Usul Al-Deen (Roots Of Religion)
Usul al-deen means the roots of religion. Just as a tree’s roots are its foundation, the religion of Allah has its foundation. These roots are the following set of 5 beliefs:
Tawhid- Oneness of Allah
‘Adalah- Justice of Allah
Nubuwwah- Prophet hood
Imamah- Vicegerency/Leadership
Mi’ad- Resurrection
These beliefs are very in depth and would take volumes to cover fully, but here we will just touch upon them briefly to get an overview of them.
Tawhid
This is the belief in the oneness of Allah. He is without any partners. It is the belief in Him being the sole creator of the universe and all that it contains. There is nothing like Allah; nothing that can compare. We cannot give Allah human attributes; because He is above the things He has created. Allah has no image, so we cannot be created in His image as some other religions assume. He is far exalted over His creation.
We cannot see Allah and never will be able to do so. When Prophet Musa (‘a) asked to see Allah, He replied by saying that Musa would never be able to see Him,
وَلَمَّا جَاءَ مُوسَىٰ لِمِيقَاتِنَا وَكَلَّمَهُ رَبُّهُ قَالَ رَبِّ أَرِنِي أَنْظُرْ إِلَيْكَ قَالَ لَنْ تَرَانِي وَلَٰكِنِ انْظُرْ إِلَى الْجَبَلِ فَإِنِ اسْتَقَرَّ مَكَانَهُ فَسَوْفَ تَرَانِي فَلَمَّا تَجَلَّىٰ رَبُّهُ لِلْجَبَلِ جَعَلَهُ دَكًّا وَخَرَّ مُوسَىٰ صَعِقًا فَلَمَّا أَفَاقَ قَالَ سُبْحَانَكَ تُبْتُ إِلَيْكَ وَأَنَا أَوَّلُ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ
“And when Musa came to Our determined appointment and his Lord spoke to him, he said: ‘My lord! Show me yourself so that I may gaze upon you.’ Allah said: ‘You will never see Me, but gaze upon the mountain! If it stands still in its place, then you will see Me. And when his lord revealed his glory to the mountain, he sent it crashing down. And Musa fell down senseless and when he woke up, he said: ‘Glory to you! I turn unto you repentant and I am the first of the believers.” (Qur’an, 7:143).
Our intellect cannot perceive Allah.
لَا تُدْرِكُهُ الْأَبْصَارُ وَهُوَ يُدْرِكُ الْأَبْصَارَ
“Vision comprehends Him not but He comprehends all vision.” (Qur’an, 6:103).
He is infinite and boundless, while we are finite and limited. Allah is not like His creation. He does not have a mate, nor does he have offspring. He is above all that the unbelievers attribute to Him.
قُلْ هُوَ اللَّهُ أَحَدٌ
“Say: He, Allah, is One” (112:1).
اللَّهُ الصَّمَدُ
“Allah is He on Whom all depend” (112:2).
لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ
“He begets not, nor is He begotten” (112:3).
وَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌ
“And none is comparable with Him” (112:4).
Also, some people believe that Allah is a spirit, but this is not the case as the spirits and souls are created beings of Allah as well.
وَيَسْأَلُونَكَ عَنِ الرُّوحِ قُلِ الرُّوحُ مِنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّي وَمَا أُوتِيتُمْ مِنَ الْعِلْمِ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا
“And they ask you about the spirit. Say ‘the spirit is from the command of my Lord and you are not given of the knowledge except a little” (Qur’an, 17:85).
‘Adalah
This is the belief in the ultimate justice and justness of Allah and that he does no injustice to anyone. He deals justly with all his creation. He will reward or punish us according to how we lived out our lives here. Did we abide and act accordingly to Allah’s laws or did we discard the Qur’an, toss it behind our backs and live how we wanted according to our own desires?
وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَازِينَ الْقِسْطَ لِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ فَلَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا وَإِنْ كَانَ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ أَتَيْنَا بِهَا وَكَفَىٰ بِنَا حَاسِبِينَ
“And we shall set up the balances of justice on the Day of Judgment so no soul will be dealt with unjustly in the least. And even if there be the weight of a grain of a mustard seed even that we will bring it into account. And sufficient are we as reckoners” (Qur’an, 21:47).
قُلْ يَجْمَعُ بَيْنَنَا رَبُّنَا ثُمَّ يَفْتَحُ بَيْنَنَا بِالْحَقِّ وَهُوَ الْفَتَّاحُ الْعَلِيمُ
“Say: Our lord will gather us together then He will judge between us with justice. And He is the Greatest Judge, the All-knowing.” (Qur’an, 34:26).
