Lesson video

Hello there, scholars of religion.

My name is Ms. Marx and I'm going to be your religious education teacher today, and today we're going to be looking at the six articles of faith, which are sometimes called the six key beliefs in Islam.

These are really important things that Muslims believe about their religion.

So when you're ready, let's go.

So by the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to explain what the six articles of faith are, their importance, and the influence they may have on a Muslim.

So let's start with our keywords.

Angels: beings of light delivering God's messages and watching over humans.

Akhirah: beliefs about life after death in Islam.

Risalah: beliefs in prophets as Allah's messengers.

Sunni Islam is a branch of Islam.

Tawhid: a belief in Allah's oneness and unity.

So our lesson today is going to have three sections, and the first section is the six articles of faith, second section, the importance and influence of the six articles, and the third section, which article could be the most important? So let's start with our first section then, the six articles of faith.

So Meryem and Iqbal are Muslims, and here they explain what being a Muslim means to them.

Meryem says, "Being a Muslim means I believe in Allah as the one God.

I know about Allah through the Holy Qur'an, which is my guide for life." And Iqbal says, "Being a Muslim means that I follow the example of the Prophet Muhammad, who was chosen by Allah to show us how to live.

I hope to spend eternity in paradise in the afterlife through doing this." So I wonder how many of those beliefs are going to come up in the lesson today.

Well, Meryem and Iqbal are both Sunni Muslims, and the term Sunni Islam comes from Arabic.

Sunni and Islam.

So Sunni comes from a word sunnah, which means tradition, and that is mainly to do with the traditions of the Prophet Muhammad, how he lived and what he did and how he sort of set up what it meant to be a Muslim.

And Islam comes from a word meaning submitting to God, aslama, and it's also connected to a word salam, which you might know, meaning peace.

So Sunni Islam are Muslims who follow the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad as they understand it in their way of submitting to God.

Sunni Islam is one branch of Islam.

Sunni Muslims follow their interpretation of the traditions and teachings of Islam as passed down from the Prophet Muhammad and his successors.

So within Sunni Islam, which is a branch of Islam, we have got these six key beliefs which are sometimes known as the six articles of faith.

Now, these are things which many Muslims in all branches may believe, but they may not call them the six articles of faith.

So sometimes they're known as the key beliefs.

So for example, in Shia Islam, many of these beliefs are shared, but they may not be called the six articles of faith.

So those are the unity of God, tawhid; prophethood, risalah; life after death, akhirah; angels, malaikah; holy books, kutub; predestination, al-Qadr.

So these are the six articles of faith, sometimes called the six key beliefs that all Muslims will believe, but in Sunni Islam, they're known as the six articles of faith.

So let's unpack them a little bit more.

We've got the unity of God, tawhid.

So this is that there is only one God, but also that that God is united and complete and not split into parts or separate.

Angels, sometimes called malaikah, who are beings of light, who are very important in relaying some important messages from God to humans, as well as watching over humans and relaying things back to God from humans.

Holy books, kutub, which are revealed to prophets.

Now, not all prophet does have a holy book associated with them, but the holy books in Islam do have prophets associated with them.

And you might have heard of the Qur'an as the holy book that was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, as an example, but there are others too.

And prophethood, known as risalah in the six articles of faith in Sunni Islam.

And this idea is that prophets are God's messengers with a message to humanity.

Could be a holy book, could be a message to humanity from God.

Life after death, akhirah.

So resurrection of the dead at the end of the world and then judgement and then what happens after.

And then predestination or al-Qadr, which means that God's will is supreme, means that nothing happens without it being God's will.

And this links to God being all-powerful and all-knowing.

So let's do a quick check.

Which three of these are part of the six articles of faith? Holy books, imamate, prophethood, and tawhid.

Three of those are in the six articles of faith.

Which ones are they? Pause the video, have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

That's holy books, prophethood, and tawhid.

The imamate is not in the Sunni six articles of faith, although it is a very important belief for Shia Muslims. So the six articles of faith were agreed on using different sources of authority in Islam.

So different sources of authority have fed into this idea of what the six articles of faith are.

And two of these sources of authority are the Holy Qur'an, which was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, and then collections of Hadith, which are narrations or accounts or basically stories relating to the life of the Prophet Muhammad, so things that people saw him do or say and how did he live.

So the Holy Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

So that's the words of God revealed to the Prophet Muhammad for humanity.

And then the Hadith is like how did the Prophet Muhammad live and what did he do and what did he say, and then how can we understand what it means to be a Muslim through following them? And both of these feed into this idea of the six articles of faith in Sunni Islam.

So they're really good sources of authority to use for this.

So first of all, we have got the Qur'an, and here we've got a passage in surah 4, so chapter 4.

"O you who believe! Believe in God and His messenger, and the Book He sent down to His messenger, and the Book He sent down before.

Whoever rejects God, His angels, His Books, His messengers, and the Last Day, has strayed far in error." So now you're going to have a look, which of those six beliefs can we see in here? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, yep.

Did you spot these different ones here? We've got God or tawhid, we've got his messengers or risalah, prophets, book is mentioned three times in there, isn't it? And then we've got angels, malaikah, and the Last Day.

So the Last Day is connected to beliefs about what happens at the end of the world and when everyone's resurrected to be judged by God to see where they're going to spend the afterlife.

And so here we've got five of those six key beliefs mentioned in this surah.

What about the Hadith as our other source of authority then? Well, here we have got a Hadith retelling the Prophet Muhammad when he was speaking to Angel Jibril, so sometimes this is called the Hadith of Jibril, when Jibril asks him, "What does faith mean?" And the Prophet Muhammad replies, "To believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day and the divine decree, both good and bad." So decree is where you are instructed or commanded or you have to do something.

