my faith
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ISLAM
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A Muslim believes in One God, Allah, Supreme and
Eternal, Infinite and Mighty, Merciful & Compassionate,
Creator and Provider. This belief, in order to be effective,
requires complete trust and hope in Allah, submission to His
Will and reliance onHis aid. It securesman’s dignity and saves
him from fear and despair, from guilt and confusion.
TheMuslimalso believes in all the scriptures and revelations of
Allah. They were the guiding light which the messengers
received to show their respective peoples the Right Path of
Allah. In theQur’an a special reference ismade to the books of
Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus. But long before the reve-
lation of the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad [s] some of those
books and revelations had been lost or currupted, others for-
gotten, neglected, or concealed. The only authentic and com-
plete book of God in existence today is the Qur’an. In principle,
the Muslim believes in the previous books and revelations. But
where are their complete and original versions? They could be
still at the bottom of the Dead Sea, and there may be more
Scrolls to be discovered. Or perhaps more information about
themwill become availablewhenChristian and Jewish archae-
ologists reveal to the public the complete original findings of
their continued excavations in the Holy Land.
For the Muslim, there is no problem of that kind. The Qur’an is
in his hand complete and authentic. Nothing of it ismissing and
no more of it is expected. Its authenticity is beyond doubt, and
no serious scholar or thinker has ventured to question its gen-
uineness. The Qur’an was made so by Allah Who revealed it
and made it incumbent upon Himself to protect it against inter-
polation and corruption of all kinds. Thus it is given to the
Muslims as the standard or criterion by which all the other
books are judged. So whatever agrees with the Qur’an is
accepted as Divine truth, and whatever differs from the Qur’an
is either rejected or suspended.
The Muslim believes in the angels of Allah too. They are pure-
ly spiritual and splendid beings who require no food nor drink
nor sleep. They have no physical desires of any kind nor mate-
rial needs. They spend their days and nights in the service of
Allah. There are many of them, and each one is charged with
a certain duty. If we cannot see the angelswith our naked eyes,
it does not necessarily deny their actual existence. There are
many things in the world that are invisible to the eye or inac-
cessible to the senses, and yet we do believe in their existence.
Belief in the angels originates from the Islamic principle that
knowledge and truth are not entirely confined to the sensory
knowledge or sensory perception alone.
PT
