The Six Articles of Faith in Islam

If you ask a Muslim, “What do you actually believe?”, the answer is likely to be a list of six things. Every Muslim, everywhere in the world and across the main schools of thought, shares these same foundations.

The hadith of Gabriel

The six articles are best known from a scene the Prophet’s companion Umar ibn al-Khattab described. One day, a stranger dressed in brilliant white appeared among the Prophet’s companions. No one knew him, yet he showed no sign of having travelled. He sat close to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him a series of questions about religion. After he left, the Prophet ﷺ told his companions that the visitor had been the angel Gabriel, who had come to teach them their religion.

One of Gabriel’s questions was about faith, iman:

…Inform me about Iman (faith). He (the Holy Prophet) replied: That you affirm your faith in Allah, in His angels, in His Books, in His Apostles, in the Day of Judgment, and you affirm your faith in the Divine Decree about good and evil.…

The Qur’an mentions the same beliefs together, too:

ءَامَنَ ٱلرَّسُولُ بِمَآ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْهِ مِن رَّبِّهِۦ وَٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ۚ كُلٌّ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَمَلَٰٓئِكَتِهِۦ وَكُتُبِهِۦ وَرُسُلِهِۦ لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍۢ مِّن رُّسُلِهِۦ ۚ وَقَالُوا۟ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا ۖ غُفْرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيْكَ ٱلْمَصِيرُ ﴿٢٨٥﴾

The Messenger has believed in what was revealed to him from his Lord, and [so have] the believers. All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers, [saying], "We make no distinction between any of His messengers." And they say, "We hear and we obey. [We seek] Your forgiveness, our Lord, and to You is the [final] destination."

1. Belief in God

The first and most important article is belief in God (Allah) — that He exists, that He alone created and sustains everything, that He alone deserves worship, and that He has perfect names and qualities. He is One, with no partner, no child and no equal. Everything else in Islam is built on this. See Who Is Allah?

2. Belief in the angels

Muslims believe in angels — beings created by God from light, who worship Him and carry out His commands without ever disobeying. We cannot normally see them. Some have particular roles: Gabriel (Jibril) brought revelation to the prophets, and others record each person’s deeds or take souls at death. Belief in angels reminds a Muslim that there is more to reality than what we can see, and that we are never truly alone.

3. Belief in the revealed books

Muslims believe that God sent scriptures to guide humanity through His messengers. The Qur’an names several: the scrolls of Abraham, the Torah (Tawrah) given to Moses, the Psalms (Zabur) given to David, and the Gospel (Injil) given to Jesus (peace be upon them). The Qur’an is the last of these. Muslims believe the original messages all came from God, while the Qur’an is the final revelation and has been preserved in its original words. See What Is the Qur’an?

4. Belief in the messengers

Muslims believe God sent prophets and messengers to every nation, all calling people to worship the one God. The Qur’an names twenty-five of them, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, David, Solomon, John the Baptist and Jesus (peace be upon them all). Muhammad ﷺ is the last of them. Muslims are commanded not to reject any of them:

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوٓا۟ ءَامِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ وَٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلَّذِى نَزَّلَ عَلَىٰ رَسُولِهِۦ وَٱلْكِتَٰبِ ٱلَّذِىٓ أَنزَلَ مِن قَبْلُ ۚ وَمَن يَكْفُرْ بِٱللَّهِ وَمَلَٰٓئِكَتِهِۦ وَكُتُبِهِۦ وَرُسُلِهِۦ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْءَاخِرِ فَقَدْ ضَلَّ ضَلَٰلًۢا بَعِيدًا ﴿١٣٦﴾

O you who have believed, believe in Allah and His Messenger and the Book that He sent down upon His Messenger and the Scripture which He sent down before. And whoever disbelieves in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, and the Last Day has certainly gone far astray.

This is why a Muslim cannot be a Muslim without also loving Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them). See Prophets in Islam.

5. Belief in the Last Day

Muslims believe that this world will one day come to an end, that every human being will be brought back to life, and that God will judge everyone with perfect justice and mercy. Those who believed and did good will enter Paradise. Belief in the Day of Judgement gives life moral seriousness: nothing we do is forgotten. See What Happens After Death in Islam?

6. Belief in God’s decree

Finally, Muslims believe in God’s decree (qadar): that God knows everything, that He wrote all things before they happened, and that nothing happens in the universe except by His will. At the same time, human beings have real choices and are responsible for them.

This belief is not meant to make people passive. Muslims are taught to plan, work hard and take every reasonable step — and then to trust God with the outcome. It brings calm in hard times: what happened was not outside God’s knowledge or wisdom. Scholars have written a great deal about how God’s decree and human free will fit together; the basic belief in both is agreed by Muslims.

Faith in the heart, shown in life

In Islam, faith is not only an idea. It lives in the heart, is spoken by the tongue and shows in a person’s actions. In the same conversation, Gabriel also asked about Islam — the outward practices, known as the five pillars — and about ihsan, excellence: to worship God as though you see Him, knowing that He sees you.

To learn about those practices, continue with The Five Pillars of Islam.