TO BE AN ISLAMIC PERSON

The Principles of Islam

Islam means safety. Islam is established on five posts:

1. Saying two testimonial statements.
2. Doing sholat.
3. Paying Zakat.
4. Fasting in Ramadhan Month.
5. Do Hajj in Makkah.

Saying two testimonial statements is you testify that there is no God but Allah and you testify that Muhammad is Rasulullah.

If you have done this first one, you have been a Muslim already, but it is only just as identity. After testifying the statement, the compulsory to do the other fours will be put on you; you have to do sholat, you have to pay zakat, you have to fast in Ramadhan month, and you have to do hajj.

Sholat is the ritual activity done by a Muslim to communicate with Allah -- the Almighty. There are four kinds of sholat:

• The Compulsory ones (sholat wajib); these sholats are the ones that have to be done five times in a day; Subuh (at the dawn time / before the sun rise), Zuhr (around half an hour after the noon / at the lunch time), 'Ashr (in the afternoon), Maghrib (after the sun set), and 'Isya (in the evening / around one and half hour after Maghrib time).
• The Really Suggested ones (sholat sunat mu'akat); these kinds of sholat are really suggested to do sometime before or / and after doing the compulsory ones.
• The Suggested ones (common sholat sunat); kinds of sholat in which Muslims are suggested to do in certain condition. In examplification are: sholat tahajjut, the one which is done in the night; sholat dhuha, the one that is suggested to at the time the sun rise; sholat istikharah, the one that is done if you are in doubt in deciding two or more choices, and so on.
• The Abolute Suggested (sholat sunat mutlaq), is the sholat that you may do anytime you want, except on times which Muslims are prohibited to do sholat.

In the time of doing sholat a Muslim face Ka'bah in Makkah, praises Allah, recite some surahs or verses in Al-Qur'an, say the two testimonial statements, say shalawat for Nabiyullah Muhammad Salallaahu 'alaihi wasallam, say prayer, say zikrullah, and so on with certain kinds of movements. At the time of doing sholat, a muslim has to concentrate himself to the ritual that he does from the beginning until the end.

Zakat is such a compulasory charity that you have to give away to the poors (or the the ones who need it) from the wealth that you have. It can be from your salary (usually around 2.5% off your salary); from the outcomes of your enterprise / farm / cattle (5-25% off the outcomes/benefits), and so on.

Fasting has to be done by all Muslims in Ramadhan month, those ones who are obstructed by some problems like having a baby (for women), being sick, having to do something hard in the month, and so forth; have to do the missing fasting out Ramadhan month. For the really weak ones like old people may pay fidiyah - giving meals to 60 poors.

Hajj is a set of activities done by Muslim in Makkah, essentially has to be done by all Muslims, but due to the condition that going to Makkah is quite or even very expensive for many Muslims, the compulsory is only aimed at the ones who are able to do it financially. Meanwhile for the rests, the compulsory to do it has been paid at the time they do sholat (they face Ka'bah in Makkah in doing sholat).

Muslim, actually is the lowest (standard) level of someone who hold Islam as their religion. Muslim means the one who is saved. We call someone as Muslim if they have done all of the principles above; The better Muslim who really believe in all things in Islam and try to apply all things dealing with Islam in their live is called Mukmin; The better one than Mukmin is Muchsyin; The one who is better than Muchsyin is Muhlish; and the best Muslim is Muttaqiin.

The Principles of Belief in Islam

There are six principles of belief in Islam:

1. Belief in Allah.
2. Belief in the angels of Allah.
3. Belief in the holy books of Allah.
4. Belief in all Rasulullahs.
5. Belief in the doomsday / judgement day.
6. Belief in the predestination (the bad ones and the good ones; the unlucky ones and the lucky ones; the sad ones and the happy ones; and so on).

The belief in Allah means, you must believe that there is no god but Allah. He is the greatest powerful one in the universe; He is the greatest Creator; He control all things in this world and all other dimensions; He knows everything in each His creatures' heart; and so forth.

Angels are the creatures which were created and programmed by Allah to do certain functions and or duties. They have power; they can think; they have feelings; but they are not given lust by Allah that they do not get married for they do not have genders. The angels of Allah have been discussed on my hub entitled "The Unseens", you need read this hub for further understanding.

All Muslims have to believe that beside Al-Qur'anul Kariem, there were other holy books that have to be believed which were given to the Rasulullah before Muhammad Salallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam like Injeel, Zabur and Taurat.

Muslim must believe that before the birth of Nabiyullah Muhammad Salallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam, there had been some even many other Rasulullahs (prophets) born into this world which led certain communitiy in their live. Actually, there were 124000 prophets before the time of Nabiyullah Muhammad, but the ones that have to be known by all Muslim only 25 five; they are Adam, Idris, Nuh, Shaleh, Ibrahim, Ismail, Ishaq, Ya'qub, Yusuf, Ayyub, Yunus, Zulkifli, Syu'ib, Hud, Luth, Daud, Sulaiman, Musa, Harun, Ilyas, llyasa, Zakaria, Yahya, 'Isa, and Nabiyullah Muhammad Salallaahu 'Alaihi Wasallam.

Dealing with doomsday, I have discussed a lot on my previous hub. Judgement day is the time when all human, genies and other creatures are put into the Court of Allah to responsible all things that they have done when they were alive. After that they will get decision whether they will be thrown into the hell or taken into the heaven.

The belief in the Predestination of Allah is you never regret to be born into this world. You have to believe that all thing that you experience or undergo in your life have been planned by Allah far before you were born. Your duty as His creature is only go through your life, face anything ahead of you; and keep doing your best to be better from day to day. Be an optimist one.

The Mukmins are the ones who have been able to hold the principles of this belief very well in their daily live. They do not believe in superstitions, they do not believe in fortunetellers -- they believe Allah is beyond all thing in this universe. They do not believe in monster, they do not believe in any false stories created by the ones who regard Muslims as their enemies. They do not believe in any doctrines before checking their dogmas in Al-Qur'anulKariem for all truths stated in Injeel, Taurat, and Zabur are also stated / supported in Al-Qur'an.

Payakumbuh, Friday, 29 Rajab 1432 - 1 July 2011..