The Six Pillars of Faith

1What does iman mean?

The Arabic word iman comes from the root a-m-n, which also gives us amn (safety) and amanah (something entrusted). To believe, in this sense, is to feel safe with Allah, to trust Him, and to become trustworthy yourself. One of the beautiful names of Allah is al-Mu'min 59:23, the Giver of security. And the Prophet ﷺ described the believer as the one whom people can trust with their lives and their property (at-Tirmidhi, an-Nasa'i). Faith, then, is not only a conviction in the mind. It changes the way you treat others.

Scholars usually describe iman on three levels: affirmation with the heart, declaration with the tongue and action with the limbs. The heart is where faith lives, words make it heard, and deeds are its fruit. At its very beginning the Quran describes the God-conscious as those "who believe in the unseen, establish prayer and spend out of what We have provided for them" 2:3. Faith, prayer and generosity are mentioned in one breath.

2The hadith of Jibril

The best-known summary of faith comes from an event narrated by the Companion Umar ibn al-Khattab and recorded by Imam Muslim in his Sahih (Muslim 8; a similar account is in al-Bukhari 50, narrated by Abu Hurayrah).

One day the Companions were sitting with the Prophet ﷺ when a man came up to them: his clothes were brilliantly white, his hair intensely black, there was no sign of travel on him, and yet none of them knew him. He sat down facing the Prophet ﷺ, knee to knee, and said: "O Muhammad, tell me about Islam." The Prophet ﷺ named the five pillars. "You have spoken the truth," the man replied, and the Companions were amazed that he asked and then confirmed the answer. Then he asked about iman. The Prophet ﷺ said: "That you believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers and the Last Day, and that you believe in divine decree, its good and its hardship." Next he asked about ihsan: "That you worship Allah as though you see Him; and though you do not see Him, He sees you." Finally he asked about the Hour, the end of the world, and the Prophet ﷺ replied: "The one asked about it knows no more than the one asking."

When the man had gone, the Prophet ﷺ said: "Umar, do you know who the questioner was?" And then: "That was Jibril. He came to you to teach you your religion."

This hadith contains three levels that build on one another:

1. 1Islam – visible surrender: the testimony of faith, prayer, fasting, zakat and pilgrimage. More in the chapter What is Islam?
2. 2Iman – faith in the heart with its six articles, the subject of this chapter.
3. 3Ihsan – excellence: worshipping Allah as though you see Him.

The Quran itself names the articles of faith several times. "The Messenger believes in what has been sent down to him from his Lord, and so do the believers. All of them believe in Allah, His angels, His books and His messengers: 'We make no distinction between any of His messengers'" 2:285. And: "O you who believe, believe in Allah and His Messenger, and in the Book He has sent down to His Messenger, and the Book He sent down before. Whoever disbelieves in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers and the Last Day has gone far astray" 4:136. The great verse on true righteousness 2:177 also begins with belief in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book and the prophets, and then leads straight on to generosity towards relatives, orphans, the needy and travellers.

3The first pillar: belief in Allah

Everything begins with Allah. To believe in Him means: He exists; He alone created the world and sustains it; He alone deserves to be worshipped; and to Him belong the most beautiful names and perfect attributes. Surah al-Ikhlas sums it up in four short verses: "Say: He is Allah, the One. Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, and there is none comparable to Him" 112:1–4. Elsewhere we read: "There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing" 42:11.

This faith is not foreign to human beings. The Quran speaks of the fitrah, the natural disposition in which Allah created people 30:30, and the Prophet ﷺ said that every child is born upon this fitrah (al-Bukhari, Muslim). Finding faith is, in this sense, a homecoming.

Allah is exalted above all things, and yet He is near. "When My servants ask you about Me, I am near. I answer the call of the one who calls when he calls upon Me" 2:186. "We are closer to him than his jugular vein" 50:16. "He is with you wherever you are" 57:4. From this faith grow trust (tawakkul), hope and love. Whoever believes in Allah does not have to carry everything alone.

The names of Allah – the Most Merciful, the Forgiving, the Just, the Loving – are like windows through which we come to know Him a little; you can read more in the chapter The Most Beautiful Names of Allah. And the greatest verse of the Quran, the Verse of the Throne 2:255; Muslim, speaks entirely of Him: the Ever-Living, the Sustainer, whom neither drowsiness nor sleep overtakes.

