Bismillah: In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful.
Iman is an Arabic word that means both faith and belief. Within
the concise definition of the Islamic religion–Islam, Iman, Ihsan–Iman refers to principles of belief.
As the first principle, a Muslim is required to believe in One God.
Islam is a supremely monotheistic religion; Muslims believe that
the divine ability to create rests with Allah and His Omnipotent Power alone. He alone creates us, He alone sustains us, and
no power or might, no reality or existence, no source of help exists independently of Him. Hence, for a Muslim, ascribing
any type of partner to Allah is the most serious sin.
God’s Being is the only “Necessary Existence”,
meaning that He alone truly exists independently and everything else exists only through His Sustaining Power. God has no
beginning or end; time and space are dimensions that He Himself created.
God is Omnipresent, encompassing and supporting all of creation;
yet He is not contained in, or limited to any aspect of creation, which means that He does not infuse or incarnate Himself
into human form. The Quran states: “He begets not nor was He begotten” (He does not father children nor
was He born of another) (112:3). His relationship with creation is one of a loving, yet completely transcendent Creator; as
in the case of an artist and his artwork, Allah’s sublime signature permeates His wonderous creation, yet He is not
the work itself.
Although God is Unique and Incomparable, Muslims can learn about
the nature of His Essence in the 99 Beautiful Names given in the Quran. Each name–such as the All Merciful, the Creator,
the Just, the Loving–refers to a particular divine quality as it exists in its Absolute form. The divine name Allah
sums up all of these Attributes, pointing to His transcendent Essence.
Allah’s Attributes are manifested in the created world; yet
our human reality is but a temporary, transitory reflection of these qualities. No quality exists in absolute and eternal
perfection except within the reality of God Himself. Our “realness” as human beings is affected by how fully we
surrender ourselves to God’s Reality. Although we treat many aspects of ourselves as “real” and our main
priorities, we are told that on the Day when reality is “unveiled”, everything turned from the “face”
of Allah will prove a futile illusion.
Allah’s qualities exist in a harmonious balance: His Justice
is tempered with His Mercy, and His Destructive Might is balanced by His Sustaining and Creative Power. This balance is necessary
so that the universe can continue to exist. This divine pattern of balance also explains why Muslims must seek balance in
their worship, their actions and their character.
If Allah’s presence is everywhere in the universe, why, then,
are Muslims prohibited from worshipping His representation in a limited form? According to the Quran, faith in a God Who transcends
every limiting form, is natural to the human heart. To divert this natural faith to anything less than God is to harm one’s
internal reality, and to distort the relationship intended between Creator and surrendered servant. If our final destination
is improperly labelled on our map of life, then it will make it difficult for us to reach our intended goal.
Islam teaches that worship of One God is a natural, logical and
spiritual experience, confirming a reality deeply implanted in the human heart and soul, that part of us that came from God,
and will find rest only in Him.
Barbara (Masumah) Helms
(Courtesy of the Standard Freeholder, published under the title, “The First Principle of Iman,”
Sept.
9, 2006)
