Basic Islam 1
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- Bu səhifədəki naviqasiya:
- What does Surrendering our Will mean
- Is Islam a new religion
- What does Allah look like
- What does a Muslim look like
- What is special about Muhammed and his message
- Basic Islam – lesson 2
- Why did Allah create mankind
- What did Muhammed bring
- How do we know that the Quran has never been changed
- What does the Quran teach
- Which are the most common books of Hadith
- Does anybody know when they will die
- What is our duty to a Muslim who has died
- What happens once the person is in the grave
Basic Islam 1Who are we? We are Muslims. A Muslim is a person who follows the commands of Allah and dedicates his life to live by the guidelines laid by Allah. What is our religion? Our religion is Islam. Islam is an Arabic word which means peace and submission. By following the commands of Allah (by submitting our will to the will of Allah) we will get peace in this life and in the hereafter. What does Surrendering our Will mean?We surrender our will to Allah by doing what Allah commands us to do rather than what we want to do. Also it can be seen as doing only what Allah has allowed us to do and refraining from what Allah has forbidden us to do. The example is that we might want to eat something like a sweet, which has haram ingredients. If we eat the sweet we are following our own will if we don’t eat the sweet then we are following Allah’s command. What kind of peace do we get ? The peace we get from Islam is
Islam is a DeenIslam is not a religion in the normal sense. Islam is called a Deen that means Islam is a complete way of life. Islam tells us how to live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have to be Muslims everyday not on certain days and we have to follow all that Allah has taught us rather than what we want to obey.Is Islam a new religion?Islam is the religion that was sent by Allah to all his prophets. All nations were guided to follow Allah, to understand Allah and to worship him alone. The religions have changed since then because the followers use to change them. Islam is the only religion that has not been changed by the people because we have the original message in the Quran and its explanation in the hadith. Allah said he would guard the Quran until the day of judgement. Who is Allah?Allah is the Lord and Creator of everything. Nothing was in existence until Allah created it. He alone sustains and maintains all creation and he alone has power over everything Where is Allah?Allah is not like a person where he might be in a building or a town or a country. Allah is all aware. He sees everyone and everything and he hears everything we say – even our inner most secrets. Allah is all-knowing. What does Allah look like?Allah is not like anything we can see or imagine. He is beyond the comprehension of the human mind. No one has seen Allah and no-one knows what he looks like. He is not like anything in creation or anything we can imagine in our minds. Allah is unique. How can we know Allah?By studying the Quran we are taught about the Qualities of Allah and through his names (or attributes) we can know Allah e.g. He is Eternal He is the most-merciful He is the creator He is self-sustaining He all-knowing He is the source of peace and perfection Master of the day of judgement
Muslim comes in all shapes and sizes, different ages and colours. They are all normal human beings, the only thing that makes them different is that they believe in their hearts that Allah is one, he has no partners and he has no sons. There are no other gods apart from Allah. A Muslim also believes that Muhammed is the messenger of Allah. He was selected by Allah to deliver the message of Islam to all mankind. All the people who obey the message are Muslims and all the people who reject the message are non-Muslims. What is special about Muhammed and his message?Muhammed was a normal person like you and me. The difference was Allah had selected him to tell all mankind about Allah and how to live their lives. Muhammed was different from other prophets because
Basic Islam – lesson 2What was the message of Muhammed?The message of Muhammed was essentially Tawheed. Tawheed is to believe in Allah in the correct manner (i.e. he is one, he has no partners and sons). We also believe that he is our Creator lord and Master. He created us for a purpose and we as Muslims try and follow Allah’s will and plan so that we are fulfilling our purpose in this life. Why did Allah create mankind?Allah tells us in the Quran that he created us only so that we obey and worship him. To make this simple, Life is a test. Allah created us and given us free choice in this world to do whatever we want. Through this Allah wants to see how we live our lives - whether we will obey, worship and follow his command by our own free choice. If we follow Allah’s will then he will reward us with Paradise. If we worship other things when we are command to worship Allah alone, we do bad things when we are commanded to do good, when we ignore what Allah has said - Allah would then punish us by throwing us in Hell fire. Therefore, we all have a choice in life, we can be Believers (people who believe in Allah and follow Allah’s command) or we can be Kafirs (non-Believers – people who disobey Allah and don’t believe in him). We have complete free choice in whatever we want to do in this life. What did Muhammed bring?The revelation that came to Muhammed were the words of Allah. These words came to Muhammed through the Angel Gibrael or Allah put them straight into the heart of Prophet Muhammed. This message was then recited to the people who use to memorise it and use it in prayers (salah). The prophet commanded his scribes to write it down. Once they had recorded it, they use to read it back to the prophet to make sure there was no mistakes. This message is called the Quran. It has been preserved from those days until today – not one word or letter is different from then and today. A person who knows the Quran from start to finish is called a Hafiz. This message is still available to the whole world to study and learn. How do we know that the Quran has never been changed?The Quran is the world of Allah, Muslims have memorised this from the first days right until today. There has been millions of Hafiz throughout the world. The Prophet himself use to recite it in his prayers and the whole Quran to the Angel Jibrael in Ramadan. If the Quran had been changed then they would all have be reading it differently. The faithful scribes recorded the Quran, they had read it back to the prophet when they had written it. All the copies of the Quran were identical in the early days. The Quran was collected together and a standard copy was made, copied and sent throughout the whole Muslim world. These copies are still with us today. There was a complete agreement between the companions of the prophet about what was in the Quran. All the Hafiz, who use to recite it in Ramadan, also use to recite it the same – they also completely agreed with the written copy. There has never been any other version of the Quran apart from the one we have today. Allah guaranteed that the Quran would not be changed and he himself has promised that it will be kept pure until the day of judgement. Allah’s promises are always true and there is no doubt in his words. What does the Quran teach?The Quran is a complete manual on how to live our lives. It tells us how to behave, to respect our parents and elders and to live as human beings are supposed to. It teaches us about what is right and what is wrong. The Quran also tells us about the things that we have never seen with our eyes (the Unseen) – the Angels and Jinn, Day of Judgement, Heaven and Hell… It tells us about the prophets in the past and how they lived and what trials and tribulations they were put through. The Quran tells us about how Allah created the universe and everything in it. It tells us about his creation and gives examples of its perfect harmony. It tells us how the universe works, the stars, sun, mountains… The Quran tells us about Allah and his qualities (attributes and names), about his mercy and about his wrath. It helps us understand Allah better so that we can appreciate his bounties and become better human beings. The Quran reasons with the human soul and forces it to face life and search for the truth. It asks us to use our minds and reason, which Allah has given us, that will lead us to the universal truth that Allah is one. We will also know Allah’s prophet whom He sent to deliver the final message and come closer to Allah through the prophets teachings and advise. What is the HadithA hadith is information about the prophet- what the prophet did throughout his mission, what he said, how he treated people, what advise he gave… This is basically the prophet in action. The prophet use to live by the Quran and everything he did was according to the Quran, therefore his life becomes an example to us – the Quranic teachings in action. Who wrote the Hadith?The Hadith were originally oral transmission of information. This information was passed down and finally collected by some great scholars like Iman Bukhari and Muslim. They went to great lengths to prove that the Hadith they collected were true and had not been changed when the information was passed down. They classified the Hadith through the chain of narrators as authentic (Sahih), Good (Hasan), Weak (daif) and fabricated (mowzuh). The Hadith has four parts
The scholars in the past specialised in checking the sanads and checking the hadith through as many sources as possible. This helped to preserve the hadith and give us a good and reliable source of information about the prophet. Which are the most common books of Hadith?The most famous books of Hadith are the Sahih Six. These six of the most authenic and agreed upon Hadith from all the books available.
