SUMMARIZATION OF THE

FUNDAMENTALS OF RELIGIOUS
BELIEFS

WRITTEN BY:
AL ALLAAMAH ASH SHAIKH ABDUR RAHMAN AS-SADEE

INTRODUCTION
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of all that exists, may He send
praise and salutations of peace upon Muhammad, his family,
companions and followers until Judgment Day.
To proceed:
This is a very short summarization of the fundamentals of
religious beliefs and important great principles. I have restricted
myself to mere indication and bringing attention to them without
extensive discussion or mentioning evidences. It is closer to
being a sort of index for the issues so that their core principles,
status and place in the religion is known.
Then, whoever may have an ambition regarding knowledge could
pursue their elaboration and evidences in the relevant places. If
Allah so wills and allows me to live long enough, I will have
elaborated on these objectives and explained their proofs.

The First Fundamental:

Monotheism
The definition of monotheism that includes all of its categories is:
The belief and eemaan of the heart that Allah is singled out with
perfect attributes and singled out with all types of worship.
Included in this is:
Monotheism of Lordship which is: believing Allah is singled out
with created, providing and every type of control.
Monotheism of Divine Names and Attributes which is: Affirming
what Allah affirmed for His Self, and what His Messenger affirmed
for Him of Most Beautiful Names and Lofty, Perfect Attributes
without resembling Him to the creation or making any similitudes
and without altering their meanings or negating them.
Monotheism of Worship is: Singling Him out alone with any type
or category of worship, making them solely for Him without
ascribing any partners to Him in any of that while believing in His
perfect godhood.
Included within Monotheism of Lordship is:
Affirmation of ( ) Divine Decree and Predestining, that
whatever Allah wills comes to pass and whatever He does not will
would not happen, and that He is Al Ghaniyy Al Hameed (Free of
need. Worthy of All Praise).
Included within Monotheism of Divine Names and Attributes is:
Affirmation of all of the meanings of Allahs beautiful names as
reported in the Book and the Sunnah.
Belief in them is on three levels:

 Belief in the Names

Belief in the Attributes
Belief in the Rulings of His Attributes
Such as: knowing that He is Aleem, the possessor of knowledge,
knowing all things. Qadeer, possessor of ability, able to do all
things. In like fashion are the rest of His Beautiful Names.
Included in that is: the affirmation of His highness over His
creation, His being risen above His throne, His nightly descent
to the lower heaven in a manner befitting His Majesty and
Magnificence.
Included in that is: affirmation of His eternal attributes (
)that He is never without such as hearing, seeing,
knowledge, highness etc., as well as His attributes of action
( ) which are the attributes connected to His divine
will and power such as: Speech, creating, providing, mercy,
raising above his throne, descending to the lower heaven as
He wills.
All of these attributes are affirmed for Allah without likening him to
His creation or rejecting His attributes. All of them subsist by His
essence and He is described with them and has never ceased
and will not cease speaking and acting. He does as He wills and
says what He wills, when He wills, as He wills. He does not
cease being described with speech and known with mercy and
kindness.
Included in that is: the belief that the Quran is the revealed,
uncreated speech of Allah. It originated with Him and shall
remain eternally. He is the one who spoke it in truth. His
speech can not be exhausted or cease.

 Included in that is: the belief that He is Qareeb (ever near) and
Mujeeb (responds to hHis creation) while simultaneously being
Above and Most High. There is no contradiction between His
perfect highness ()and perfect nearness ()because
nothing is like unto Him regarding all of His qualities and
attributes.
Monotheism regarding Divine Names and Attributes is not
complete until: one believes in all that has come in the Book and
the Sunnah of Divine names, attributes, actions and their
applications in a manner befitting the Magnificence of the
Originator and knowing that just as nothing resembles Him in His
essence then likewise none resembles Him in His attributes.
Whoever thinks that there exist in some logicalities that which
necessitates reinterpreting some attributes in other than their
known meaning has strayed into manifest error.
Monotheism in Lordship is not complete until: the slave
believes that the slaves actions are created by Allah, that their
will follows in accordance to Allahs will, that they possess ability
and intention whereby their actions occur and that is relative to
what is ordered and forbidden.
These two matters do not contradict:
-Affirming Allahs general inclusive will regarding, existing
essences, actions and attributes
-While affirming the slaves ability to act and speak.
Monotheism in worship is not completed until: the slave is
sincere to Allah in his intentions, statements and actions, until he
leaves off major polytheism that completely negates monotheism
utterly. It is devoting any type of worship for other that Allah.

