Islamic Creed

An important concept relating to the concept of human nature from an Islamic perspective is fitra. Fitra refers to the primordial state of man- his natural condition and disposition. The optimistic view of human nature is rooted in this concept. Islam posits that the natural state of man is a positive and ‘good’ state – one in submission to God. This is related to the idea that all souls made a pledge with God before earthly existence, acknowledging Him as their Lord (Qur’an, Surah Al-A’raf, 7:172). Even before we were born, or were conceived, our souls met with Allah. The spiritual [...]

Allah Almighty has known since eternity those who will enter Paradise and those who will go to the Hell-Fire. No increase or decrease in this divine knowledge will occur at all. Allah Almighty knows all the actions that the people will undertake. The actions that are destined for each individual will be made easier to him. Actions are valued according to their ends. Fortunate is the one, whose Taqdir is in his favour and wretched is the one whose Taqdir falls against him. Taqdir is a secret placed by Allah Almighty among His creatures which is not known even by any close angel or by [...]

Success and happiness in this world and the Hereafter depend on tazkiya, the purification and nurturing of our personality. The Quran states that true success is only reserved for those who seek to purify themselves: “Successful indeed is the one who purifies his whole self. Our personality comprises not only the physical body but also the mind and the heart, feelings and attitudes, character and behaviour. Proper nurturing and development of these elements of the personality will achieve desirable goals. When goals are desirable, the process of aspiring to, working towards and achieving them also become desirable. This is part of [...]

Cure From Allah Muslims believe that ultimately cure of disease is from Allah. The physician makes attempts that could succeed or fail. Narrated Aisha (radhyAllahu ‘anha) Whenever Allah’s Apostle (sallAllahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) paid a visit to a patient or a patient was brought to him, he used to invoke Allah saying, “Take away the disease, O the Lord of the people ! Cure him as you are the one who cures. There is no cure but yours, a cure that leaves no disease.” There Is A Cure For Every Disease. A Muslim has strong hope in the cure of his disease. [...]

Praise be to Allah and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone with no partner with Him. I also bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger. Allah dispraised some people who had high hopes that busied them from doing good deeds for the Hereafter, then they were attacked by death while they were heedless. They wished to have long lives to achieve what they could not achieve, but how far was what they wished. Allah (Exalted be He) says: “How much would those who disbelieved [...]

Muhammad, peace be upon him, was sent to invite people to God and to teach them how to perform the task for which they were created, namely to worship God. Many of the people whom he addressed had a hazy idea of God. Some did believe in Him, though they associated other lesser gods with Him, but a few of them were downright atheists, or materialists, whose creed was, “We live and we die and nothing causes our death except Time.” [Surah Al-Jathiya, 45: 24] Before inviting such atheists to God one must first convince them that there is such being. [...]

To the worshipers of heavenly bodies it relates as a reminder the story of Abraham: “When night outspread over him he saw a star and said, ‘This is my Lord.’ But when it set he said, ‘l love not the setters.’ When he saw the moon rising, he said, ‘This is my Lord.’ But when it set he said, ‘If my Lord does not guide me I shall surely be of the people gone astray.’ when he saw the sun rising, he said, ‘This is my Lord; this is greater!’ But when it set he said, ‘O my people, surely I [...]

‘When I am dead, will I then be raised up again?’ This question is in the back of the minds of even those who do not have any deep convictions of the reality of life after death. The fact however remains that very few people give any direct attention to the question of the afterlife while they are in this world. This is surely an indication of the conscious or subconscious doubt as to its existence. If, however, we give serious thought to the reality of life after death, it becomes easily comprehensible: God, wishing to put us to the test, [...]

Some misguided people even consider ‘life’ and ‘death’ to be the ‘accumulation’ and the subsequent ‘diffusion’ of multitudinous particles of matter as expounded by an Urdu poet, Chakbast, in the following words: “What is life? Elements arranging themselves in order, and death? Their diffusion.” This, statement is however not borne out by fact. If life were simply ‘elements arranging themselves in order,’ then it follows that it should survive only so long as this orderliness endured, and it should conversely be possible for an expert scientist to create life by an accumulation of these elements; obviously, both these propositions are preposterous. [...]

Are they waiting for the angels or your Lord Himself to come down to them, or for a sign of His to be given them? On the day when such a sign is given them, faith shall not avail the soul which had no faith before or while believing, did no good works. “Say: 'Wait if you will, we too are waiting.'” [Surah Al-An’am, 6 Ayat: I58]. “We led the Children of Israel across the sea, and Pharaoh and his legions pursued them with wickedness and tyranny. But as he was drowning he cried: 'Now I believe that there is no [...]