Basic Islam – 3 Who were the Prophets of Allah? The prophets of Allah were people that were selected by Allah to deliver his message. These people were normal people that Allah selected to guide the people. Allah would purify their hearts and give them make them his messengers. What did the prophets teach? All the prophets had the same essential message. The message was tawheed – Allah is one, he has no partners and he has no sons. They taught us that we should only worship Allah and acknowledge him as our supreme Lord. Allah has given us a life to live, when this is over we will need to account to Allah on the day of judgement. If we had lived good lives and acted upon his message then he will grant you paradise otherwise Allah will punish us and then send us to Hell. The prophets did bring different laws depending upon the circumstances of their people. The Laws reflected the time and circumstances of the people. However the essential message, the message that was the bedrock of all religions- tawheed- was the same. How many prophets did Allah send? We are taught in the Holy Quran that every nation was sent a messenger. This means that Allah did not deprive anyone from the one and only true path. Hadith tell us that Allah sent to mankind 124,000 prophets. The prophets use to guide the people and the people use to obey the messenger. When the messenger passed away, they would add things to their religion and take stuff out. Basically, the message was changed and the people started to become bad and stray from the right path. Allah would then send another messenger to teach the people. Is there evidence of these prophets? Yes, when see some of the religions throughout the worlds and some of the older religions which archaeologists have found out about, we find that there is a remarkable similarity between them all. For example, some ancient tribes discovered in Africa use to refuse to bow down before anything other than Allah. They use to say that Allah is a pure being. He is not like a tree, money or even the moon - he is not like anything we can see on this earth or in the heavens above. Others use to say that Allah is all-knowing and sees and hears everything. Other tribes use to say that Allah is independent – he does not need anything but everything needs him. This concept of Allah can be seen throughout history. Was there different kinds of prophets? Some prophets came with a new message they are known as Rasool. They were given a new message and they preached it to their people. However, some messengers were only sent to revive the message of a previous prophet and they are known as Nabi. A Rasool is also a Nabi (they came to revive the old message and laso came with new laws for their people) but a Nabi is not a Rasool (Nabi did not bring any new laws) Who was Isa ? Isa was a prophet of Allah sent to his people to bring them back onto the right path. He was a servant and slave of Allah like all the prophets before him. However, when he passed away they exaggerated their religion making Isa to be Allah or the son of Allah (Astag-fir-ullah). Some of his followers did stay on the right path. What was different about Muhammed? Muhammed came with the Quran – the message that will never be corrupted and he came to the whole of mankind, not only to his own people. The follows of Muhammed carried his message throughout the whole world. Who were the first followers of Muhammed? The first people who followed Islam were his close family and friends. His wife Khadija; His nephew Ali; His close friend Abu Bakr and Zayd- the adopted son of Muhammad. They became the first Muslims and the first Sahabah. What was special about the Sahabah? The Sahabah were the first followers of the Prophet Muhammad. They were the people who were closest to the prophet and had the privilege of seeing the Prophet with their own eyes, accepting his message and then died with Islam in their hearts. The Sahabah helped the Prophet in every way during his life and afterwards they became the torchbearers of Islam as they carried the same message throughout the world. Through the Sahabah we have additional explanation of the Quran. The Sahabah followed Islam with all aspects of their lives, they too are an example to us. All the Hadith we have were narrated through the Sahabah. Who were the four rightly guided Khalifahs. The Khalifahs were four of the most famous companions of the prophet who became the leaders of the Muslims after the Prophet had passed away. Abu Bakr –was the first. Umar – was the second leader of the Muslims. Uthman – was the third leader of the Muslims Ali - was the fourth leader of the Muslims. Their lives will be studied at a greater level in the classes What is Athar? Athar is the sayings of the Sahabah (companions of the Prophet (PBUH)) - plural Aathaar. Even these are given the same priority as the Hadith. The Holy Prophet says in a Hadith: Follow my Sunnah, and the Sunnah of my rightly guided Khalifahs. In another Hadith the Holy Prophet (PBUH) says: My companions are like the stars whichever one you follow you will be guided. So we have been ordered by the Prophet himself to follow the footsteps and the sayings of the Sahabah. Basic Islam – 4 What is the Unseen? The Unseen is quite a large part of our beliefs. There are some things that Allah has created that we can no see or hear but we believe in them These come under the category of the Unseen. Give me an example We believe that Allah created the Angels from light. We can not see them but we are told that Allah created them and so we must believe in them. Another example is the Jinn that were created by Allah out of smokeless fire. We can not see them but believe that they exist. What are the angels? The angels of Allah are the servants of Allah who carry out whatever Allah commands them to do. The angels do not have freewill like mankind - they have no choice in what they do. What Jobs do the Angels do? The Angel do all the commands Allah has set them. For example,