The perfection of that is to leave off minor polytheism. It is: every

accessible means that leads to major polytheism such as:
swearing by other than Allah, slight showing off etc..
People are upon varying levels regarding monotheism according
to what they have undertaken of knowing Allah and undertaking
His worship. The most complete of them through this door is he
who knows the details of Allahs names, attributes, actions,
blessings and their established meanings in the Book and
Sunnah. He understands them with authentic understanding so
that his heart fills with awareness of Allah, veneration,
magnification and love of Him, steadily turning to him and having
all of the summonings of his heart drawn towards Allah, directed
towards Him alone without partners.
All of his movement and stillness is devoted to the perfection of
faith and total sincerity untainted by anything of corrupt ambitions.
So he finds tranquility with Allah, knowing Him, turning to Him,
enacting, abstaining, competing himself and completing others
through invitation to this tremendous fundamental. So we ask
Allah by His bounty and generosity to graciously bestow that to
us.

THE SECOND FUNDAMENTAL:

BELIEF IN THE PROPHETHOOD OF ALL OF THE PROPHETS IN
GENERAL AND THE PROPHETHOOD OF MUHAMMAD IN PARTICULAR
This fundamental is built upon one believing and having eemaan
that all of the prophets were specially chosen by Allah for His
revelation and being sent. He made them intermediaries between
Him and the creation in conveying his legislation and religion.
Allah aided them with evidences proving their truthfulness and the
validity of what they came with.
They are the most perfect of creation in knowledge and action,
the most truthful, most righteous and best in character and deeds.
Allah specially endowed them with special qualities and virtues
unparalleled by any other persons. Allah made them free of every
despicable character trait.
They are infallible in what they conveyed from Allah.
Nothing was reported or conveyed by them save what is true and
correct.
It is mandatory to believe in them and all that they received from
Allah and to love and venerate them.
These matters are established for our prophet Muhammad in the
most perfect fashion.
It is mandatory to know of all that he came with in a broad as well
as a detailed sense, to believe it and adhere to obeying him in
every affair, by affirming his information, enacting his command
and abstaining from his prohibition.
Included with that is that he is the finality of prophets. His
revealed law abrogated all other divinely revealed legislation. His
prophethood and shariah remain until the inception of the final

hour. So there is no prophet after him and no shariah other than

his in the fundamentals and branches of the religion.
Included in the belief in the Messengers is the belief in the
scriptures. So belief in Muhammad requires faith in everything he
came with of the book and Sunnah, in wording and meanings.
Faith is incomplete without that. The greater a persons
knowledge, belief, recognition and implementation of that is, the
more complete his faith will be.
Also, belief in the angels and predestination is included in this
tremendous fundamental.
From complete faith in him: is that what he came with is known to
be true and impossible to establish logical or physical evidence
contrary to -just as it is impossible for revealed evidence to be
established contrary to it. You find that the evidence of the book
and sunnah proves and substantiates beneficial logical or
physical matters, encouraging that they be learned and
implemented.

The existence of that which has no benefit is also not negated in

(the religious texts), although the religious evidence may forbid
and dispraise them. This is also part of belief in what the
Messenger came with, and much rather what was brought by all
of the messengers.

THE THIRD FUNDAMENTAL

BELIEF IN THE LAST DAY
All that has come in the Book and Sunnah from that which will
take place after death is from the belief in the Last Day. Such as:
the states of the Barzakh ()
the events of Judgment Day and what they consist of from:
the reckoning ()
reward and punishment ()
the intercession()
the scales ()
the records of deeds taken by the right or left hand
()
the Bridge ()
the states of the Paradise and Hellfire and their
inhabitants ()
the types of things Allah has prepared within both of
them for their inhabitants broadly and in detail.
All of that is included in belief in the Last Day.

The Fourth Fundamental:

The Issue of What is Eemaan

Ahlus Sunnah believe in what has come in the Book and the
Sunnah of the fact that Al Eemaan is: Affirmation of the heart that
it contains the actions of the limbs.
So they say: Al Eemaan is the beliefs of the heart as well as its
actions, the actions of the limbs and the statements of the tongue.
All of this is part of Al Eemaan.
Whoever completes it inwardly and outwardly has perfected Al
Eemaan. Whoever is missing something from it is deficient in part
of their faith. These matters are seventy odd branches. The
highest is the statement Laa ilaha illa Allah, the least is removing
something harmful from the road, and shyness is part of faith.
Based upon this principle they conclude that people vary on
different levels of Eemaan: Those closest (to Allah), the people of
the right hand and those who wrong their souls. This is according
to their standing regarding the religion and eemaan. They
conclude that it increases and decreases, so whoever does
something forbidden or leaves off something obligatory, then their
mandatory eemaan decreases until they repent to Allah.
They base upon this fundamental that people are three
categories:
Some undertake all of the duties of eemaan and is as such are
true believers.
Some abandon them all. Such is a disbeliever in Allah.
Some have within them belief and disbelief, or belief and
hypocrisy, or good and evil. He has the alliance of Allah and
deserves His honorable reward according to what he has of faith
and he has the enmity of Allah and deserves Allahs punishment
according to what he is neglecting of Eemaan.

