Table of Contents
Pillars of Iman & La Ilaha Illallāh in Brief
Pillars of Iman in Brief
The pillars of Iman are six. The proof for this is the hadith of Jibril. T In this hadith the angel Jibril (Gabriel) came in the form of a man and asked Prophet Muhammad about matters of the religion in order to teach the people.
In the hadith he asked the Prophet, "Inform me about Iman." The Prophet ( صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ) answered by saying: "It is that you believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day, and that you believe in the divine decree, the good of it and the bad of it." Reported in Sahih Muslim.
The First-Belief in Allah:
Belief in Allah is the foundation of everything that one must have belief in. Whoever does not believe in Allah does not believe in the rest of the pillars of Iman, and for this reason belief in the Angels, Books, and Messengers were all attributed to Allah [i.e. it is said His Angels, His Books and His Messengers].
To believe in Allah firstly means to believe in His existence and that He is the One who brought everything into existence. He is the First and there is nothing before Him, and He is the Last, there is nothing after Him. Pillars of Iman & La Ilaha Illallah
Also belief in Allah means that you believe in His Rububiyyah (Lordship), His Uluhiyyah (that He is deserving all worship), and that you belief in His Beautiful Names and Lofty Attributes.
The Second-Belief in His Angels:
This is to believe that the Angels are a creation that Allah created from light. They have wings, some with two, three, and four. It has been reported that Angel Jibril has six hundred wings.
The Angels are of a great number and no one knows their number except Allah. They do not have a will to disobey Allah and they do everything that Allah commands them.
The Angels have been delegated with duties such as delivering revelation, bringing down the rain drops, taking people's souls at the time of death and many other duties. It is obligatory to believe and deem truthful all the information that has come in the Qur'an and Sunnah regarding the Angels.
The Third-Belief in His Books:
Belief in the Books is to believe and deem truthful every Book that Allah sent down upon His Messengers and believe that they are truth, and they are the uncreated speech of Allah.
They entail what is needed for the happiness of mankind; and whoever adheres to them will be successful, and whoever turns away from them will be at a great loss.
From those Books are the Injil, Taurat, Zabur, and the final revelation that was sent to Muhammad, the Qur'an. Pillars of Iman & La Ilaha Illallah
The Qur'an is the everlasting miracle that Allah sent Muḥammad with in which He took upon Himself to preserve and guard from plagiarism and distortion. The Qur'an is an authority over and an abrogation of the previous Books sent by Allah.
The Fourth-Belief in His Messengers:
Belief in the Messengers means to have firm belief and attestation that Allah has raised individuals from mankind as Prophets and Messengers who direct people to the truth, and call them from the darkness of misguidance, shirk, and disobedience to the light of guidance, Tawhid, and obedience to Allah.
The Messengers were tasked to convey the legislations that were sent down to them, and they all conveyed what they were tasked to convey in the best and most complete manner. There are twenty five Messengers mentioned in the Qur'an, eighteen of them were mentioned in Surah al-An'am 6:83-86.
Some of the names of the Messengers sent by Allah are Adam, Nūḥ (Noah), Ibrāhīm (Abraham), Mūsā (Moses), Īsā (Jesus), and Muḥammad, may Allah's peace and salutations be upon them all. There were also Messengers whom Allah sent whom He did not mention to us. We still must believe in them in a general sense. Pillars of Iman & La Ilaha Illallah
The Fifth-Belief in the Last day:
Belief in the Last Day entails firm belief and attestation of everything that has come in the Qur'an and Sunnah of that which will occur after death.
This includes the punishment or bliss that will occur in the grave, resurrection from the grave when Allah commands the Angel to blow in the trumpet at the end of time, and that all the people will be gathered to one place to stand in front of Allah to be questioned. Pillars of Iman & La Ilaha Illallah
It also entails matters such as the reckoning for one's deeds, the deeds being weighed, crossing over the bridge that will be placed over the Hellfire and having belief in the Paradise prepared for those who believed in Allah and did righteous deeds and the Hellfire prepared for those who disbelieved in Allah and did wicked deeds, and those who disobeyed Him. Both Paradise and Hellfire are created and exist now.
The Sixth- Belief in the divine decree (al-Qadr):
Belief in the divine decree is to believe that Allah decreed everything that will occur until the Day of Resurrection. This belief includes four matters:
(1) That Allah has infinite knowledge of everything that will occur.
(2) That Allah has written everything that has been decreed.
(3) That Allah has willed to occur everything that takes place.
(4) That Allah created everything in existence in accordance to His infinite knowledge, His writing, and His will.'
Prophet Muhammad (صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَسَلَّمَ) said:
"Whatever passed you was never going to befall you, and whatever befalls s you was never going to pass you."
So it is obligatory to believe in these four levels of the divine decree and that everything that Allah wills must come into existence and whatever He did not will can never come into existence.
Pillars of La ilaha illa Allāh
La ilaha illa Allah has two pillars; affirmation and negation. When you say La ilaha (i.e. there is no Deity) you are negating the right of worship from everything besides Allah. When you say illa Allah (i.e. except Allah), you are affirming the right of worship for Allah alone.
For this reason, the scholars say that the meaning of La ilaha illa Allah is, that there is no deity worshipped in truth except Allah, and if other than Allah is worshipped, it is done only in falsehood. Pillars of Iman & La Ilaha Illallah, Pillars of Iman & La Ilaha Illallah