The Angels of Allah never disobey Allah and do not have desires or needs like a human being. Allah has many millions of Angels. Can we see Angels? No, we can not see angels. Once the Angel Jibrael came to the prophet and the companions in the form of a man. They were able to see him them but generally humans never see Angels. The prophet Muhammed PBUH saw the Angel Jibrael once in his full form. The Angel had six hundred wings and was massive, filling the whole sky. We have angels that sit on our left and right shoulders who record our good and bad deeds. We do not see them either and they are not so massive like Angel Jibrael. So who or what are the Jinn? The Jinns are the creations of Allah who were created to worship Allah. They are made of smokeless fire and have a free will like humans. We get good Jinns and bad Jinns like we get good and bad humans. The Jinns are living on Earth and will need to account for their deeds on the Day of Judgement just like us. Can we see Jinn? No we can not see Jinns unless they take the form of a human or of an animal. The Jinn however can see us. Prophet Suliman was a prophet of Allah whom Allah had given control over the Jinns. From Suliman’s story we learn that the Jinns are able to travel great distances in a split second and that they are very strong – they carried the throne of Sheba to Suliman in the blink of an eye. Allah has given them great power. When were the Jinn created The Jinns were created before Mankind. Infact, we see in the story of Adam that Iblis was a Jinn and was in existence before Adam. Who is Iblis? Iblis was from the Jinn. He was a greater worshipper of Allah. He was made the leader of the Angels. They say that there is not a place on earth where the Iblis had not done Sajdah. When Allah created Adam, Allah commanded the angels to bow before Adam. Iblis refused by saying that he was better than Adam - Iblis had pride inside his heart. He told Allah that I am better than Adam, you created Adam out of clay whilst I am created from smokeless fire! Allah then banished Iblis from heaven. Iblis made a request to Allah to give him respite until the day of Judgement. Allah granted him this and Iblis promised that he would try his best to deceive and misguide mankind from the Path of Allah - Iblis became the enemy of mankind. What is the Day of Judgement? The Day of Judgement is the day when mankind will be brought forth from the Earth and will need to account for all their deeds they did whilst they were alive on the Earth. Every human that lived from the time of Adam until the Day of Judgement will be brought forth before Allah. When is the Day of Judgement? No one but Allah knows when the day of Judgement will be. When the prophet of Allah was asked by the angel Jibrael about when the day of Judgement will be, the prophet replied that the one who was is being asked the question knows as much as the one asking the question. This means that neither the prophet nor the Angel Jibrael knew when the day of Judgement will be. We have been given some signs that will appear before the day of Judgement. These are of two types – Major and Minor. What signs have taken place already? Most of minor signs have taken place and the Major signs will take place just before Qiyamat. The Minor signs that have taken place include the wide spread of evil and Ignorance, The building of high buildings, usury (interest) will be common, disobedience to parents and many more. What major signs are still to take place Some of the major signs still to take place are: the coming of the Dajjal; the coming Gog Magog; the coming of Isa; the smoke; the coming of the beast that will speak to people; the earthquakes – there will be three major ones of which one will be in Medina. There have never been any earthquakes in Medina before. After this a breeze will come which will take away the souls of every believer and the day of Judgemnt will take place. No repentance will be accepted after this. Basic Islam – 5 How does the day of judgement begin? The day of judgement will begin when the Angel Israfeel will blow the trumpet for the second time . All mankind will be brought forward from their graves – this includes all the people that had lived on the earth from the time of Adam (as) until the day of judgement. They will appear before their Lord (Allah) to account for al their action in the worldly life. How long is the day of Judgement? The day of judgement will not be the same as a day (ie not 24 hours) we have in this life. The day will be will be like 50,000 years and for some of the Believers the day will pass quickly. What will the people be like? People will be all in a very worried state on that day. Thy will think that they should have spent their time on earth more wisely and spent following Allah’s laws. The mother, who is so caring for her children, will be more worried about herself then her children. People will ask each other for good deeds and help but everyone will be too worried for themselves. People will feel that they had only spent a few hours on Earth when in actual fact they had spend maybe 50 or 60 years. No more good deeds will be accepted