Islamic Theology - Six Articles of Belief

Six Articles of Belief

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In the Hadith of Gabriel, the Islamic prophet Muḥammad explains, "Faith is to affirm your faith in Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Last Day, and to believe in the Divine Destiny whether it be good or bad."

The six Sunni articles of belief are:

1. Belief in God (Allāh), the one and only one worthy of all worship (tawhid).
2. Belief in the Angels (malāʾika).
3. Belief in the Books (kutub) sent by Allah (including the Qurʾān, Gospel and Torah/Tanakh).
4. Belief in all the Messengers (rusul) sent by Allah (including Muḥammad, Jesus, Moses, Abraham, Noah, and Adam)
5. Belief in the Day of Judgment (yawm al-qiyāmah) and in the Resurrection (life after death).
6. Belief in Destiny (Fate) (qadar).

The first five are based on several Qurʾānic creeds including but not limited to the following the verse

"O ye who believe! Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and the scripture which He hath sent to His Messenger and the scripture which He sent to those before (him). Any who denieth Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Day of Judgment, hath gone far, far astray. " —Qur'an, Sura 4 (An-Nisa), ayat 136

The sixth point made it into the creed because of the first theological controversy in Islām. Although not connected with the Sunni—Shiʿi controversy about the succession, the majority of Twelver Shiʿites do not stress God's limitless power (qadar), but rather his boundless justice ʿadl as the sixth point of belief. This does not mean either that Sunnis deny his justice or that Shiʿites negate his power; it simply reflects a difference in emphasis.

In both the Sunni and the Shiʿi view, having īmān literally means to have belief in the six articles of faith. However, the importance of īmān relies heavily upon reasons. Islam explicitly asserts that belief should be maintained in that which can be proven using faculties of perception and conception.

There is a well-known short formula of creed which summarises the articles of faith, called the Āmantu (“I believe”, cf. Credo). The text (in one of the slightly differing versions), followed by the shahada is:

"I believe in (the One) God (Allāh), His angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Last Day, and in the Destiny, from God, whether it be good or bad; and the Resurrection after death is true. I bear witness that there is no god but God (Allāh), and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and His Messenger."

آمَنْتُ بِاللهِ وَمَلَئِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَاْليَوْمِ اْلآخِرِ وَبِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ مِنَ اللهِ تَعَالَى وَاْلبَعْثُ بَعْدَ اْلمَوْتِ حَقٌّ اَشْهَدُ اَنْ لا اِلَهَ اِلاَّ اَللهُ وَ اَشْهَدُ اَنَّ مُحَمَّداً عَبْدُهُ وُ رَسُولُه
Arabic: Āmantu bi-llāhi wa-malā’ikatihī wa-kutubihī wa-rusulihī wal-l-yawmi l-ākhiri wa-bi-l-qadari khayrihī wa-sharrihī mina-llāhi ta‘ālā, wa-l-ba‘thu ba‘da l-mawti haqq. Ash'hadu an lā ilāha illā-llāh wa-ash'hadu anna Muhammadan ‘abduhū wa-rasūluh.

The Āmantu formula is sometimes written in the calligraphic shape of a "ship of salvation" (safīnat an-najāt), or Âmentü gemisi, the "Āmantu ship," in Turkish.