4The second pillar: belief in the angels

Angels belong to the world of the unseen (al-ghayb), which we do not see but believe in because Allah has told us about it. The Prophet ﷺ said that the angels were created from light (Muslim). They know no disobedience: "They do not disobey Allah in what He commands them, and they do what they are commanded" 66:6. "They glorify Him night and day and never tire" 21:20. Allah made them messengers "with wings, two, three and four" 35:1.

Some angels we know by name or by task:

• Jibril (Gabriel), "the Trustworthy Spirit", who brought the Quran down upon the heart of the Prophet ﷺ (26:193–194; 2:97).
• Mika'il (Michael), who is named in the Quran together with Jibril 2:98.
• The Angel of Death, "who has been put in charge of you" 32:11. In tradition he is often called Azra'il; this name does not appear in the Quran.
• Israfil, who according to tradition will blow the horn when the Hour comes compare 39:68.
• The noble scribes: "Over you are guardians, noble, recording; they know whatever you do" (82:10–12; compare 50:17–18).
• The guardian angels, who protect a person from in front and behind by Allah's command 13:11.

Belief in the angels is deeply comforting. Allah Himself sends blessings upon the believers, and so do His angels, to bring them out of the darkness into the light 33:43. Upon those who say "Our Lord is Allah" and then remain steadfast, the angels descend: "Do not fear and do not grieve" 41:30. And the Prophet ﷺ said that when people gather in one of the houses of Allah to recite the Quran and study it together, tranquillity descends upon them, mercy covers them and angels surround them (Muslim). When you learn the Quran with others, you are never alone.

Distinct from the angels are the jinn, whom Allah created "from a smokeless flame of fire" 55:15 and who, like human beings, have free will. Iblis, who refused to bow before Adam, "was one of the jinn" 18:50; according to most scholars, then, he was not an angel.

5The third pillar: belief in the books

Allah has never left humanity without guidance. At different times He sent down scriptures, and Muslims believe in all of them in their original, revealed form. The Quran names:

• the Scrolls (suhuf) of Ibrahim and Musa 87:18–19,
• the Torah (Tawrah), given to Musa,
• the Psalms (Zabur), given to Dawud 4:163,
• the Gospel (Injil), given to Isa, "containing guidance and light" 5:46,
• and the Quran, the final revelation, sent down to Muhammad ﷺ.

The Quran describes itself as a confirmation and at the same time as a guardian (muhaymin) over the earlier scriptures 5:48. This is why Muslims meet Jews and Christians as Ahl al-Kitab, People of the Book, with whom they share a long history. At the same time Muslims believe that the Quran remains preserved unchanged, as Allah promised: "It is We who sent down the Reminder, and We will surely preserve it" 15:9.

Belief in the books is not a fact to tick off. It means taking the Quran seriously: reading it, listening to it, understanding it and living by it. That is exactly what this platform is for. In our Quran section you can hear and read every verse, and in the chapter The Quran you can learn more about how it was revealed and preserved.

6The fourth pillar: belief in the messengers

Allah sent prophets to every people, and not all of them are named in the Quran: "Some messengers We have told you about, and others We have not" 4:164. The Quran names twenty-five of them, from Adam through Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa and Isa to Muhammad ﷺ; their stories are told in the chapter The Prophets in the Quran.

Scholars often distinguish between a nabi (prophet), who receives revelation, and a rasul (messenger), who is sent with a message to a people; every messenger is also a prophet. All the prophets were human beings, and they lived what they taught. Muslims "make no distinction between any of His messengers" 2:285: whoever believes in Muhammad ﷺ also believes in Musa and Isa, peace be upon them. That is why Muslims send the greeting of peace after the name of every prophet.

Muhammad ﷺ is "the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets" 33:40; no prophet comes after him. Allah sent him "as a mercy to the worlds" 21:107. To believe in him means to love him, to follow him and to get to know his Sunnah. His life is told in the chapter The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

7The fifth pillar: belief in the Last Day

"Every soul will taste death" 3:185. Death is not the end but a passage. After it comes the barzakh, an intermediate world that lasts "until the Day they are raised" 23:100. Then comes the resurrection. When someone asked mockingly who could bring decayed bones back to life, the Quran replied: "Say: He who brought them into being the first time will give them life" 36:78–79.

