Islam was revealed to be a mercy to all of mankind, and its message was indeed addressed to all of mankind, Muslim and non-Muslim. Consequently when we discuss the establishment of the Islamic aqeedah it has to be done in light of this fact.

Using an ayah of the Quran may work on a Muslim but has no authority with the non-Muslim. Before addressing this topic the definition of the word aqeedah needs to be stated

Aqueeda- What the heart is knotted on or tied to, after the mind has become convinced. This aqeedah has to be decisive and based on evidences,

Also the meaning of iman is a decisive belief reached through evidences

From the first two definitions it becomes clear that the mind is an important feature at arriving at the aqeedah. As a matter of fact it is the only way sanctioned by Islam towards reaching or arriving at the aqeedah. Before discussing this further let us look at ways in which people in general arrive at belief or aqeedah.

Imitation

Imitation in belief is a common practise among people. Usually children assume the belief of their parents without any questioning of the belief by itself. This is an invalid method since the belief is taken regardless of its correctness.

So, we find many people worshipping cows, rocks or men only because their parents did so!

Emotion

Arriving at belief through the emotions alone is invalid. As a matter of fact mankind started started worshipping idols because they were led by their emotions. The emotions at all times should be led by their mind and chaos results if emotions are left unchecked,.

Reaction

Reactionary belief is also invalid. We find for example some African Americans adopting either Egyptology, ancestor worship, Judaism Islam as a reaction to the ''white man', enslavement, rejecting Christianity, which is portrayed as a religion where the saviour has a blonde hair and blue eyes.

So when they carry belief, they went far, saying that God is black, white man is devil which is completely absurd!

Consequently, the correct way to arrive at belief is through the mind and emotions(fitrah).The quran addressed this in many ayah. For example...

"And of his signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the difference of your languages and colours. Lo! Herein indeed are signs for men of knowledge." [30:22]

"Will they not regard the camels, how they are created! And the heavens, how they are raised! And the hills, how they are set up! And the earth how it is spread.! [88:17-20]

We can quote many ayah which call mankind to think, consider and contemplate and ponder over creation in order to arrive at proper belief. After the mind is convinced to the point where there remains no doubt which is in compliance with fitrah (emotions), the heart automatically knots and clings to this decisive unshakable belief or aqeedah.

When we say that the mind is the tool used to arrive at belief, we do not mean that the process one uses has to be as rigorous as a scientist, analysing the makeup of the atom or the cell, to arrive at the aqeedah. Rather, we mean that from simple exercises in rational thinking, one can undoubtedly reach this conclusion. Let us look at some occurrences in history where this was applied.

Prophet Ibrahim had a debate with a ruler regarding the creator of the heavens and the earth. Ibrahim(as) said that his Lord gave life and caused death. The ruler in response told his ministers to bring to men in front of him. He gave an order to kill one and allowed the other to live, and then declared, 'I also give life and cause death.' Our father Ibrahim then addressed him with the following challenge, 'My Lord causes the sun to rise from the East. Can you make it rise from the West?.' The ruler was of course left speechless and embarrassed. This was mentioned in al-Baqarah:259)

Umar bin Al-Khattab, the second Kalifah of Islam(ra), was seen crying and the laughing. He was asked why did he do so, to which he replied, 'We used to make our gods out of dates, and when we became hungry we used to eat them, that is why I am laughing.'

Abu Haneefah, a foremost scholar in the history of Islam, had a debate with an atheist regarding the Creator. On the day of the debate Abu Haneefah sent his students to the place of the debate to wait with the atheist for his arrival. Abu Haneefah arrived purposefully late and was asked by the no irate atheist as to his tardiness. Abu Haneefah told him, that on his way to the debate, he reached a river, and there were no boats no people present. He waited for while only to see a tree fall and immediately carve itself into a boat. The boat then came to the river bank and summoned him to get in. He did so and the boat took him to the other side of the river.

The extremely irritated atheist replied that this was absolutely unbelievable. Abu Haneefah then retorted that if this was unbelievable, how then can one say that the sun, moon and the universe was created in the same fashion. The debate was over.

Consequently, the tool used to reach belief or the aqeedah must be the mind and the evidences used to ascertain this belief must be decisive. This method is called the rational method. This is the only method that should be used to arrive at belief.

Rational Method

Some people believe that the rational method id very rigid and philosophic, and other believe it to be blasphemy to even suggest using this method to arrive at belief. As we mentioned before, the Quran pushes us to ponder upon the earth, camel, sea, stars, the development of the foetus in the womb and many other situations to reach a certain conclusion.

When we study the rain for example we find that the rain follows a definite rule or law, that can be called evaporation or condensation. This is a well mechanised process, where every step is systematic and cannot be changed. When the rain exists as a liquid (water), its chemical makeup is H20 or two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. During the evaporation process where the form of the rain water changes to a vapour or gas, its chemical makeup remains the same. Oxygen and hydrogen exists abundantly in the atmosphere, but this does not affect the vaporisation process at all.

