Muslim Beliefs and Traditions

In Islam, spiritual belief refers to the existence of God and the total belief in the One and only God, Allah, and that Muhammad, the Prophet, is His messenger (Kalimah Shahadah). The basic fundamental beliefs of the Muslims, followers of Islam, are the true understanding of and total belief in the oneness of God (Allah). It is the first tenet in Islam. Everything that is done by a Muslim is directed to only one thing—to gain Allah's pleasure and blessings.

Muslims are guided by two major references, the Qur'an, the Islamic Scripture, and As-sunnah, the practice of the Prophet. For Muslims, the understanding of death, life, and the purpose of life derive from these sources. Every Muslim believes that there is life after death and, as stated in Islam's Six Pillars of Faith, life on earth is not as important as life in the hereafter.

The Purpose of the Creation of Human Beings

In Islam, to understand death, it is essential to discuss life, living, and its purpose. It is fundamentally [Page 766]important to know, before death comes upon us, the purpose of man's creation. In fact, a Western view also agrees that loss through death must be experienced in order to understand the questions relating to life, death, and purpose.

In welcoming the newborn into a Muslim family, the Azan (ritual call to prayer) is said in the right ear of the child, and the Iqamah (ritual call to initiate congregational prayer) in the left ear. Those words are the first thing a Muslim child hears after coming into this world—the attestation of the belief and the call to worship the Creator. In Islam, life prepares a person to die. The Qur'an provides a complete guide as to how one should lead one's life. In life, one must submit oneself to Allah; one must learn to know and serve Allah. The Islamic concept of Ibadah (servitude) means that everything one does will result in getting a reward from Allah, provided that one does it in the cause of Allah.

Human beings have been placed at the highest rank of creation. We have been chosen to be God's vicegerent on earth and have been given the responsibilities, the duties, and the trust to ensure peace on earth. Above all, human beings are created with one ultimate purpose, to seek the pleasure of Allah. Therefore, how one leads one's life will determine how life after death will be for that person. Two important assumptions about life that affect one's death are accountability of behavior and life is a test.

Accountability of Behavior

All actions on earth determine one's place in the life hereafter. One is accountable for every single action and even the smallest events. In fact, happiness is mentioned twice in the Qur'an and both times refer to the life hereafter, not the life on earth. According to Sharif Muhammad, success is not measured by what we have in life. Instead, real success is one's ability to be saved from the punishment of hell and be admitted to paradise.

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