Praise be to Allah, and may Allah raise the rank of Prophet(1) Muhammad Peace be upon Him and his Al and Companions, and protect his nation from that which he fears for it.

Islam is the Religion of all Prophets of Allah, starting with Adam and ending with Muhammad Peace be upon Him. In Arabic, Islam means submission. To believe in the heart and declare with the tongue: "No one is God except Allah and Muhammad Peace be upon Him is the Messenger of Allah " is how one becomes Muslim. Uttering the Two Testifications (Shahadatan) is required of the person who is not already a Muslim. A Muslim is a believer and a follower of Islam.

The First Testification (Shahadah), i.e., "No one is God except Allah " means nothing deserves to be worshipped except Allah(2)." The Second Testification, i.e., " Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah " includes believing that Muhammad Peace be upon Him was the last of the prophets, that he was truthful in all he told about and conveyed from Allah (as were all the prophets before him), and that the Creator gave us prophets and messengers to guide us to worship Him(3) correctly. A Muslim must believe in all the prophets and messengers.

This analogy illustrates the need to start from the beginning and build upward; before one can remain steadfast in the Religion, one must have the proper belief. Muslims firmly believe that only one Creator exists, Whose name is Allah, and Muhammad Peace be upon Him is His prophet and messenger. Knowledge of and belief in this are the foundation of the faith, and all Muslims are united by this basic belief. The Muslim uses the mind as a guide, because the mind and faith go hand-in-hand. Knowledge is essential, since learning gives one strength and purpose.

1 A "prophet" is a man who receives the Revelation from Allah and conveys it to the people. A "messenger" is a prophet who comes with some new laws. The prophet who is not a messenger follows the laws of the messenger who came before him. Every messenger is a prophet, but not every prophet is a messenger.

2 Allah " is the name of the Creator in Arabic which means "The One Who has Godhood, which is the power to create the entities."

3 The words "He", "His", and "Him" used in reference to Allah must not be construed to refer to gender. Allah created males and females. Hence, "He" does not resemble "His" creations, and they do not resemble "Him".

The sound intellect and the explicit statements revealed to Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon Him affirm the belief in God's existence and His other attributes. One must understand that Allah is neither His attributes nor is He other than them. For example: One can say: " Allah has the attribute of Power." However, one cannot say: Allah is power." God has no faults or weaknesses. Allah the Exalted, is flawless. His attributes are without flaw and are unchanging. God does not resemble any of His creations. If Allah resembled any of His creations, then He would be susceptible to the same things to which the creations are susceptible. If Allah were susceptible to change, as the creations are, then He would be weak and created-- as they are-- and this is impossible. Allah is without shape, without form, and without limitations. He does not resemble anything we see in the universe or anything that can be imagined, since imagination is part of the creation.

Allah exists. Without comparing Allah to the creation, one can use common sense to prove the existence of the Creator. When one sees a building, one knows there is a builder; when one sees a painting, one knows there is a painter; when one sees the creation, one knows there is a Creator. Allah is the Creator of everything in the universe. He created all places, including the heavens, Earth, and what is in between. Allah exists without a place. He existed before He created any of the places. Allah existed eternally and places did not. Allah exists now as He has been, i.e., without residing in a place, whether this place is the skies, Earth, Paradise, Hell, or any other place in the six directions(4). Allah does not change. Change is a sign of need and need is not befitting to attribute to God. If a thing changes for the better then it was not perfect to begin with, and if it changes for the worse, then it is no longer perfect. It is a fact that Allah is perfect. Therefore, Allah does not change. He is not in Heaven. He is not inside everyone. He is not everywhere. He does not occupy a space now, He never did, and He never will. Allah exists without a place.

Allah is one; He is indivisible, i.e., He is not a body. Allah has no partner, no counterpart, no wife, and no offspring. This is understood by the sound mind, because if there were two partners and one partner willed for one thing to be and the other partner willed the opposite thing, then the one who willed what did not occur is weak(5). Weakness is not befitting to attribute to God; therefore, only one God exists. For the same reason, the Devil does not have control over God, and evil occurs because Allah willed it. There is a wisdom behind everything-- even if we do not know the wisdom-- Allah knows.

4 The six directions are above, below, right, left, ahead, and behind.

5 The common sense realizes that opposite matters do not occur at the same time and location.

Some of the rules changed from one messenger to another but the belief remained the same. The messengers came with new Laws. For example: at the time of Adam, Muslims used to pray once per day. They were ordered to pray twice each day at the time of Prophet Jesus (^Isa). Now, according to the rules of the last Messenger, Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon Him, Muslims pray five times per day. In previous Laws of the messengers, Muslims were ordered to pray in specific places. Now, in the rules revealed to Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon Him, Muslims are not required to pray in specific places.