On the Day of Judgement nothing will be overlooked: "We will set up the just scales for the Day of Resurrection, so that no soul will be wronged in the least" 21:47. "Whoever does an atom's weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom's weight of evil will see it" 99:7–8. No smile, no secret act of charity and no tear will have been in vain.

Above everything stands mercy: "Say: O My servants who have wronged themselves, do not despair of the mercy of Allah. Allah forgives all sins" 39:53. Of Paradise the Quran says: "No soul knows what delight of the eyes is kept hidden for them" 32:17. In a hadith qudsi Allah says that He has prepared for His righteous servants "what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human heart has ever imagined" (al-Bukhari, Muslim).

Belief in the Last Day is not a faith of fear but of responsibility. The Prophet ﷺ tied it to everyday life: "Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him speak good or remain silent. Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him honour his neighbour. Whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day, let him honour his guest" (al-Bukhari, Muslim). When the Hour will come, Allah alone knows; in the hadith of Jibril the Prophet ﷺ said: "The one asked about it knows no more than the one asking."

8The sixth pillar: belief in divine decree

Belief in qadar means that nothing in the world happens outside Allah's knowledge and will. Many Sunni scholars explain it in four levels:

1. 1Knowledge ('ilm): Allah knows everything that was, is and will be.
2. 2Recording (kitabah): it is written in a record 57:22.
3. 3Will (mashi'ah): nothing happens unless Allah wills it.
4. 4Creation (khalq): Allah is the Creator of all things.

Does this mean that human beings have no choice? No. The Quran stresses human responsibility just as clearly: "We showed him the way, whether he is grateful or ungrateful" 76:3. "Successful is the one who purifies it (the soul), and lost is the one who corrupts it" 91:9–10. "Allah does not burden any soul beyond what it can bear" 2:286, and "Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves" 13:11. You really do make your choices, and you will be accountable for them.

How Allah's all-encompassing will and human choice relate to each other has been explained differently by theologians of different schools. Sunni scholars of the Ash'ari and Maturidi schools speak of the human being's "acquisition" (kasb) of deeds. In Shia tradition a saying of Imam Ja'far as-Sadiq is famous: "Neither compulsion nor complete delegation, but a matter between the two" (al-Kulayni, al-Kafi). On the core points all agree: Allah is just, nothing escapes His knowledge, and human beings are responsible for what they do.

In daily life, belief in qadar above all brings peace. The Quran says that every misfortune is recorded "so that you do not grieve over what has escaped you, nor exult over what He has given you" 57:23. The Prophet ﷺ said: "How wonderful is the affair of the believer! All of it is good for him. If something pleasing happens to him, he is grateful, and that is good for him. If hardship befalls him, he is patient, and that is good for him" (Muslim). And he taught the young Ibn Abbas that if the whole community gathered to benefit you, it could only benefit you with what Allah had already written for you (at-Tirmidhi).

Qadar is no excuse for doing nothing. When a man asked whether he should tie his camel or trust in Allah, the Prophet ﷺ said: "Tie it and trust in Allah" (at-Tirmidhi). We do our best, and leave the outcome to Allah.

9How faith grows and decreases

Iman is not a fixed possession; it is alive, like a plant. The Quran says of the believers: "When His verses are recited to them, they increase them in faith" 8:2. Allah sent tranquillity into the hearts of the believers "so that they might add faith to their faith" (48:4; compare 3:173 and 74:31). This is why many scholars said that faith increases through obedience and decreases through disobedience. Imam Abu Hanifah and the Maturidi school emphasised that inner affirmation itself is indivisible, while its strength, its light and its fruits certainly grow and fade; many scholars see this as a difference of terms rather than of substance.

The Prophet ﷺ said: "Faith has over seventy – or over sixty – branches. The highest is saying 'There is no god but Allah', the lowest is removing something harmful from the road, and modesty is a branch of faith" (al-Bukhari, Muslim). Faith shows itself in great things and small, right down to the stone you move off the pavement.

The Companions, too, knew ups and downs. Hanzalah, one of them, feared he was a hypocrite: with the Prophet ﷺ he felt as if he could see Paradise and Hell before his eyes, but at home, with his wife, his children and his work, he forgot much of it. The Prophet ﷺ answered: if you remained always in the state you are in when you are with me, the angels would shake your hands on your paths – "but, Hanzalah, an hour like this and an hour like that" (Muslim). Ups and downs are human. What matters is to keep coming back.

