Islam is an Arabic word which means “commitment and peace.” Thus, Islam can be defined as a path to attain complete peace through voluntary submission to the divine will.

Every creed has some ground rules that lay down the basis of that particular creed. The followers then ensure that the fundamentals are sustained and practiced on regular bases to ensure that the religion stays true to its original form and that the people have a sole right route to follow.

Like all other religions, Islam has its set of fundamentals. The fundamentals of Islam can be distributed into two categories. The first category can be called the Islamic fundamentals that are related to practice or that require demonstration, while the second category can be the fundamentals that stand as core Islamic beliefs based on the holy Qur’an.

Beliefs are very important in the faith of Islam. To be measured a Muslim; you must first have faith in and recite a declaration of faith known as the Shahada: “There is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is his Prophet.”

The basic fundamentals of Islam refer to the five elementary obligations that every Muslim is supposed to implement. The first of these fundamentals, as mentioned above, is the declaration of faith. The other four fundamentals are certain religious acts that are performed; daily, once a year or at least once in a lifetime. These other four fundamentals are

1. Prayer
2. Paying charity (Zakat)
3. Fasting
4. Pilgrimage (Hajj)

There are some other basics that a Muslim should believe in such as the “Six Articles of Faith” recapitulate the Islamic beliefs about Allah, angels, prophets, the holy Qur’an, the afterlife and destiny. The six chief beliefs in Islam, as understood by the majority of Muslims, are:

1) Belief in Allah:

Muslims have faith in one, matchless, unequaled God, Who has no son and no partner. None has the right to be worshipped but Allah alone.  Allah Almighty is the true God, and every other deity is false and untrue.  He has the most glorious names and inspirational perfect attributes.  No one shares His divinity, no one shares His attributes.

2) Belief in the Angels:

Muslims believe in the actuality of the angels. Muslims believe that the angels are honored living beings.  The angels worship Allah alone. They obey Allah, and they act only by the instructions of Allah.

3) Belief in God’s revealed Books:

Muslims believe that Allah revealed holy books to His messengers as proof and guidance for mankind.

4) Belief in the Prophets and Messengers of Allah:

Muslims believe in the prophets and messengers of Allah Almighty, opening with Adam, including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Jesus.  The final message to man, the everlasting message, was revealed to Prophet Muhammad.  Muslims believe that Muhammad is the last prophet sent by Allah.

5) Belief in the Day of Judgment:

Muslims believe in the Day of Judgment when all people will be resurrected for judgment according to their beliefs and conducts.

6) Belief in Al-Qadar (fate):

Muslims believe in fate, which is the divine destiny. This belief does not mean that human beings do not have freewill.  Rather, Muslims believe that Allah has granted human beings freewill.

The belief in divine fate includes belief in four things:

1) Allah knows entirety.  Allah knows what happened in the past, what happens currently and what will happen in the yet to come.

2) Allah has noted down all that has happened and all that will happen.

3) Whatever Allah wills to occur occurs, and whatever Allah wills not to take place does not take place.

4) Allah is the Maker of everything.