah’s messengers (Peace and blessings of Allah be upon them) observed the essence of Islam, namely the complete submission to Allah, which can be summarized in the realization of the shahaadah: There is no god worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad is His messenger. This testimony of faith incorporates pure monotheism.
The meaning of the first part of the shahaadah is that no one deserves to be worshipped in Allah’s Kingdom except Allah alone, and that whatever and whoever is worshipped besides Him is a false deity.
Allah says, “That is because it is Allah – He is the Truth (the only True God of all that exists, Who has no partners of rivals with Him) and what the (the polytheists) invoke besides Him, it is Batil (falsehood).” (Surah Al-Hajj, 22:62)
The meaning of the second part of the shahaadah is to testify and declare in words and deeds that Muhammad, son of Abdullah who belonged to the family of Hashim, which was the noblest tribe of the Quraish section of the Arabian race, is truly the last of Allah’s messengers (peace and blessings of Allah be upon them), that he was sent from his Lord with the truth to all mankind as a bearer of glad tidings and a warner, that he should be obeyed in whatever he commanded and forbade, and that Allah is only to be worshipped by what he himself legislated, not by one’s whims, desires and innovations in religion.
Some Fundamentals of Islam Regarding Aqeedah
a. Establishing the Pillars of faith
Islam is a set of beliefs which can be realized in the six pillars of faith, namely belief in Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day and the Divine Decree, the good of it and the bad of it.
Allah the Almighty says, “The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers: all of them believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books and His Messengers, [saying,] ‘We make no distinction between any of His Messengers;’ and they say, ‘We hear and we obey. We implore Your forgiveness, O our Lord, and to You is the returning.'” (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:285)
He also says, “Verily, We have created everything with Qadr (Divine Preordainments of all things before their creation, as written in the Book of Decrees.)” (Surah Al-Qamar, 54: 49 )
Belief in Allah means the belief that He is the only true God and that He is one and has no partners at all. He is the only Lord who manages the affairs of the universe, the only true God who alone is worthy of worship, without any partners, who has the most beautiful names and the loftiest perfect attributes which are not likened to any of those of His creatures even though some of the attributes may be shared between the Creator and the created, for there is nothing like Him.
b. Belief in the Unseen
Belief in the unseen is a requisite in Islam and signifies belief in anything of which Allah the Almighty or His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has informed us. Belief in the unseen is not comprehended by the intellect, reasoning or any form of analogy. For matters relating to the Unseen are to be accepted without questioning as their true nature is known to Allah alone. Therefore, we believe in them as Allah informed us without qualifying them or likening them to anything.
That is why Allah describes His obedient servants as those “who believe in the Unseen”(Surah Al-Baqarah, 2:3), and so He made this belief a special quality of the believers, that is their belief in the Unseen of which Allah has informed them, for no one who informs of the Unseen knows better than Almighty Allah.
c. Belief that the Qur’an and the Sunnah are the main sources of the Islamic Law
Another fundamental of Islam with regard to Aqeedah is the belief that the Qur’an and the Sunnah are revealed by Allah and that they represent the sources of acquiring proper knowledge in matters of belief and the revealed laws of Islam. The sources of the Islamic Law include the Book of Allah (the Qur’an), the Prophet’s Sunnah, Ijma’, or the unanimous agreement of the mujtahidoon of any period following the demise of the Prophet Muhammad on any matter, and ijtihaad (independent reasoning or analytical thought to be supported with textual evidence from the Qur’an, the Sunnah) and ijma’. (Ijtihaad may involve the interpretation of the source materials, inference of rules from them, or giving a legal verdict or decision on any issue on which there is no specific guidance in the Qur’an and the Sunnah). Such sources as analytical reasoning without evidence from the Qur’an and the Sunnah, dreams and imagined interests that contravene the evidence of the Sharee’ah are all excluded and are to be disregarded.
d. Love and loyalty for the believers
Another Islamic fundamental with regard to Aqeedah is to show love, loyalty and support (walaa) for the believers. Allah says, “The believers, men and women, are awliyyaa'(helpers, supporters, friends, protectors) of one another.” (Surah At-Tawbah, 9:71) Given the importance of this principle, scholars of Aqeedah have included the principle of walaa’for the believers amongst matters relating to Aqeedah and not amongst matters relating to fiqh (jurisprudence) even though it is related to juristic matters.
e. Seeking Allah’s pleasure (taraddi) for the Companions
Another Islamic fundamental with regard to Aqeedah is to seek Allah’s pleasure for the Mothers of the Believers (the prophet’s wives) as well as all the Prophet’s companions whom Allah the Almighty extolled. One should also hold Muslim devout scholars in high esteem, show loyalty, love and support for Allah’s righteous servants as well as all the believers with different degrees of walaa ‘ according to the requirements of faith.