on that day. What about the Earth? The earth will be completely different from today. The earth will be shaken up and the mountains will become like flakes of cotton wool. The whole universe will be destroyed. The sun will be closer and the people will be suffering from the heat and sweating. There will be no shade on that day apart from the shade Allah provides for some of his servants. What will the people do on that day? The people will turn to their prophets and ask them to intercede to Allah on their behalf. The prophets will be too worried about themselves and will not be able to help their people. The prophets will say go to such and such a prophet and they will continue until they come to Muhammed (PBUH). Our prophet will then go to Allah, bow before him and then ask to intercede on behalf of all the Muslims. What are the scales? Our deeds will be brought forward and put on the scales. This will determine whether we had been good or bad. Our hands, feet, tongues etc will all bear witness against us for all that we did. The earth will also be a witness. If our scales have more good deeds then Allah will allow us to enter (Jannat) paradise. If our deeds are more bad then we will be sent to the Jahanam (hell-fire), unless Allah forgives our sins. Allah will give us scrolls tell us whether we passed the test or not. We will get it in the right hand if we are successful or in the left, behind our backs if we are not successful. What is the Pool-Sirat? The Pool-Sirat is a bridge, which runs across Jahanam. Everyone will pass across this bridge to enter paradise. The non-believer or those who failed the test will fall into the fire whilst the good Muslims will pass across it very quickly and enter paradise. The bridge has been described in a Hadith as being sharper than a sword and thinner than a hair. What will heaven and hell be like? Heaven and Hell ( and even the day of judgement) is very difficult to imagine. A Hadith tells us that they will be like something that no eye has seen, no ear has heard off and has not passed through the heart of any person. This means that it is very difficult for us to imagine what it will be like but Allah has given us some information to help us understand some aspects of it. Heaven (Jannah)– A place where every desire is fulfilled, free of any hardship and pain. Abu Hurayrah reported that Allah’s Apostle (peace be upon him) said: "He who gets into Paradise [will be made to enjoy such an everlasting] bliss that he will neither become destitute nor will his clothes wear out nor will his youthfulness decline." [Muslim] Hell (jahanam):- A place where people are punished for their bad actions, an eternal place of suffering and pain. Muslim narrated in his Sahih: “He does not think that any other person is tortured more severely than him although he is in the least torture.” [Muslim] Will people ever come out of Hell-fire? Generally, the people in Hell fire will be there for eternity (forever). There will be some people that will have Iman inside their hearts and Allah will forgive these people eventually and take them out of Hell fire. One of the Attributes of Allah is that he is all-merciful so he does forgive some of these people even though they may have been bad Muslims in their lives. However, the disbelieves will be in Hell for eternity. How many heavens are there? There is only one heaven but it has 100 different stages – the highest stage is called Jannat ul Firdos. The level of Jannat a person will go to depends upon how good they were in their life on earth. The greatest rewards a person will be given in heaven is that they will see Allah. Everyone will be content with whatever Allah gives him or her. They will be able to meet each other and meet their former family and friends. Basic Islam – 6 Why do people die? Death is the only guaranteed in this life. Allah teaches us that after a person is born he will spend a certain amount of time on earth then He will die and that applies to all human beings. Therefore, death is the natural progression of a human being just as growing up is. It does not matter if you’re a king or if you’re a beggar, if you hide in a mighty fortress, or if you have a thousand surgeries, nobody can avoid or cheat death. Allah says in the Quran: Everyone shall have to die (Holy Quran) In another place Allah says: Where ever you are, even in a mighty fortress death will find you Death brings an end to our temporary life on this earth. It is an occasion of sorrow and grief for the loved ones of the deceased. Not even the most foolish of people would deny the concept of death. Are we born sinless? Whenever a child is born it is born free of all sin and is a pure individual. Some people believe that a child is born sinful, but Islam has taught us that a child is born free of all sin. It is born is a state of Fitra, which can be seen as a natural state of submission to Allah, and acknowledging Tawheed. When a child grows it gets corrupted and the child beings to learn from its family and the environment in which it lives. This child is no longer on the Fitra unless the parents are Muslims and teach the child about Allah and his Deen. Therefore, every child is born in a natural state of submission to Allah and is called a Muslim. A person accepting Islam and becoming a Muslim is known as reverting to Islam rather than converting to Islam. This is because it is reverting or returning to the natural state in which it was born. Why does Allah make some people poor? Allah has chosen certain circumstances for people to test them in this life. For