A Muslim means a person who belongs to the religion of Islam. According to the Sunni and Shia sectarian belief, it is the name given to those who believe in God and the oneness of God and that Muhammad is the messenger of God. There are various differences concerning the concept of a Muslim among the different sects of the Islamic religion.
The pillars of Islam
Apart from the Shahada (declaration of faith) and zakat, there are also differences between the Sunni and Shia sects in the pillars of Islam. The basic reason for this is the differences of interpretation between Sunni and Shia religious scholars during the period of the political division of Islam.
The Sunni sect
In this sect there are a total of 32 obligatory acts (fard): 6 conditions of faith, 5 pillars of Islam, 12 of the prayer (salat), 4 of ablution (wudu), 3 of the ritual bath (ghusl) and 2 of dry ablution (tayammum). That there are 32 obligatory acts that Muslims must perform has been brought together collectively by Islamic scholars so that they can be easily remembered. These are known as the 32 obligations (fard). The explanations of these obligations are given in detail below.
The conditions of faith
The conditions of faith are as follows: to believe in the oneness of God, to believe in the angels, to believe in the books, to believe in the prophets, to believe in the Hereafter, and to believe that destiny — both good and evil — comes from God.
The pillars of Islam
The pillars of Islam are as follows: to make the Shahada, to perform the prayer, to fast, to give zakat, and to go on the Hajj.
The obligations outside the prayer
The obligations outside the prayer are as follows: purification from ritual impurity (hadath), purification from filth (najasa), covering the parts of the body that must be covered (satr al-awra), facing the qibla (istiqbal al-qibla), the proper time, and intention (niyya).
The obligations within the prayer
The obligations within the prayer are as follows: the opening takbir (iftitah takbir), standing (qiyam), recitation (qira'at), bowing (ruku), prostration (sujud), and the final sitting (qa'da akhira).
The obligations of ablution
The obligations of ablution are as follows: to wash the face, to wash the hands together with the elbows, to wipe (mash) one quarter of the head, to wash the neck, and to wash the feet together with the ankles.
The obligations of the ritual bath
The obligations of the ritual bath (ghusl) are as follows: to put water into the mouth, to put water into the nose, and to wash the entire body.
The obligations of dry ablution
The obligations of dry ablution (tayammum) are as follows: to make the intention and to rub the palms of both hands on clean earth and wipe the entire face. Then to strike the hands again on clean earth and wipe first the right and then the left arm.
According to the Shia sect
Today the Shia sect is divided into three main branches: the "Zaydiyya" (Fivers), the "Imamiyya Ithna Ashariyya" (Twelvers / Twelve-Imam Shiism), and the "Isma'iliyya" (Seveners).
The 10 conditions of Furu al-Din (Twelver Imamiyya)
The 10 conditions of Furu al-Din (Twelver Imamiyya) are as follows: prayer (salat), fasting (sawm), Hajj, zakat, khums, jihad, enjoining good (amr bi'l-ma'ruf), forbidding wrong (nahy an al-munkar), tawalla and tabarra.
The 7 conditions of Wajh al-Din (Isma'iliyya)
The 7 conditions of Wajh al-Din (Isma'iliyya) are as follows: walaya, purity (tahara), prayer, zakat, fasting, Hajj and jihad.
According to the Sunni sect
To believe that God is the sole creator.
To believe in God's angels.
To believe in God's books.
To believe in God's prophets.
To believe in divine decree and destiny (both its good and its evil).
The Mu'tazila sect's view of faith
According to the Mu'tazila, faith consists of affirmation with the heart, declaration with the tongue, and works (deeds). Accordingly, in Mu'tazila belief, for a person to be counted a believer (mu'min), that is "one who believes," he must believe in Islam with his heart, declare it with his tongue, and demonstrate it through his actions, that is, through works. The other creedal schools that hold the same view of faith are the Kharijiyya and the Zaydiyya.
The principles of the Mu'tazila sect
To set out their own principles, the Mu'tazila established five principles called the "usul al-khamsa" (the five principles). These may be enumerated as: tawhid (divine unity), justice (adl), promise and threat (al-wa'd wa'l-wa'id — that a person is the creator of his own deeds), al-manzila bayna al-manzilatayn (that those who commit a grave sin stand somewhere between faith and unbelief), and that enjoining good and forbidding wrong are an individual obligation (fard ayn). In addition, matters such as the createdness of the Qur'an and the superiority of reason over transmission are among the matters important to the sect.
