What are the main things Muslims believe?
A Muslim believes in Allah (the Arabic name referring to God); that nothing other than Allah is worthy of worship, and that Muhammad was His final Prophet.
A Muslim does not pray to Muhammad nor believes that Muhammad was the son of God, nor that Jesus is the son of God. Muslims believe that Allah is above having a son. Allah is considered unique, without equal. His existence is realisable but His essence and nature is beyond human comprehension. He was not born, has no children, and does not die. Muslims do not believe that Allah resembles a man, nor that humans are made in His image. Islam is monotheistic – believing only in One God. Islamic belief in Allah – called Tawheed (absolute oneness) – is at the heart of the Islamic creed. Muslims believe in particular articles of belief. This is called Iman: to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, The Day of Judgement, that fate whether good or bad is from Allah. This Iman must be based on certainty.
Angels are beings from the realm of the ‘unseen’, ‘created of light’, taking different forms and who do not eat, drink or reproduce. They have no free will and worship Allah without faltering. Some of these angels are known by name, for example Jibreel (Gabriel) who brings divine revelations to the Prophets.
The books revealed to the Prophets include the Tawrah (Torah) to Musa (Moses), the Zabur (Psalms) to Dawud (David), the Injil (Gospel) to Isa (Jesus), and finally the Quran revealed to Muhammad. Muslims believe in them all, but only follow the last book, the Quran which is the final and most reliably transmitted revelation from Allah i.e. the Last Testament.
“We sent to you the Scripture with the truth, confirming the Scriptures that came before it and with final authority over them; so judge between them according to what God has sent down. Do not follow their whims, which deviate from the truth that has come to you. We have assigned a law and a path to each of you. If God had so willed, He would have made you one community, but He wanted to test you through that which He has given you, so race to do good: you will all return to Allah and He will make clear to you the matters you differed about.” (Quran chapter 5, verse 48)
The Day of Judgement is when all humanity will be resurrected with new bodies to stand before Allah for His judgment on their eternal fate. They will be shown whatever good and whatever bad they did during their lives. Hence, Muslims believe we are all accountable for every action we do and proceed through life conscious of that. Allah possesses all Mercy and all Power. Nothing happens except by His Will, but He is not necessarily pleased with all matters. Allah has told us clearly what is right and wrong according to His divine standard. Allah’s Will is that humans should have free will in thoughts and actions. So some humans choose to abide by His laws and others choose to rebel.
Allah will judge every mature person on Judgement Day and by His Wisdom and Justice some people will be sent to heaven and some will be sent to hell. Both heaven and hell are beyond our capacities to understand except by how they have been described in the Quran and by Allah’s prophets. Heaven is described as a paradise. Hell has many descriptions all associated with unimaginable torment.
The Quran was revealed to Prophet Muhammad through Angel Jibreel (Gabriel) in the 7th century in Arabia and starting with the verses:
“Read! In the name of your Lord who created: He created man from a clinging form. Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One who taught by the pen, who taught man what he did not know.” (Quran chapter 96, verses 1-5)
Islam’s central message is summarised in the following Quranic verse:
“Say (O Muhammad): “I am only a human being like you. It is inspired in me that your Allah is One God, therefore take the Straight Path to Him and obedience to Him and seek forgiveness of Him.” (Quran chapter 41, verse 6)