Nubuwwah
This is the belief in the prophet hood of all the prophets sent by Allah. When Allah wants to communicate to the people, he sends messengers to teach the masses about him and his message. The way he does this is through inspiration/revelation to his chosen righteous servant of the time, so that he may be Allah’s messenger and the role model for the people to follow.
These messengers are called prophets, are the infallible guides of humanity. They are the way for the people to receive Allah’s messages. We mold our lives according to their teachings and their character. These messengers are inspired through revelations brought by the angel Gabriel who is sent by the command of Allah. Also, some were spoken to directly by Allah such as prophet Musa (‘a).
There are 24 prophets spoken of in the Qur’an, but it is reported that there were as many as 124,000 prophets, Adam (‘a) being the first and Muhammad (S) being the last final messenger of Allah. There are five Major Prophets who were sent as universal prophets to all of mankind, while the other prophets were sent to particular groups or nations and sent to limited areas or specific territories. These five Major Prophets were Nuh (Noah), Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), ‘Isa (Jesus) and the seal of the prophets Muhammad, peace be upon them all.
Imamah
This is the belief in the successor ship of the 12 Imam’s after the prophet hood. Since there are NO prophets after Prophet Muhammad (S), we have Imam’s to carry on the message and to lead humanity in its course towards Allah. The Imam’s have been appointed by the order of Allah for us to follow, through revelation to his last messenger Muhammad (S). These are the Ulil ‘Amr (those given the authority) that Allah speaks of in Qur’an, 4:59.
The Shi’a believe that the prophet appointed by the order of Allah 12 successors from his progeny to be the Imams for his community. The Prophet (S) said “After me there will be Imams from my progeny their number will be equal to the number of Bani Isra’il’s heralds. That is 12 of whom nine will be Husayn’s (‘a) descendants. Allah has bestowed upon all of them my knowledge and wisdom, so don’t teach them because surely, they know better than you. Follow them since they are definitely with the truth and the truth is with them.”1 We also believe that just as the prophets are infallible, so are the 12 imams. Allah says:
إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُذْهِبَ عَنْكُمُ الرِّجْسَ أَهْلَ الْبَيْتِ وَيُطَهِّرَكُمْ تَطْهِيرًا
“Allah’s wish is to remove all impurity from you O’ people of the house (Ahl Al-Bayt) and purify you with a thorough purification!” (Qur’an, 33:33).
How could Allah and his messenger appoint us guides and allow them to be sinful and corrupt? This would indeed be against Allah’s justice commanding us to follow someone in sin, God forbid!
These 12 Imams are as follows:
Imam ‘Ali Ibn Abu Talib
Imam al-Hasan Ibn ‘Ali
Imam al-Husayn Ibn ‘Ali
Imam ‘Ali Zayn Al-‘Abideen (Sajjad)
Imam Muhammad al-Baqir
Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq
Imam Musa al-Kadhim
Imam ‘Ali ar-Ridha’
Imam Muhammad at-Taqi, al-Jawad
Imam ‘Ali an-Naqi, al-Hadi
Imam Hasan al-‘Askari
Imam al-Mahdi (May Allah hasten his reappearance)
May Allah bless them all!
Mi’ad
Mi’ad means “return.” This refers to the belief in the resurrection, which takes place after the life of this world and all that is contained within it has come to an end. Allah will resurrect His creation, so that we may return before Him for judgment, before taking our place in the afterlife.
On this Day of Judgment, if the person was a believer and a doer of good his place will be in Jannah (paradise) and if he was a disbeliever and/or a mischief maker then his place will be in the hell-fire. Allah is the best of judges and He will judge us justly and according to our intentions. May He have mercy on us all!
When we die, our souls will reside in barzakh, which is an intermediary phase between death and the resurrection, also called the life in the grave. If we were a doer of good, our grave will be a similitude to paradise and if we were evildoers, then it will be a place of punishment. When each person dies, he or she will be questioned by the two angels about his or her beliefs. They will ask us all three major questions that we must know the answer to if we want to be granted Allah’s favor:
1) Who is your Lord?
– Allah
2) Who is your prophet?
– Muhammad Al-Mustafa (S)
3) Who is your imam?
– Imam al-Mahdi (aj), who is the current Imam of our time.
May Allah allow us to all answer these questions with conviction and the certainty of strong faith!
https://www.al-islam.org/mystery-shia-mateen-charbonneau/furu-al-deen-branches-religion