Tawhid
Tawhid (التوحيد), that is, unification, is the oneness of God, the foundation of the creed of the Islamic religion. Members of the Mu'tazila sect, proceeding from tawhid, developed views on some matters that differ from the other creedal schools. For example, they did not accept the view of the Ahl al-Sunna scholars regarding ru'yat Allah, that is, that God will be seen on the Day of Judgment. According to them, for God to be seen He would have to possess a body, which, according to the tawhid principle of Islamic belief, is impossible. Besides this, the members of the Mu'tazila sect, again proceeding from the principle of tawhid, maintained that God's attributes are separate from His essence. For, according to them, the opposite of this idea — that is, that God's attributes are one with His essence — increases the number of things that are eternal (and thus divine), that is, it contravenes tawhid. To give an example, the Mu'tazila sect accepts a description such as "God is knowing," while rejecting a description such as "God possesses knowledge." For, according to them, in saying "God possesses knowledge" a divine-eternal knowledge separate from God's essence would be accepted. Moreover, in Mu'tazila creed it is believed that God does not have an attribute called speech (kalam).
Justice
The subject of the principle of justice ('Adl, العدل) is the Mu'tazila's view on divine decree (qadar). Opposing the Jabriyya sect, which adopts the view that "man is not free in his actions," the Mu'tazila believe that "man is entirely free in his actions." According to the principle of justice in Mu'tazila belief, a person creates his own actions. He accomplishes this by a power of creation that God has granted to the person. They believe that God has no intervention in the creation of the actions. This view is grounded in the principle of justice as follows: if persons are not free and the creator and doer of every action they perform is God, then punishing a person for actions he did not do freely is oppression, that is, injustice. But according to Islamic belief it is impossible for God to act unjustly. For this reason a person must be the sole creator and doer of his actions and must be entirely free in his actions.
The Mu'tazila's view on divine decree is the same as that of the Qadariyya sect. On the grounds that these views of the Mu'tazila sect on divine decree contradict "faith in destiny and divine decree," which is one of the conditions of faith, they were criticized by the Sunni sects and were even characterized as unbelief (kufr).
Promise and Threat
Al-Wa'd wa'l-Wa'id (الوعد و الوعيد), that is, "Promise and Threat." This is to believe that the reward and good that God has promised and the punishment He has threatened will come to pass. This principle of the Mu'tazila sect was developed against another creedal school, the Murji'a. The Murji'a sect maintained that just as the good deeds done by an unbeliever (kafir) bring no benefit, so too the sins committed by a believer (mu'min) do him no harm. According to the principle of promise and threat, however, the one who does good will be rewarded for his good, and the one who does evil will be punished in return for his evil. According to this principle of the Mu'tazila sect, if the Murji'a sect's claim that "the sins of a believer do no harm" were true, then God's threat — that is, His threatening and frightening — would be unnecessary and meaningless. Yet according to the belief in tawhid this is not possible. With this principle the Mu'tazila sect completely rejects the Murji'a. Moreover, with this principle the Mu'tazila sect maintained that a believer who commits a grave sin cannot be forgiven unless he repents.
A Position Between Two Positions
"Al-manzila bayna al-manzilatayn" (المنزلة بين المنزلتين), that is, a position between two positions. This principle concerns the Mu'tazila sect's view about "the status of one who commits a grave sin." According to the Mu'tazila sect, a believer (one who has faith) who commits a grave sin is now neither a believer nor an unbeliever; he is now a transgressor (fasiq), that is, somewhere between belief and unbelief. According to Mu'tazila belief, a believer who commits a grave sin becomes a transgressor, and if the transgressor dies without repenting of the grave sin he committed, he suffers torment in Hell forever. If he repents, he becomes a believer again, and if he dies as a believer, he enters Paradise. According to this sect a transgressor is in a position between the believer and the unbeliever, and the name of this principle, "a position between two positions," comes from this.
Sources
- Turkish Wikipedia: tr.wikipedia.org
- TDV Encyclopedia of Islam: islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
- English Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org