They conclude as a result of this tremendous fundamental that

major and minor sins, that do not cause the committer to reach
the level of disbelief, decrease a persons faith without expelling
him from the fold of Islam and that he will not be eternally in
Hellfire.
They do not label him with disbelief as is done by the Khawarij or
negate eemaan from him as is done by the Mutazilah.
Rather, they say: He is a mumin due to his faith, a sinner due to
his sin. So he absolutely has faith but absolute (mandatory) faith
is negated from him.
By these fundamentals, eemaan is gotten in all of the texts of the
Book and Sunnah.
What results from this fundamental:
Islam erases what preceded it.
Repentance erases what preceded it.
Whoever apostates and dies in such condition, their prior deeds
are invalid.
Whoever repents, Allah will grant him repentance.
Likewise as a result of this principle is concluded the validity of
making an exception regarding faith, so that it is correct to say: I
am a believer, Allah willing. This is because he hopes from Allah
to complete his eemaan, so he makes this restricted exception.
He hopes for firmness upon that until death, so he makes this
restricted exception on such a declaration without any doubt on
his part as regards having the core of faith.
Resulting from this fundamental likewise is that the core and
amount of love and hate follows in accordance to the presence,
absence, completion and deficiency of Eemaan, respectively.

Then according to that comes allegiance and enmity. For that

reason therefore loving for Allah, hating for Allah, allegiance for
Allahs sake and enmity for Allahs sake is considered part of
Eeman.
Resulting from Eeman and necessary for its completion is loving
for ones brother what one loves for their self.
Resulting from that also is loving the unity of the muslims and
encouraging harmony and mutual love and abstaining from
severing their mutual ties.
Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah are free from all blind allegiances,
division and personal hatred. They view this principle to be from
the most important principles of the eemaan. They do not view
differing in issues that dont reach the level of being disbelief or
innovation to necessitate separation.
Resulting from Eemaan is love of the companions of Allahs
messenger according to their ranks, and that they have virtue,
precedent and merits granting them superiority over the rest of
the Ummah.
They seek nearness to Allah by loving them, spreading their
virtues and withholding from engaging about any dispute that
happened between them. They hold that they are the forefront of
this nation regarding every praiseworthy quality, and that they are
foremost of them to every good and farthest of them from any evil.
They believe that the nation is not without need of an Imam to
establish its religious and worldly affair, repel from it the hostility of
transgressors and that his leadership cannot be completed
without being obeyed in that which is not disobedience to Allah.

They believe that Eemaan is not completed without ordering the

good and forbidding evil by the hand, or else with the tongue, or
otherwise with the heart according to its legislated levels and
preserved methods.
In summary, they believe that undertaking these religious
fundamentals in a legislated fashion is from the completion of faith
and religion.
From the completion of this fundamental is their method regarding
knowledge and action.

THE FIFTH FUNDAMENTAL

THEIR METHOD REGARDING KNOWLEDGE AND ACTION
That is because certainly Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah believe and
firmly adhere to the fact that there is no path to Allah and His
honorable reward except through beneficial knowledge and
righteous action.
Beneficial knowledge is what was brought by the Messenger from
Allahs Book and the sunnah of His Messenger. They strive to
know its meanings and understand them as regards the
fundamentals and the subsidiary issues.
They employ all methods of deriving meanings from wordings:
( What is included in whole of meanings within the
wordings of the texts)
( What is included in part of meanings within the
wordings of the texts)
( What is implicit of further meanings within a text as
prerequisite or necessitated beyond the wordings)
They exert their efforts in perception of that according to what
Allah has endowed them. They believe that this is beneficial
knowledge as well as what emanates from it of valid analogies,
and wise objectives.
Every knowledge that aids upon that, corroborates it or results
from it is religious knowledge, just as anything that opposes or
contradicts it is false knowledge. This is their method regarding
knowledge.
As for their method in action then they seek closeness to Allah by
affirming and complete recognition of the beliefs of eemaan which
are the core and basis of all acts of worship. Then they seek
closeness to Him by fulfilling Allahs obligations as relates His
Right and the rights of His slaves along with doing a lot of

supererogatory deeds, and by abandoning all that is forbidden

and prohibited with the intention of doing so as worship for Allah
alone.
They know that Allah accepts only every action done sincerely for
His Noble Face, following thereby the way of the noble
messenger, seeking Allahs assistance in traversing such
beneficial ways that constitute beneficial knowledge and righteous
action leading to every goodness, success and happiness both
immediately and eventually.
All Praise is Due to Allah Rabbil Aalamin
May He send Praise and Salutations of Peace upon Muhammad,
His Family and Companions
5 Ramadan 1357 H.