Faith in Islam comprises of a number of fundamental beliefs that must be fully and whole-heartedly accepted by Muslims. There are seven such fundamental beliefs or articles that are summarised below:
1. Belief in Allah
This means that a Muslim must believe in Allah (The One and Only God), and that He is the Creator and Sustainer of the whole universe.
A Muslim believes in the Creator without having seen Him, he believes in his/her Creator by observing and contemplating on what Allah has created, how He created the earth and the skies, and the mountains and animals, and mankind. To a Muslim the creation of such beautiful and harmonious design of the universe could only mean the hand of a truly powerful and wise Designer, i.e. Allah, the One and Only God.
Allah says in the Holy Qur'an: "There is nothing that resembles Him (Allah), and He hears all, and knows all". This means that a Muslim does not use idols or any other pictures or other such methods to visualise Allah. Due to the fact that all a Muslim knows about Allah is what is in the Qur'an, he does not equate the image of anything with Allah, rather all a Muslim knows is that Allah is Most Powerful, All Knowing, All Hearing, etc. as is mentioned in the Qur'an.
A Muslim must also believe that his or her knowledge of Allah is bounded by what Allah has said about Himself in the Qur'an, and a Muslim is not to attribute any qualities or descriptions to Allah that hasn't been described in the Qur'an or by the Prophet Muhammad (may peace be upon him). For example, in the Qur'an Allah says that He has a hand, so a Muslim believes that Allah has a hand, but does not add anything further to that, such as saying how many fingers Allah has. This is because Allah's knowledge far exceeds the knowledge that he has given to mankind, His creation. To say something about Allah which He has not said about Himself amounts to saying something that one has no knowledge of.
A direct effect of this, of course, is that a Muslim will never worship anything besides Allah, as he or she will not attribute the qualities and attributes of Allah to a creature of Allah, thereby making it a God besides Allah.
2. Belief in Angels
A Muslim believes that Angels are a creation of Allah. They are a creation apart from man, and are created from light, just as man was created from dust. Angels, however, have not been created with the freedom of choice that man has. As such, angels can only do what Allah commands them to do, and they do not have the ability to disobey Allah. This is in contrast to the teachings of some other religions that claim that angels have the ability to disobey God.
Angels have been given the responsibility of a variety of tasks by Allah - some continuously worship Him, some have the task of taking the soul of man when he dies, some have the task of putting the soul into the foetus in the mother's womb, some have the task of taking revelation to the prophets, some have the task of bringing punishment to nations, etc.
Muslims also believe that each person has two angels with him or her, one recording the person's good deeds, and the other recording the person's bad deeds.
Note: More information about angels can be found under the topic Angels.
3. Belief in the Revelations
Muslims believe in the revelations that were sent to some of the prophets of Allah:
The Sahifah (Psalms) to Dawood (David) (peace be upon him)
The Torah (Old Testament) to Moosa (Moses) (peace be upon him)
The Injeel (New Testament) to Isa (Jesus) (peace be upon him)
The Qur'an to Muhammad (peace be upon him)
Just as Muslims recognise and revere all of the prophets of Islam from Adam to Muhammad (peace be upon them all), so do they recognise and believe in all of the books that were revealed by Allah to His prophets. However, Muslims believe in the original revealed books that were revealed to each prophet. Of all of the revealed books, the only one to still remain in its original form, without any corruption in the form of additions and deletions, is the Qur'an. Allah has promised that the final revealed book will be safeguarded by Allah until the day of judgement, as an unblemished and pure source of guidance for all who came after the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
So while the Muslims believe in the Torah and Bible, they believe that these books (as they stand today) have been corrupted by the hands of man, and can no longer be trusted to be in their original forms.
4. Belief in the Messengers
Muslims believe in all of the messengers of Allah from Adam to Muhammad (peace be upon them all). All of the messengers invited their nations or their people to believe in the One and Only God, Allah, and to not associate any partners with Him in His Dominion. They invited their people to worship Allah and not to spread corruption and evil by praying to other gods that they invented. These messengers were sent to specific people and for a specific period of time.
Some of the messengers were given the ability to perform miracles, by the will of Allah, to prove to their people that they were indeed the messengers of Allah. The examples of some of these messengers include Moses, who was able to throw his staff to the ground and it would turn into a snake. Another example is that of Jesus, where he was able to cure the sick. However, after the messengers died, people misguidedly began worshipping the messengers of Allah.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the last messenger to be sent to the world. He was sent as a messenger to the entire mankind, from his time to the day of judgement. As such, Allah decreed that He would safeguard the Qur'an from corruption by the hands of man until the day of judgement. This promise was not made for any of the preceding books that were revealed before the Qur'an.
For more information about the messengers including why they were sent, who they were and so on, please see Prophets and Messengers.
5. Belief in the Last Day
Muslims believe that all of mankind will be resurrected and called to account on the Last Day, or the Day of Judgement. On this day the angel, Israfeel, will be ordered by Allah to blow the trumpet, and the last creatures on earth will be destroyed, including the mountains and the moon. The sun will be brought very close to earth, the trumpet will be blown again, and all of mankind from the first man, Adam to the last man will be brought back to life by the will of Allah.
On this day, the account of every single human being will be taken, and those whose good deeds outweigh their bad deeds, will be successful and will enter Jannah (or Heaven), and those whose bad deeds outweigh their good deeds will be thrown into Jahannam (or Hell). Of course, none will enter Heaven or Hell, except by the will of Allah. He will forgive whoever He wants, and punish whoever He pleases.
Taking this into account, Allah also says in the Qur'an that He is the Most Just, and as such all Muslims have trust in Him, that He will deal with all in the fairest way.
One of the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is that Allah has decreed that before the Day of Judgement, His Mercy exceeds His Anger, but on the Day of Judgement, His Anger will exceed His Mercy. This indicates that He has given mankind a great opportunity to turn to Him for forgiveness before they die, as He will show Mercy for all that ask for forgiveness sincerely. On the Day of Judgement, however, the time for mercy would have passed, and it would be too late to ask for forgiveness.
6. Belief in Fate
Muslims believe that fate good and bad has been decreed by Allah. However, man still has the opportunity to choose between doing good and bad, between choosing the straight path or the crooked path while he is alive. Allah's Power and Might is such that although He has already written down what is to happen in the future, man is still able to make choices. The result of those choices is already known by Allah.
As a result, Muslims do not lose hope and become desperate, rather they always hope for the guidance of Allah, that He will keep them to the straight path. They have submitted themselves entirely to Him, in all His Glory and Magnificence, and turn to Him only in repentance.
7. Belief in the Life after Death
Finally, Muslims believe that there is life after death. Everyone will be raised up on the Day of Judgement, and death will be decreed by Allah to be no more. In other words, everyone will live an everlasting life, in their final abode.
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