What strengthens faith:

• The Quran: reading or listening to a little every day and reflecting on its meaning.
• Remembrance of Allah (dhikr): "Truly, in the remembrance of Allah hearts find rest" 13:28.
• Prayer, on time and with a present heart.
• Reflecting on creation: the Quran praises those who ponder the creation of the heavens and the earth 3:190–191.
• Good company: people who remind you of Allah.
• Serving others: whoever helps others feels faith in their own hands.
• Knowledge: the more you know about Allah, His Messenger and the Quran, the deeper love becomes.
• Supplication: the Prophet ﷺ often prayed: "O Turner of hearts, keep my heart firm upon Your religion" (at-Tirmidhi).

What weakens faith is heedlessness, sin and a life without pause. Yet the door of repentance is always open: "All the children of Adam make mistakes, and the best of those who make mistakes are those who repent" (at-Tirmidhi).

10The sweetness of faith

The Prophet ﷺ spoke of a sweetness of faith that can be tasted: "There are three things; whoever has them has found the sweetness of faith: that Allah and His Messenger are dearer to him than anything else; that he loves a person only for the sake of Allah; and that he hates to return to disbelief as he would hate to be thrown into the fire" (al-Bukhari, Muslim).

And he tied faith inseparably to other people: "None of you truly believes until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself" (al-Bukhari, Muslim). Faith makes a person gentle, generous and honest. When your faith grows, the people around you should feel it.

11The Shia formulation: usul ad-din

Shia Muslims believe in the same things: in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day and Allah's decree. In Shia theology, however, the foundations of faith are usually arranged differently, as five usul ad-din, "roots of religion":

1. 1Tawhid – the oneness of Allah, who has no partner.
2. 2'Adl – the justice of Allah: Allah does no injustice, "not even the weight of an atom" 4:40, and He commands justice 16:90. It follows that human beings are responsible for their deeds and will be justly repaid.
3. 3Nubuwwah – prophethood: Allah sent prophets, from Adam to Muhammad ﷺ, the Seal of the Prophets. Belief in the revealed scriptures and in the angels who bring them is included here.
4. 4Imamah – leadership after the Prophet ﷺ through the twelve Imams of his family, beginning with Imam Ali. They are regarded as guardians and interpreters of the message, not as prophets.
5. 5Ma'ad – the return to Allah: resurrection, judgement, Paradise and Hell.

Many Shia scholars call tawhid, nubuwwah and ma'ad the foundations of Islam shared by all Muslims, while 'adl and imamah form the particular foundations of the Shia school. The practical duties such as prayer, fasting, zakat, khums and pilgrimage are called furu' ad-din, the "branches of religion". A beautiful idea in this tradition: every person should accept the roots of faith out of their own conviction, not merely because others say so.

Behind the different arrangements stands a shared faith. Both traditions bear witness to the oneness of Allah, the prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ and the return to Allah, and both love the family of the Prophet ﷺ. Where they differ, above all on the question of the imamate, the chapter Sunnis and Shia explains the background.

12Iman in daily life

Faith does not only show itself in the mosque. It shows when you say "Bismillah" in the morning, when you stay honest even though it costs you something, when you hear hard news and say: "We belong to Allah, and to Him we return" 2:156, when you help your parents or show a stranger the way. The chapter Islam in daily life shows how a whole day can be carried by faith.

A few small steps to begin with:

1. 1Learn the Verse of the Throne 2:255 and the last two verses of Surah al-Baqarah 2:285–286; both sum up faith beautifully. You can listen to them verse by verse here.
2. 2Each week, choose one of the beautiful names of Allah and notice where you meet it in everyday life.
3. 3Say a short remembrance in the morning and evening, and take a moment of silence.
4. 4Every day, do one small good deed in secret, for Allah alone.

13In closing

The six pillars of faith are not a dry list. They answer life's great questions: Who created me? Am I alone? How does God speak to people? Whom can I follow? Where am I going? And why does what happens happen? Whoever carries these answers in their heart can live more calmly, more gratefully and more courageously.

Let us close with the words of the Quran: "Our Lord, do not let our hearts deviate after You have guided us, and grant us mercy from Yourself. You are indeed the Bestower" 3:8.