Allah blessed the people with the prophets and messengers to guide them to obedience and warn them against disobedience. Muslims must believe in all the prophets and messengers, because Allah blessed them all with Revelation which they conveyed to their people. However, now Muslims must follow the rules of the last Prophet and Messenger, Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon Him

Allah ordered the Messengers to convey the Laws, and they did. They taught by words and example. The prophets were attributed with truthfulness, trustworthiness, and intelligence. Consequently, lying, dishonesty, vileness, stupidity, and dullness were impossible to be among their attributes. They were also attributed with impeccability. They never commit blasphemy(6), enormous sins (such as drinking alcohol and unjustful killing), or abject, small sins (such as stealing one grape).

Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon Him taught his Companions, and those Companions taught their followers and so on until the knowledge of Islam reached the Muslims of the present day. The beliefs and teachings were passed from one trustworthy(7) Muslim to another with a chain of reliable relators back to the Prophet Peace be upon Him. In Islam, it is an enormous sin to judge without knowledge. If a Muslim does not know an answer to an Islamic inquiry, then he must not give his opinion or what he thinks the answer may be. Instead, he seeks the answer from someone more knowledgeable in the Religion who attained the knowledge in the aforementioned manner.

Allah created Adam, the first man, from a mixture of soils of different colors and different textures. All people are the descendants of Adam. This accounts for the various races and temperaments of people. Muslim men and women around the world of all ages ,races, colors, nationalities, social backgrounds, economic status, and languages are united by their belief that only one God exists, Whose name is Allah, and Muhammad Peace be upon Him is His last Prophet and Messenger, and by practicing the same rules of the Religion.

6 Blasphemy includes any belief, action, or saying which belittles Allah, His Books; His Messengers; His Angels; His Rites, the well known practices (Ma^lams) of His Religion; His Rules; His Promise; or His Threat.

7 ” Trustworthy" as defined by Islam means the Muslim who does not commit enormous sins, does not commit small sins in a way that they will be more than his good deeds, and does not behave in violation of the behavior of those who have his status.

The following five matters constitute the foundation of Islam: (1) declaring and believing no one is God except Allah and Muhammad Peace be upon Him is the Messenger of Allah; (2) Prayer; (3) Zakah; (4) Fasting; (5) Hajj. The belief in the truth of Islam is the same despite the color of one's skin, gender, wealth and one's family and friends.

Prayer, five times each day, is required by all accountable Muslims(8). Zakah is paying a certain portion of one's money(9) to specific types of people with certain conditions. This provides for the poor Muslims and those within the Muslim community, whose basic needs are not being met. Fasting during the month of Ramadan is an obligation on all Muslims who have reached puberty and who are physically able to fast. This helps the Muslim to feel what the poor feel, and in this way one remembers to care for those less fortunate than oneself. Fasting also disciplines the Muslim and brings Muslims together-- uniting them by a common, shared experience. Hajj, pilgrimage as defined by Islam, is the journey to the Ka^bah to perform, at a specific period of the year, certain actions in Makkah and its vicinity. It is required at least once during the lifetime of each able, accountable Muslim. During Hajj, pilgrims leave their worldly possessions and perform the same religious obligations in the same way as those pilgrims with them and those pilgrims who performed Hajj before them.

Learning the Obligatory Knowledge of the Religion puts the Muslim on the road to self-betterment and excellence. With knowledge, the Muslim differentiates between what is lawful and what is not, and what is an acceptable, valid worship and what is not. What differentiates one Muslim from another is the amount of Islamic Knowledge one attains and applies within one's own life. "The Essentials of Belief" is an insight into the Religion of Islam. Believing and uttering "No one is God except Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah is the most important thing any person can do, and it is a condition for the acceptance of the good deeds. The one who becomes Muslim and stays Muslim will have the enjoyment of Paradise without end in the Hereafter, and the one who rejects Islam will suffer the torture of Hellfire without end in the Hereafter. It is certain that death will come to all of us. The one who is prepared for the Day of Judgment is the one who knows, accepts, and applies the essentials of belief, and implements the teachings of Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon Him, sallallahu ^alayhi wa sallam, in all sincerity to Allah, the Exalted.

8 Accountable in this context means sane and pubescent.

9 Money in this context includes property, possessions, and wealth.