RS7Islam: Predestination, Akhirah, Prophets, Holy Books and the Imamate

Predestination (al-Qadr) is the belief that God knows and has decided everything that happens. It is one of the six articles of faith in Sunni Islam.

• God has created everything ‘by measure’ (Qur’an 54:49, Pickthall’s translation).
• Nothing happens on earth or to people that is not already in a Book before it comes about (Qur’an 57:22).
• Many Muslims call this record the Preserved Tablet (al-Lawh al-Mahfuz); the Qur’an speaks of ‘a guarded tablet’ (85:22).
• Each person’s time of death is already appointed (Qur’an 3:145).
• God is outside time, so God’s knowledge of the future is not like a human guess. Many Muslims say knowing what will happen is not the same as forcing it.

Predestination (al-Qadr)

The belief that everything that happens has already been known and decided by God.

Preserved Tablet

The heavenly record in which Muslims believe God has written all that will happen.

The spec asks how predestination fits with human freedom and the Day of Judgement. If God has decided everything, how can people be judged fairly?

• Human freedom: people control their thoughts, feelings and actions. God has shown the way, and each person may be grateful or reject it (Qur’an 76:3; 18:29).
• God does not change people’s condition until they change what is in their hearts (Qur’an 13:11).
• Human responsibility: each soul earns only for itself, and no one carries another’s load (Qur’an 6:164). God asks nothing of a person beyond what they can bear (2:286).
• Ways Muslims explain it: God knows what people will freely choose without forcing them; God sets the circumstances, such as when someone is born and dies, and people choose how to respond; and God’s wisdom is beyond full human understanding.
• Sunni teaching tends to stress God’s power and decree, while holding that humans still choose and are accountable.
• Shi’a teaching, through Adalat, stresses that a just God would never force someone to do wrong and then punish them. Many Shi’a scholars quote a saying attributed to Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq: neither total compulsion nor total freedom, but ‘a matter between the two’.
• Link to Judgement: because people freely choose, the Day of Judgement is fair. They are judged on their actions and intentions.
• Influence: Muslims accept hardship with patience, trusting that nothing happens to them except what God has decreed (Qur’an 9:51), but still work hard, make choices with care and take responsibility for wrongdoing.

Muslims hold God’s decree and human freedom together

Human freedom

Humans have control over their thoughts, feelings and actions.

Human responsibility

Humans are responsible for most of what they do because they have free will, so they will be accountable on the Day of Judgement.

Akhirah means life after death. It is one of the six articles of faith. In the five roots, Shi’a Muslims call this belief Mi’ad: resurrection and the Day of Judgement.

• ‘Every soul will taste of death’ (Qur’an 3:185, Pickthall’s translation). Muslims see this life as a test that decides what follows.
• At death, the angel of death takes the soul (Qur’an 32:11).
• Barzakh is the barrier or waiting state between death and the Day of Resurrection (Qur’an 23:99-100).
• According to Hadith, the angels Munkar and Nakir question each person in the grave about their Lord, their religion and their prophet. Many Muslims believe the grave then gives a foretaste of reward or punishment.
• Resurrection: the trumpet is blown (Qur’an 39:68), and people rise from their graves (36:51) with their bodies to face God.
• Judgement: each person receives the book of their deeds: in the right hand for those who are saved (69:19). Deeds are weighed: heavy scales of good deeds lead to a good life (101:6-9). Even an atom’s weight of good or ill will be seen (99:7-8).
• Hadith describe the Sirat, a bridge over hell that everyone must cross. The righteous cross safely.
• Many Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad will plead (intercede) with God for believers; many Shi’a Muslims believe the Imams will too.

The stages of Akhirah in Muslim belief

Akhirah

Life after death: belief in a new stage of life after death.

Barzakh

The barrier or waiting state between death and the Day of Resurrection.

Resurrection

The belief that after death all people will be raised from the dead to face judgement.

Day of Judgement

The day when God will judge each person’s deeds and decide on reward or punishment.

After judgement, Muslims believe each person goes to Jannah (paradise) or Jahannam (hell).

• Many Muslims see being close to God as the greatest reward of paradise.
• Some Muslims read the descriptions literally; others see them as pictures of realities beyond human imagination.
• Accountability: everyone will answer for their own deeds on the Day of Judgement, and no one can carry another’s load (Qur’an 6:164).
• Justice and mercy: God wrongs no one even by an ant’s weight and doubles good deeds (Qur’an 4:40), but no one should despair of God’s mercy (39:53).
• The Qur’an calls the life of this world ‘but comfort of illusion’ (3:185): it matters as a test, not as an end in itself.
• Influence: hope of paradise motivates Muslims to pray, give and be honest; fear of hell discourages wrongdoing such as drinking alcohol or cheating; those who are wronged trust that God’s judgement will be fair; belief in a reunion can comfort the bereaved.

