What We Believe
If we had to choose one Surah to define our faith, it would be the following:
Surat Al-Ikhlas
Arabic:
بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ ١
اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ ٢
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ ٣
وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ ٤
Transliteration:
Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Raheem
1 Qul huwa Allahu ahad
2 Allah hu samad
3 Lam yalid wa lam yulad
4 Wa lam yakun lahu kufuwan ahad
English:
In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful
Say: He is Allah, the One and Only!
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begetteth not, nor is He begotten.
And there is none like unto Him.
Muslims believe that Allah (God), the God of the Prophets Abraham, Moses, and Jesus is the one and only God. The Surah, Al-Ihklas, means "the purity" highlighting the purist form of our faith as well as the concept of Tawheed, which is essentially believing in the oneness of Allah. Without Tawheed, one cannot truly practice the religion of Islam. If the five pillars, Shahadah, Sawm, Zakat, Hajj, and Salat are the pillars that uphold our religion, the base (because there can be no pillars without a base) is the concept of Tawheed. Thus, if one wants to know the essential of the Islamic faith, Allah's oneness is at it's core and highlights the theme of monotheism.
As mentioned above, the Five Pillars of Islam helps to support our religious foundation. Their meanings are as follows:
The first pillar is Shahada which means to believe there is no God but Allah (swt) and Muhammad (saw) is his rasul or messenger.
The second pillar is Salah which dictates we must pray at least five times a day during specific periods named Fajr, Dhuzr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha.
The third pillar is Sawm or fasting which dictates that all able bodied Muslims do not eat or drink during the daytime in order to increase our faith in Allah and also experience what the poor and hungry may go through everyday.
The fourth pillar is Zakat which means charity, Muslims with money or food should give it to the needy.
The fifth pillar is Hajj which entails Muslims making a long trip to Mecca, performing rituals, and making dua on Mt. Arafat.
Masjid Al-Muhsineen