Islam

Beliefs

Muslims believe that God revealed His final message to humanity through the Islamic prophet Muhammad (c. 570 - July 6, 632) via the angel Gabriel.[16] Muhammad is considered to have been God's final prophet, the "Seal of the Prophets". The Qur'an is believed by Muslims to be the revelations Muhammad received in 23 years of his preaching.[17] Muslims hold that the message of Islam - submission to the will of the one God - is the same as the message preached by all the messengers sent by God to humanity since Adam. Muslims believe that "Islam is the eternal religion, described in the Qur'an as 'the primordial nature upon which God created mankind.'[18][19] Further the Qur'an states that the proper name Muslim was given by Abraham.[20][19] As a historical phenomenon, however, Islam was originated in Arabia in early 7th century."[19] Islamic texts depict Judaism and Christianity as prophetic successor traditions to the teachings of Abraham. The Qur'an calls Jews and Christians "People of the Book," and distinguishes them from polytheists. However, Muslims believe that the previously revealed scriptures, the Tawrat (Torah), and the Injil (Gospels), had become distorted as indicated in the Qur'an, either in interpretation, textually, or both.[21]

Islamic belief is composed of six main aspects: belief in God; His revelations; His angels; His messengers; the "Day of Judgement"; and the divine decree

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God

The fundamental concept in Islam is the Oneness of God or tawhîd: monotheism which is absolute, not relative or pluralistic. The Oneness of God is the first of Islam's five pillars, expressed by the Shahadah (testification). By declaring the Shahadah, a Muslim attests to the belief that there are no gods but God, a...

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...e and decree over all that occurs, as elaborated in Qur'anic verses such as "Say: 'Nothing will happen to us except what Allah has decreed for us: He is our protector'...."[56] Muslims believe that nothing in the world can happen, good or evil, except that it has been preordained and permitted by God. Man possesses free will in the sense that he has the faculty to choose between right and wrong, and thus retains responsibility over his actions. Muslims also believe that although God has decreed all things, the evil and calamities that are decreed are done so as a trial, or may possess a later benefit not yet apparent due to mankind's lack of comprehension, and as such does not suggest absence of God's indignation against evil and disbelief.[57][58] According to Islamic tradition, all that has been decreed is written in "al-Lawh al-Mahfuz", the "Preserved Tablet."[57]