There are some scientists who claim that things in the universe happen randomly and haphazardly, without any system. If this were so, then there would be at least one or more times when one of these hydrogen or oxygen atoms would collide with the vapour form of water to change or alter the evaporation process. As far as we know the evaporation and condensation process occurs over and over again, according to the same process, without interference. It is rather irrational to call such a process a random haphazard process. That is because it is well known that any two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom, does not make water. There has to be a specific system or process that causes these elements to combine to make water. We inevitably have to deduce that this and many other processes and systems present in the universe are all being controlled by a power and force with the ability and might to run and control them all at once.

When we look at the human being, we find that the human being sleeps and dies, but these universal systems run perpetually, so it cannot be said that a human is in control of the systems of the universe. Nor can it be said of an animal, albeit, it cannot be said of anything within the universe. We then reach the conclusion that this force or power or might that runs the universe in this systematic way is the Lord, Master, Creator, Originator, Organiser of the universe, Allah the Glorified, the Exalted.

We just employed the rational method to reach this Ultimate Conclusion. We applied our senses to a subject matter(rain), transferred it to the brain, and then linked this subject matter to previous information that we had about rain (evaporation, condensation chemical makeup etc..) and finally connected this information to other related information (systems could not be created or controlled by anything within creation), to reach our Ultimate Conclusion. (Allah alone controls the universe.) So we see that this is not a philosophical process since philosophy incorporates hypothetical guesses illusionary thinking and logic. Yes logic! Logic is an invalid way of thinking vis a vis, reaching the Ultimate Conclusion.

Logic

What is meant by logic here is the ancient Greek way of thinking which influenced many Muslims such as the 'Mu'atiazilah'. It is an invalid type of thinking regarding the Ultimate Conclusion because it usually results in deceiving or misleading and contradicting conclusions. The process of logic is to state an introductory premise, then to build steps or points towards reaching a conclusion. The danger in this type of thinking is that if the premise is incorrect or if any of the intermediate steps are incorrect, the conclusion may be correct, and there are times when the premise or step is correct and the result is incorrect. Hence, the conclusion may be deceiving or misleading. An example of logical process is to say, a blackboard is made of wood, wood burns, therefore all blackboards burn. Also, logic is controlled by formulas and techniques and does not care about the information, as long as the techniques and sequences, regardless of whether or not the information is correct. However, we can see instances where logic can lead to contradictory results. Consider the following examples:

So we find that using logic can lead to two contradictory results. Regarding the Ultimate Conclusion, the Christians for example, used logic to arrive at a very erroneous and dangerous conclusion. They claimed that God's image is that of a man. Then after a while they commissioned an artist to paint the likeness of God and His representation was that of a blond haired, blue eyed white man. (We seek refuge in Allah from ever making this type of error.)

Another feature of logic, is that there are no limits t the types of conclusions that can be reached with logic. As the previous examples have shown, those who use logic have anthropomorphised (represented in human characteristics) Allah. Even the Muslims who have employed logic have fallen pray to this error. We find that even to this day, some Muslims debating on the form or shape, texture or quality of Allah's "hands", "face", "sitting", "ascending" etc... These Muslims do not recognise that thinking about such concepts depends upon the ability to sense the topic. Since we can only sense what is within the limits of the universe, and since Allah has told us that He has only given us a small amount of information, then the human mind is limited to the amount and degree of things that it can think about.

This does not mean that since Allah is outside of this universe, then we cannot think about Allah. As we have shown before, we are able to arrive at the Ultimate Conclusion based on the effects of the aspect of Allah as the Creator, the Organiser, the Originator and the Controller of the Universe. We do no initiate a discussion about the essence of the Creator. Any discussion about the essence of the Creator, is an exercise in futility.

Consequently only the rational method can lead to the Ultimate Conclusion, in a way that leaves one with decisive certainty and that is in accordance with man's nature. And consequently filling the heart with tranquility.
 

The Meaning of Belief in Allah


So far we have established that the mind and the rational method play a central role in arriving at the basis of the Islamic Aqeedah or the Islamic belief.We also illustrated, in that article, how people like Abu Haneefah, Prophet Ibrahim and others utilised this method towards reaching the ULTIMATE REALITY, or the belief in the basis of the Islamic Aqeedah.

Implications of Tawheed.

The word tawheed roughly translates to uniquness in the English language. The Scholars of Islam coined this term to represent the belief in Allah. In addition to this term tawheed, they also attatched some implications to this belief in Allah. They understood that the belief in Allah was not an abstract, philosophical and mundane idea. Rather they saw that belief in Allah means believing that Allah is the RABB (Master, Controller and Superpower) and the ILAH (only one to be worshipped). Nowadays Muslims are taught some semblance of these implications as Tawheed-ur-Rooboobeeyah and Tawheed-ur-Ulooheeyah. Let us now look at the implications of Allah being the Rabb and being the Ilah.

Ar-Rabb

When we say that Allah is Rabb-ul-Alameen, we mean that Allah, and only He is actively controlling forces and the laws of the universe. However belief in Allah that He is the Rabb means that we believe that He has no partners nor assistants in managing the affairs and order of the universe. This belief also means that nothing in the universe can change any of the universal laws, albeit no has the ability to even try to compete with Allah in this regard.

