ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Islamic Doctrine Revelation Statement The Islamic doctrine - is based on the following foundations:- 1. Belief in God: God is the ultimate of the existence of the universe. He is the Creator whose essence and form is beyond perception. It is only some of His characteristics that we have knowledge of through experience and prophesy. The Crea- tor's intrinsic characteristrics are infinite and absolute.

He is eternal and cannot be limited to space or time, because He is the Creator of both. He is One and Just. The characteristics of God can be classified into two divisions: i) Positive: such as Almighty, Powerful, Creator, Benevolent, Willing, Knowing, Wise, etc. ii) Negative: such as indivisible, unseen, etc. Islam stresses two concepts, namely the Unity and Justice of God. The first concept assumes order and harmony in the universe.

The second concept furnishes the ground for prophethood and man's free will. Man is born neutral in his intentions concerning good and evil. Islam considers man as potentially able to do either of the two. When he pursues one path, then he will experience an acceleration in that path as a natural consequence. Man is made aware of the nature of the two paths through his instincts, prophets, the callers for righteousness, and the callers for evil. 2.

Belief in Islamism* and Prophecy God created nature including man, as a natural phenomenon, according to definite laws. These laws may be statistical in some fields, and may include control of tire evolutionary process in nature. "isldm" is an Arabic word which means submission. "muslim " is a word which means that which submits to the laws of God. Thus the non-willing things in the world such as lifeless objects, like atoms and stars are Muslims.

Man is given a high capacity of think- ing, and his activities fall into two categories. The first kind is instinctive, such as his heartbeat which obeys the laws set by God. The will is given to human beings and exercises its power within a special sector of life. This sector *Islamism means in this context submission to the will of God. includes all human activities except those mat- ters which are beyond human control.

However, even this part of human activity has some ideal laws which enable human beings to achieve optimum control. These laws are given to man by God, and conforming to them means that we are Muslims - i.e., submitting to the will of God. These are the Islamic laws.