The Three Fundamentals that Man Must Know

The Three Fundamentals that Man Must Know

The first fundamental that man must know is one’s God. Secondly, he must know one’s Religion. Thirdly, he must know one’s Prophet.

1- The First Fundamental is knowing that my Rubb is Allah, Who has nourished and fostered me and the rest of men and jinn with His bounties. He is the God Whom I worship and other than Whom I have no god. In the very first verse in the Qur’an we read:

﴾All praise is due the to Rub of the worlds.﴿ [Q 1:1]

Everything other than Allah is part of the world, and I belong to one of His worlds.

I have known my Rubb through His signs and creatures: the night, the day, the sun, the moon, the heavens, and the earths and all that is between them. In the Qur’an we read: ﴾And among His signs are the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. Prostate not yourselves to the sun nor to the moon, but to Allah alone Who has created them, if it is He Whom you really worship.﴿ [Q 41:37]

﴾Surely, your Rubb is Allah Who has created the heavens and the earth in six days; then He settled Himself on the throne. He makes the night cover the day, which follows it swiftly, and the sun and the moon and the stars He made subservient by His command. Verily (the act of) creation is restricted to Him, and so is the disposal of all affairs. Blessed is Allah, the Rubb of the worlds.﴿ [Q 7:54]

The Rubb is the Master, the Proprietor, the One who brings into existence things from nothing. He is the only God who deserves to be worshiped. In the Qur’an we read: ﴾O men, worship your Rubb who has created you and those who were before you, so that you may guard yourselves (against Allah’s chastisement). He who made the earth a bed for you, and the heaven a roof, and sent down water from the heaven, and therewith brought forth fruits for your sustenance; so do not set up equals to Allah while you know (the truth).﴿ [Q 2:21-22]

2- The Second Fundamental is knowing the religion of Islam and its textual proofs. Islam is submission to Allah, believing in His Oneness, complying obediently with His commands, and denouncing polytheism and its adherents.

The pillars of Islam are five:
· The Testimony of Faith: There is no god, in truth, but Allah, and Muhammad (peace be upon him and his household) is the Messenger of Allah.
· Performing prayer.
· Giving out Zakat
· Observing the fasting in Ramadan
· Performing Hajj (pilgrimage)

In the Qur’an we find many verses discussing the pillars of Islam: ﴾Say, ‘O people of the book, come to a word equal between us and you that we worship none but Allah, and that we ascribe no partners to Him, and that none of us take others for lords besides Allah.’ But, if they turn away, then say, ‘Bear witness that we have submitted to Allah’.﴿ [Q 3:64]

﴾And when Abraham said to his father and his people: ‘I renounce what you worship. I worship only Him Who created me, He will guide me.’ And he made it a word to remain among his posterity so that they might return to Allah.﴿ [Q 43:26-28]

﴾Verily, a Messenger from among yourselves came to you; he grieves over your difficulties, and he is ardently desirous of your welfare, and to the believers he is compassionate and merciful.﴿ [Q 9:128]

﴾Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and those who are with him are hard against the unbelievers and merciful to each other.﴿ [Q 48:29]

﴾And they were commanded only to worship Allah and be sincere to Him in obedience (i.e. to be hunafa’,) and to observe prayer and pay Zakat. This is the religion of truth.﴿ [Q 96:5]

﴾O you who believe, fasting is prescribed to you, as it was prescribed to those before you so that you may guard yourselves.﴿ [Q 2:219]

﴾And pilgrimage is a duty which men owe Allah, but if any disbelieve in Allah, then He surely does not need His creatures.﴿ [Q 3:97]

3- The Third Fundamental is knowing our prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him and his household), who is the son of Abdullah, son of Abdul-Muttalib, son of Hashim, who is of the Quraish, an Arab tribe, and knowing that the Arabs are of the children of Isma'il, son of Ibrahim al-Khalil, may peace and blessing be on him and on our Prophet.

Allah sent Muhammad to preach monotheism and to warn against polytheism. In the Qur’an we read: ﴾O you who is wrapped. Arise and warn (i.e. warn against polytheism and preach monotheism). And magnify you Lord And purify you heart. And shun the idols. And never do a favor seeking to get more in return. And for the sake of your Lord endure patiently.﴿ [Q 74:1-7]

Allah sent Muhammad (peace be upon him and his household) to mankind at large, and made obeying him a duty on both jinn and humans. In the Qur’an we read: ﴾Say, O men I am the Messenger of Allah to you all.﴿ [Q 7:158]

﴾And when We sent to you a group of jinn to listen to the recitation of the Qur’an, when they heard it they said to one another, ‘Listen.’ And when it ended they returned to their people warning them.﴿ [Q 46:29]

It is a known fact (and part of the basic beliefs of Islam) that Allah completed the religion of Islam during the lifetime of His Messenger (peace be upon him and his household), and nothing new needs to be added to the religion thereafter. In the Qur’an we read: ﴾Today, I have completed for you your religion and perfected My favor upon you and accepted Islam to be your religion.﴿ [Q 5:3]

* The Fundamentals of Islam, written by Sheik Muhammad bin Sulaiman At-Tamimi, and translated into English by Mahmoud bin Ridha Murad.