Jannah

Paradise: God’s reward after death for those who have been faithful and repented of their sins.

Jahannam

Hell: a place of great suffering after death for those who rejected God’s guidance and led wicked lives.

Human accountability

Everyone must take responsibility for their actions and will be questioned about them on the Day of Judgement.

Risalah is the belief that God has sent prophets and messengers to tell people how to live. It is one of the six articles, and (as Nubuwwah) one of the five roots.

• God sent a messenger to every nation (Qur’an 10:47), each speaking their people’s own language (14:4).
• Muslim tradition says there have been 124,000 prophets; 25 are named in the Qur’an.
• A prophet (nabi) passes on God’s guidance. A messenger (rasul) is a prophet who also brings a message or book, such as Musa or Muhammad.
• All the prophets taught the same message: worship the one God. Muslims ‘make no distinction’ between them (Qur’an 2:136).
• Prophets are human, not divine. Muslims believe God chose them and kept them from serious sin.

Risalah

Prophethood: belief in the prophets as messengers sent by God to communicate with people.

Khalifah

A vicegerent or steward: someone given responsibility on earth on God’s behalf.

Ibrahim (Abraham) is one of the most important prophets in Islam. The Qur’an says God took him as a friend (Qur’an 4:125).

• He rejected idols. His people worshipped idols; he broke them into pieces to show they were powerless (Qur’an 21:57-58).
• He was ‘not a Jew, nor yet a Christian’ but someone who had surrendered to God (Qur’an 3:67): for Muslims, a model of Islam before the Prophet Muhammad.
• He passed God’s tests, and God made him a leader (imam) for mankind (Qur’an 2:124).
• He was willing to sacrifice his son when God commanded it in a dream, and God ransomed the son (Qur’an 37:102-107). Most Muslims believe the son was Isma’il.
• He rebuilt the Ka’aba with Isma’il, raising its foundations (Qur’an 2:127).
• He received the Scrolls of Abraham (Qur’an 87:18-19).
• Influence: Muslims remember his obedience at Id-ul-Adha; many Hajj rites recall Ibrahim, Hajar and Isma’il; many Muslims ask God to bless Ibrahim and his family in their daily prayers; his example encourages Muslims to reject anything that takes God’s place.

Ibrahim

A prophet of God who rejected idols, was willing to sacrifice his son, and rebuilt the Ka’aba with Isma’il.

Muslims believe the Prophet Muhammad is the last and greatest of the prophets, ‘the Seal of the Prophets’ (Qur’an 33:40, Pickthall’s translation), who received the Qur’an.

• Born in Makkah about 570 CE, he was known for his honesty. In 610 CE, at the cave of Hira, Muslims believe Jibril brought him the first revelation.
• In 622 CE he moved with his followers from Makkah to Madinah: the Hijrah, year 1 of the Islamic calendar. He died in Madinah in 632 CE.
• Seal of the Prophets: no prophet will come after him, and God’s message is complete (Qur’an 5:3).
• His Sunnah (example) and Hadith (sayings) are the second source of authority after the Qur’an. The Qur’an calls him ‘a good example’ (33:21) and says he was sent ‘as a mercy’ (21:107).
• Sunni and Shi’a Muslims both honour him. Shi’a Muslims give a special place to his family, the Ahl al-Bayt.
• Muslims don’t worship him: worship belongs to God alone.
• Influence: Muslims follow his Sunnah in prayer, kindness and daily life; they study the Hadith; and they show him great respect.

Key dates in the Prophet’s life

Seal of the Prophets

The title given to the Prophet Muhammad in Qur’an 33:40: the last prophet, completing God’s message.

Sunnah

The example of the Prophet Muhammad: what he did and approved of.

Hadith

Reports of the Prophet Muhammad’s sayings and actions.

Hijrah

The Prophet’s move from Makkah to Madinah in 622 CE, which begins the Islamic calendar.

The Qur’an is the holy book and highest source of authority in Islam. Muslims believe it is the word of God, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, and God’s final revelation to humankind.