A question may then arise regarding genetic engineering, where scientists try to interfere, alter or change the genetic makeup of living organisms. Genetic engineering is nothing more than an attempt to rearrange or alter the number of genes or amino acids appearing on each DNA strip. Before the re-arrangement, there has to be a study of the property of each gene. Meaning, amino acids have certain molecular structures which are unique and based on an unchangeable universal law. The structure of amino acids are made up of combinations of carbon and hydrogen atoms, and a scientist, for example, cannot make or construct amino acids from combinations of plutonium and uranium. These scientists cannot change the property of fire from burning to become a cool and or a lubricant. All of these properties were set by the Rabb and cannot be changed. Consequently, scientific discoveries should be seen as only discoveries of universal laws that were already put into play by the Master and Controller, Allah. Allah has given us certain hints about some of His universal laws in the Quran, and He urges us to conduct scientific experiments in order to arrive at more. Therefore scientific discoveries should not be used to validate Allah, the Quran or Islam. Rather, they should be seen as being an effect of the creation of Allah. the Master, Controller and Superpower. A realisation of this is which will only strengthen our belief in Him.

Today most of the world believes that the universe and the ecosystem are being run by some phenomenon called Mother Nature. If there is a snow storm, earthquake, or hurricane people usually curse the weather forecasters for allowing Mother Nature to bring such terrible weather and conversely thanks the weather forecaster for bringing the good weather from Mother Nature. Belief in Allah as the Rabb means that we realise that any natural disaster such as a volcano eruption, or any change from winter to spring, is being actively managed by Allah. Allah being the Rabb means that both 'good' and 'bad' weather are from Allah and that He does whatever He wills without being questioned by anyone.

Al-Ilah: La Ilaha Illa Allah.

The basic axiom of La Ilaha Illa Allah., or that there is no God except Allah. The word Ilah or god, means an object of worship and sanctification. Thus La Ilaha Illa Allah implies that Allah is The God, and that He should be taken as an object of worship and sanctification. Taking Allah as the Ilah or as the God means that there are no intermediaries between Him and His creation from this aspect, Islam invalidates the concept of priesthood, holy men, pope hood, awliyyah and cleric. Muslims do no confess their sins to any pope, priest or sheikh, and there is no one single appointed or delegated representative of Allah on earth. No one at all was delegated the role of waiving anyone from the responsibility of Allah.

Taking Allah as the Ilah implies that all the actions of the human being must be in accordance with the obligations and prohibitions of Allah. Allah is not viewed as a symbolic entity that motivates us to do good. Rather, Allah is the Legislator and Organiser who requires that every single action of the human being has to be based on His orders and prohibitions. This belief is due to the fact that since we acknowledge that Allah created the universe and the systems contained therein, then we also have to acknowledge that he the organisation of the human beings is also set by Him. The limited and dependent nature of the human being invalidates him from being a candidate with regard to the organisation of his own life. This organisation has to be done by the one who created the universe and all that is contained therein. The result of this belief is that there is no separation between church and state, religion and life. There is nothing called "Give to Cease what is Caesar's and God what is God's" because Caesar, or any other created thing had no role in the creation of the universe, and cannot be the object of sanctification or worship.

Consequently, believing in Allah as the Ilah means that we believe that llah is the Legislator to whom we have to submit. Therefore, willing submission and validation of any system in which the human being put himself as the legislative branch is Kufr. This fact means that every social order not based on the rules of the Legislator is invalid. Democracy, capitalism, socialism and all other 'isms' have to be rejected. Only the Islamic social order is valid. A social order is a political entity which balances the relationships among its citizens by solving their personal, individual and collective problems. Therefore the only valid social order is the one that balances the relationships and solves the problems according to the orders and prohibitions of Allah, the Legislator. Capitalism and socialism/communism actually associated with social disorder than with order. This is because human beings, due to their limitedness and dependence do not deserve the right to organise their own lives.

Since Allah being the Ilah actually implies that He is the Legislator and that our lives should be organised based on His orders and prohibitions, then human beings should be living under the Islamic social order. Therefore, this belief also implies the permanent existence of such a social order. This means that were this social order to be removed from existence, a firm conviction in Allah as the Ilah should push the Muslims to establish this social order whereby the relationships of mankind will be balanced and their problems will be solved according to the orders and prohibitions of Allah. Today we find some of those people who call themselves specialists and scholars in the Islamic Aqeedah declaring that working to establish the Islamic social order is not a must or that it should not be given any priority whatsoever. Some of these people would accept salaries and perks from those who work day and night to make sure that Islam and the Islamic social order does not return. It is the norm nowadays to find these specialists and scholars in Islamic Aqeedah appearing on government approved TV , radio, magazines, books, videos etc... They condemn and criticise those who are actually striving with their utmost ability, to work for the reestablishment of the Islamic social order defies and run counter to a firm and convinced belief in Allah as the Ilah and the Legislator.