example, Allah has made some people richer than others, Allah has made some people cleverer than others, Allah has given some people more knowledge and others less, Allah has made some strong and others weak. Allah is testing us by how we use these things. When we die we will be asked about these special blessings Allah has given us within our lives and what we did with them. If Allah gave us wealth, what did we do with it? how did we spend it? Were we grateful to Allah? … Does anybody know when they will die?No, nobody knows when their time is up. This is something that Allah has kept exclusive for Himself. Some babies die at birth, and some people live over the age of 100, but nobody knows for certain. Many a time we have seen or heard when a doctor has said for certain that this person won’t last the day yet he recovers and outlives the doctor! We do not even know how we will die. Some people die in their sleep, some due to some terminal illness, some people die in a very healthy state for no apparent reason at all! No body knows when they will die or how they will die. The Ahadith of the Prophet (PBUH) teach us that Allah has appointed the Angel Izrail who is also known as the Angel of death (malakul mawt) over death. He is responsible to take out our souls and end our lives. What is our duty to a Muslim who has died?We should try our best to comfort his/her family, and we should try and understand what grief and sorrow they must be feeling. It is a Sunnat of the Prophet (PBUH) to say comforting words to the family of the deceased. The holy Prophet (PBUH) has taught us what should be done to the deceased. A dead body is given a wash before it is buried. It is then covered with white sheets and fragrance is spread over it. A funeral prayer is conducted before burial. This prayer is called Salatul Janazah. Salatul Janazah is a collective obligation (Fardh Kifayah) on all the Muslims of the locality of the dead person. If a number of them join in, the obligation is discharged on behalf of all. But, if no one joins in, everyone will be considered sinful before Allah. Attending the Salatul Janazah holds great reward. The method of performing this special Salah will be covered in details under Fiqh Inshallah. Islam does not like the idea of burning the body and then burying the ashes or scattering them out to sea. People who do this either believe that there is no life after death, or believe that if this is done, Allah would not be able to bring them back to life and account them for their deeds. What happens once the person is in the grave?The grave is the first stage of Aakhirah. It has been narrated that whenever Hadhrat Uthman (RA) used to stand by a grave, he would cry so excessively that his blessed beard would become wet. Someone asked, “Why do you not cry so much when mention is made of Jannah and Jahannam as you would cry when mention is made of the grave?” He replied, “I have heard the Holy Prophet say, The grave is the first stage from the stages of the Aakhirah. Whoever passes it easily all the other oncoming stages will be easy on him, and whoever is afflicted with punishment for him the oncoming stages will be even tougher.” The first thing that happens is that two angels by the name of Munkar and Nakeer approach the person and ask him/her three questions. A true believer will have no problems answering these questions. The questions are:
In the grave, a person, according to how he/she lived their lives in this world will either be rewarded or punished. This has been proven from the Quran as well as the Hadith of the Prophet. In one Hadith the Holy Prophet (PBUH) said: The grave is either a garden of Paradise or a pit from the pits of Hell In another very lengthy Hadith the Holy Prophet (PBUH) explains: When a true believer is laid to rest in his/her grave, the grave says, “out of everybody who has walked upon me, you were the most liked to me. Now you shall see how I will treat you.” Then the grave expands itself as far as the eye can see. Then a window from Paradise is opened for him and he/she will continue to smell fresh and beautiful fragrances till the Day of Judgement. When a non-believer is laid in his/her grave, the grave say unto him/her, “out of everybody who has walked upon me, you were the most disliked to me. Now you shall see how I treat you. Then it squeezes the person so tightly that the person’s ribs go into each other. Then serpents are released on that person, and they are so venomous that if they were to spit their venom onto earth not one blade of grass would live. And they would continue to bite him/her till the Day of Judgement. In a famous Hadith the Holy Prophet (PBUH) has mentioned that the two things that bring upon the punishment of the grave are:
May Allah save us all from the punishment of the grave. Aamin. What do you advise we do? Remember death as much as possible. Make use of your time, keeping in mind that a time will come when I will have to die and go and lie in the grave. It is very strange that if a person is experiencing great pleasure and having a good time, and he was to find out that the police were looking for him, and they had a warrant for his arrest, all of his happiness, enjoyment will go away. It would be a miracle if he could sleep at night. On the other hand we know that the Angel of death is always awaiting the order of Allah to extract his soul and he will have to experience the agony of death, yet this seems to have no effect on his lifestyle? Remembering death is a means of
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