• Revelation: Muslims believe Jibril brought it to the Prophet over about 23 years (610–632 CE), beginning on the Night of Power with ‘Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth’ (Qur’an 96:1, Pickthall’s translation).
• It came in parts, not all at once, to strengthen the Prophet and the believers (Qur’an 25:32).
• It was revealed in Arabic (Qur’an 12:2). ‘Qur’an’ means recitation. Muslims believe only the Arabic is the Qur’an itself; an English version is a translation of its meaning.
• It was memorised and written down in the Prophet’s lifetime. Sunni accounts say it was gathered into one book under Abu Bakr, and that Uthman sent out a standard copy. Sunni and Shi’a Muslims use the same text.
• Authority: Muslims believe it is complete, free from doubt (2:2), and unchanged, because God guards it (15:9). The Prophet did not speak from his own wishes (53:3-4).
• It confirms the earlier scriptures and is ‘a watcher over’ them (Qur’an 5:48), so it is the final judge of belief and law.
• Influence: Muslims make wudu before touching it, keep it clean and high up, recite it in Arabic in salah, and many learn it by heart (a hafiz). It guides Shari’ah, with the Sunnah.

Qur’an

The holy book and most important source of authority in Islam: Muslims believe it is God’s final revelation.

Revelation

God making his nature and will known; Muslims believe God does so through the words of the Qur’an.

Authority

Having power and status. The Qur’an has supreme authority as the word of God, so it must be believed and obeyed.

Belief in holy books (kutub) is one of the six articles. Muslims believe God revealed earlier books to earlier prophets, before the Qur’an.

• The Torah (Tawrat) was given to Musa (Moses). The Qur’an says it contained ‘guidance and a light’ (Qur’an 5:44).
• The Psalms (Zabur) were given to Dawud (David) (Qur’an 4:163): sacred prayers and poems.
• The Gospel (Injil) was given to Isa (Jesus), confirming the Torah (Qur’an 5:46). Muslims mean a book revealed to Isa, not the four Gospels of the New Testament, which others wrote about Jesus.
• The Scrolls of Abraham (Suhuf) were given to Ibrahim; the Qur’an mentions ‘the Books of Abraham and Moses’ (87:18-19). Muslims believe they have been lost.
• The Qur’an says God revealed it confirming what came before, ‘even as He revealed the Torah and the Gospel’ (3:3).
• Their authority: Muslims respect them as revealed by God, but most believe they were changed, lost or misread over time. So the Qur’an, which Muslims believe is unchanged, has the final say.
• The Qur’an calls Jews and Christians ‘People of the Scripture’ (4:171), because they received earlier books.
• Influence: Muslims respect the earlier prophets and their followers, and use the Qur’an to judge what in the earlier books is true.

The holy books and the prophets who received them

The Torah

The holy book given by God to the prophet Musa (Moses).

The Psalms

Sacred prayers and poems given to the prophet Dawud (David).

The Gospel

Literally ‘good news’: the book Muslims believe God revealed to Isa (Jesus), a prophet of Islam.

The Scrolls of Abraham

Revelations to Ibrahim, written on parchment, which Muslims believe have perished.

The Imamate (Imamah) is one of the five roots of Usul ad-Din. Shi’a Muslims believe God appointed Imams from the Prophet’s family to lead and guide Muslims after him.

• Ghadir Khumm (632 CE): Shi’a Muslims believe the Prophet appointed Ali on the way back from his Farewell Hajj, saying that whoever had him as their mawla (master) had Ali as their mawla (a hadith in Sunan al-Tirmidhi, 3713). Most Sunni Muslims accept the hadith but read mawla as ‘friend’ or ‘ally’, not as an appointment.
• Shi’a Muslims also point to the Qur’an: God made Ibrahim an imam and said the promise would not reach wrongdoers (2:124), and God purifies the Prophet’s household (33:33).
• Twelvers, the largest Shi’a group, believe in twelve Imams: Ali, Hasan, Husayn and nine of Husayn’s descendants.
• The twelfth, Muhammad al-Mahdi, is believed to have been hidden by God (the occultation) since the 9th century CE. He will return before the Day of Judgement to bring justice.
• The Imams are ma’sum: without sin or error. So their teaching gives a reliable meaning of the Qur’an and the Sunnah.
• Role: to lead the community, explain the Qur’an and Sunnah, and be a perfect example. Significance: authority continues after the Prophet, so Shi’a Muslims are never without true guidance.
• While the twelfth Imam is hidden, many Shi’a Muslims follow a senior scholar (a marja’) for guidance on practice.
• Influence: Shi’a Muslims study the sayings of the Imams, visit their shrines (such as Karbala and Najaf in Iraq), mourn Husayn at Ashura, and live in hope of the Mahdi’s return.
• Sunni Muslims don’t accept the Imamate. Leaders were chosen by the community, and no leader after the Prophet is without sin.

The line of Imams in Twelver Shi’a Islam

The Imamate

One of the five roots of Usul ad-Din: Shi’a belief in the twelve Imams who succeeded the Prophet as leaders of Islam.

Ma’sum

Without sin or error: what Shi’a Muslims believe about the Imams.

Occultation

The hiding of the twelfth Imam, al-Mahdi, by God until his return.