The Basis of Faith

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم


Allah, the Glorious and Exalted,  said:


<<The  Messenger believes in  what has  been  revealed  to him from his Lord, as do the men of faith. Each one (of them)  believes in Allah,  His angels,  His books, and  His Messengers."We make no distinction (they say) between one and another  of His messengers". And they say: "We hear, and we obey: (we seek) your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the end of all journeys>> [Al-Baqarah - Al-Aayah 285].

Allah also says:


<<O you   who  believe!  Believe   in  Allah  and  His Messenger, and the  scripture  which  He has  sent to His Messenger and  the  scripture  which  He  sent  unto  those before  (him).  Any  who denies  Allah,  His  angels,  His Books,  His Messengers, and the Day of Judgement, has gone far, far astray>> [An-Nisa'  - Al-Aayah 136]

<<It is not righteousness that you turn  your faces towards east or west; but  it is righteousness  to believe  in  Allah and the Last Day, and the angels, and the Book, and the messengers... >> [Al-Baqarah - Aayah 177]

When  the angel  Jibreel  came  to the  Prophet  (صلى الله عليه و سلم) disguised as a Bedouin  and asked him about Islam, Eemaan (faith) and Ihsaan, the Prophet  (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said about faith: "(It  means)  the belief in Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Last Day; and belief in Al-Qadaa' wal Qadar (Divine Preordainment) good or bad".

 [Narrated by lmam Muslim on the authority of Umar Ibnu al-Khattaab, ""Saheeh  Muslim  Bisharh an-Nawawee",  Vol. 1,  p. 157.   Al-Bukhaaree narrated the same Hadith on  the authority  of  Abee  Hurayrah, see: "Al­ Bukhaaree maa Fath al-Baaree", Vol.l, p. 96, 97.]

These then are the six bases of faith. They are the principles and foundations with which the messengers were sent and for which the divine scriptures were revealed. The faith of any person is incomplete without his belief in all of them, in the way and manner indicated  in  the  Qur'an  and  the  Sunnah  of  the  Prophet  (صلى الله عليه و سلم ). Whoever denies any of those six truths places himself outside the boundaries of faith and becomes a Kaafir (disbeliever).

Extracted from "Book of Emaan" by Shaykul-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah