Core Beliefs and the Nature of Allah

Everything rests on one belief

Islam begins from a single claim, and everything else is worked out from it. That claim is Tawhid: the absolute oneness and unity of Allah. There is one God, with no partner, no equal and no division. Everything Muslims believe about the nature of Allah, and every list of core beliefs, is an attempt to spell out what taking that seriously commits a person to. ⚠️ Tawhid has a shadow, and it has a name: shirk. Shirk means associating any partner or equal with Allah, and in Islam it is regarded as the gravest sin, because it denies the one thing everything else rests on. Muslims describe Allah through the ninety-nine names, and hold him to be all-powerful, all-good, merciful, just, beyond all creation and yet close to it. Those are not separate topics; each is a way of saying what the one God is like. ⚠️ When you ask what ELSE belongs at the foundation, Sunni and Shi'a Muslims draw the list a little differently. Sunni Muslims state Six Articles of Faith; Shi'a Muslims state Five Roots of Usul ad-Din. They do not disagree that God is one. They differ over what else is a root. Reading that difference accurately, and always saying who holds what, is the skill this topic is really testing.

Words for the core of Islam

Eight words the topic turns on. Here they are defined and nothing more.

Match each name of Allah to its meaning

Two lists, one foundation

Both lists begin from Tawhid. The third column is where Sunni and Shi'a Muslims draw the foundation differently.

Reading a difference between traditions

This specification asks, again and again, how Sunni and Shi'a Muslims hold the same faith a little differently. That is a skill in its own right, and the marks are in it. ⚠️ The weak answer says what "Muslims believe", as though there were one answer. The strong answer names who holds what, and says why. So build it in three parts. Name the belief both groups share. Say what Sunni Muslims hold. Then say what Shi'a Muslims hold, and what leads them there. ⚠️ That last part is where the marks are. A difference reported is description. A difference EXPLAINED is analysis. Be careful with the word ALL. Writing that all Muslims hold something is the fastest way to lose credit, because the topic is usually chosen where they differ. ⚠️ And describe a view you do not share as its holders would recognise it. Saying that Sunni Muslims deny the justice of Allah, or that Shi'a Muslims doubt his oneness, is not a difference of emphasis but a misdescription, and it is wrong.

Why the Shia list adds two roots

Shi'a Muslims state Five Roots of Usul ad-Din, giving Adl (divine justice) and Imamah (the imamate) the status of core roots, while the Sunni Six Articles do not list them separately. Which best explains the difference?

• Shi'a Muslims hold that divine justice and rightful leadership through the imams are so central that they belong at the foundation, while Sunni Muslims affirm the justice of Allah as one of his attributes and do not treat the imamate as an article of faith
• Sunni Muslims do not believe that Allah is just
• Shi'a Muslims do not accept Tawhid, the oneness of Allah
• Sunni and Shi'a Muslims worship different gods

True about the oneness of Allah

Select the TWO statements that are true.

• Tawhid, the oneness of Allah, is the foundation of Islam and is shared by Sunni and Shi'a Muslims alike
• Shirk, associating a partner with Allah, is regarded in Islam as the gravest sin
• The ninety-nine names of Allah mean that Muslims worship ninety-nine gods
• Only Shi'a Muslims believe in the oneness of Allah

One question, two answers

After the Prophet Muhammad died, the community faced a single practical question: who should now lead it? Two answers took shape, and the difference between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims grew from them. Sunni Muslims came to hold that the community should choose its leaders, the caliphs, from among those best able to guide it. Leadership, on this view, is a matter of the community appointing the fittest. Shi'a Muslims came to hold that leadership was appointed by Allah and passed through the family of the Prophet, beginning with Ali, in a line of imams. On this view, rightful leadership is not for the community to decide, which is why Imamah becomes a core root of religion. ⚠️ Notice what this is an example OF, because that is where the marks are. Not two religions. Not two gods. One community, one event, and two conclusions about leadership drawn by people who all begin from the oneness of Allah. And notice what did NOT divide. Both hold Tawhid. Both hold that Allah sends prophets. The difference is about who leads after the Prophet, and that is why Imamah sits among the Shi'a roots and not among the Sunni Articles. Neither group is failing to be Muslim, and each should be described as it would describe itself.

Build a sentence about Tawhid

Assemble a statement that avoids the mistakes. Every wrong option is one of them.

Order a good comparison answer

Put the parts of a strong answer about a Sunni and Shi'a difference into a sensible order.

• Name the belief both groups share, which is usually Tawhid
• State what Sunni Muslims hold
• State what Shi'a Muslims hold
• Explain what leads each group to its view
• Check you have not written that all Muslims hold the same thing where they differ

The core beliefs run

Five questions across the nature of Allah and the two lists. Three lives.

Spot the true Islam belief facts

Tap the TWO statements that are true.

• Muslims are monotheists, holding that there is one God, Allah
• Tawhid is held by both Sunni and Shi'a Muslims
• All Muslims agree that the imamate is a core root of religion
• Transcendent and immanent are two ways of saying the same thing

Complete the nature of Allah facts

Muslims describe Allah as _____, meaning all-powerful, and as _____, meaning all-loving and wholly good. To say that Allah is beyond and above creation is to call Allah _____, and Muslims hold this at the same time as believing Allah is _____, present and close to creation.

Three answers about what Muslims hold

Three pieces of student writing to improve. Each answer has to carry the reasoning, not just the correction.

• A student writes simply: "Muslims believe in the Five Roots of Usul ad-Din." How should that be improved?
• A student asks why Imamah is a root for Shi'a Muslims but not one of the Sunni Articles. What is the sharpest reply?
• A student writes that calling Allah both transcendent and immanent is a contradiction, since Allah cannot be beyond creation and close to it at once. What is the better response?

Explain the oneness of Allah

A classmate can list some attributes of Allah but writes that "Muslims believe in the Five Roots" and that "the ninety-nine names are ninety-nine gods". Write them the explanation that fixes both and shows how the core beliefs fit together.

• Explain what Muslims mean by Tawhid, and why shirk is regarded as the gravest sin
• Explain what the ninety-nine names of Allah describe, and why they do not multiply God
• Set out that Sunni Muslims hold the Six Articles of Faith and Shi'a Muslims the Five Roots of Usul ad-Din, both beginning from Tawhid
• Explain one difference between the two lists, naming who holds what and why, without writing that all Muslims hold the same thing
• Finish by explaining how an attribute such as transcendent and immanent can be held together rather than as a contradiction