ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Ain-Al Hayat, The Essence of Life Chapter 2: The Fundamentals The First Fundamental: Knowledge of The Exalted Creator The most important fundamental in all Prayer is the knowledge and understanding of the Creator. The understanding of the Creator is directly related to the degree of Faith the believer has in his Creator. Where there is no faith, all worship is futile. To the contrary, worship sans Faith is subject to Retribution. What is faith?

Faith is the belief in the Existence of the Creator and His Attributes--- the Positive Attributes ( Sifat al-thubutiah) and Negative Attributes ( Sifat al-Salbiah).

The other important components of the believer’s faith are the Belief in Allah’s Justice, His being One and Only God, the Belief that Muhammad (S) is the Last and Final of the line of the Prophets and acceptance of the Twelve Imams (as) from the Family as his Vicegerents; the belief in Mi’ad Jismani (The Hereafter- when people will be raised before the Day of Judgment for questioning).

Belief in the existence of the Heaven and the Hell and the concept of Reward and Retribution too are important aspects of the Faith. The Second Fundamental: The Faith Faith is the Eternal Wealth for a believer. Loss of Faith can be the Eternal Curse for a believer. Satan is the veritable consumer of Faith and Actions because the thief always aims at the most precious object of his target. When he fails in that attempt, he contents himself with burgling less important things.

For example: Creating doubts about Belief in the Existence of Allah in the minds of the believers, Satan thus consigns them to the Hell. To save themselves from this eventuality, the believers should steadfastly adhere to the Safina-tu-najat (the Ship of Deliverance). Those who are dedicated to the Ahl-ul-Bayt will board this ship to find cure for all the ailments, it is the succor for the drowning and the guarantee against the machinations of the Satan.

Unless a person gets a clear understanding of Allah, it may be difficult for him to understand the Prophet (S) and the Imams (as). For understanding of Allah there are two definite requirements: 1. Knowledge of the Certainty of Existence This is evidenced by examples. The knowledge of Certainty of Existence is in the nature. Therefore the unbelievers were not asked to believe in Allah, but they were asked not to believe in a comity of deities.