So I wonder if you can see which of the six beliefs that might link with.

Have a look at all of this, see how many of those are the six beliefs, pause the video, and we'll see what you've done in a minute.

Well done.

Yeah, did you spot here that we've got tawhid or a belief in Allah; angels, belief in malaikah; holy books, belief in kutub; the messengers, which is linked to risalah and prophethood; the Last Day, so again, that's the belief to do with afterlife, resurrection, akhirah; and then this idea of divine decree, which I said was to do with being you have to do something or it's been commanded that you must do it.

So that links to the belief in the Sunni six articles of faith of predestination, al-Qadr, that God's will is supreme.

Nothing happens unless God has willed it to happen.

Fantastic.

So now Lucas and Laura are discussing how these sources of authority we've just looked at can support belief in some of those six articles of faith that we're looking at.

So how can they use those sources to support those beliefs that we've been learning about? Lucas says, "A Muslim might believe in the six articles of faith because in the Qur'an it says: 'Believe in God and His messenger, and the Book He sent down.

' So this shows three of the six articles of faith." So Lucas has pointed out the three and that there are three mentioned, but what he's also done is said the source, where it's come from, and he said it's come from the Qur'an.

And Laura says, "A Muslim might believe in the six articles of faith because in the Hadith, the Prophet Muhammad said: 'Affirm your faith in Allah, His angels, His books, and His messengers' and a belief in resurrection.

And this shows five of the six articles of faith." So again, Laura said which of the articles does it support, but she has said where the source is from, and she said it's from the Hadith.

Well done, Lucas and Laura.

So time for another check then.

Give two sources of authority that may support a Muslim's belief in the six articles of faith.

So pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've done in a minute.

Well done.

The Qur'an and the Hadith, they were the two sources of authority that we were using to show support for the beliefs that we looked at in the six articles of faith.

So time for a practise task now to see what we've learnt.

Explain two of the key beliefs in the six articles of faith for a Muslim, and refer to sacred writings or another source of Muslim belief and teaching in your answer.

So when we answer an explain-type question, it's really important that we develop our points as a way of explaining them.

So we're going to give a point and then develop it.

We might say something like this means that or this is because or this is shown in.

So something that develops the point that you've made a little bit further to make it an explain answer.

And you're going to do that twice.

And in one of those you need to include a source and what it says or teaches and how it relates to the point that you're making.

So in one of those two you need to include a source.

And that could be a quotation or a general belief or a teaching, but it's really important that you say the source, where has this come from.

So pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a minute.

Well done, some really good work there.

So I asked you to explain two of the key beliefs in the six articles of faith for a Muslim.

And your answer may look something like this.

One of the key beliefs in the six articles of faith is a belief in tawhid.

This means that Muslims believe there is only one God.

So here I've got my point and then I've developed it by saying this means that.

Muslims believe this because it says in the Qur'an, "Believe in God and His messenger." So here I've got my source, but I've also said where it's from, it's from the Qur'an.

Another key belief in the six articles of faith is a belief in akhirah.

This means Muslims believe there's life after death, and so hope to spend eternity in paradise with Allah.

And I haven't put a source in that one because I put my source in the first point that I made, but I have developed it and I've used that phrase this means that again, haven't I? Well done.

So onto our second section then, the importance and influence of the six articles.

So one way to see the importance of a belief is how it influences a believer.

Influence is when something or someone has the ability to shape or change someone's thoughts, beliefs, or actions.

And Lucas and Laura are discussing examples of influence here.

Lucas says, "My parents often influence me.

For example, when I discuss my schoolwork with my mum and dad, they encouraged me to try harder, and this influences me to do this." So Lucas is influenced by his parents here to change his beliefs, his thoughts, and his actions to do with his schoolwork.

And Laura says, "I have been influenced by the life stories of people I've learnt about.

Sometimes, people have been incredibly brave in hard times and this inspires and influences me to be braver in my life." So again, Laura's been influenced here to have a change in her thoughts, beliefs, or actions because of the stories that she's heard.

And so we can see how a belief in the six articles of faith, these key beliefs in Islam, can influence many parts of a Muslim's life.

Here's just some examples.

So I've got a picture of here of the Kaaba, which is part of the Hajj ritual that many Muslims will take part in in their life.

And you could say that's connected to a belief in risalah or prophethood.

Following the actions of prophets who before have done this pilgrimage could be a sign of an influence.

A belief in prophethood can influence a Muslim to take those actions.

Secondly, we've got a belief in holy books.

That can influence a Muslim to want to read the Holy Qur'an.

If they believe the holy book has been sent by God and is the pure, like, word of God for us to read as humans, if that belief is gonna then influence a Muslim to want to read this and sort of take it on board, so it's influenced the actions of the Muslim.

Thirdly, a belief in tawhid could influence a Muslim in their actions and their beliefs and their thoughts.

And one way could be a belief that God is the source of everything, the great power, the one power, there's only one God who has provided everything for us as humans.

So knowing that all provisions come from God and are provided to us by God means that we should then be able to give it away if people are in need, and many Muslims pay a charity tax knowing that that was given to them from God anyway, any wealth that they have, and they can then share it on.

And finally, a belief in predestination, al-Qadr, could mean that a Muslim prays more, because they want to accept the will of Allah and they want to accept what Allah wants for them and they pray to allow themselves to be able to do that more.

So these are all ways that a Muslim's belief in the six articles of faith could influence their actions.

So let's do a quick check.

A belief in prophethood, risalah, could influence a Muslim to take a pilgrimage to Makkah.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think and we will come back and see what you've done in a moment.

That is true, but why? It's true because taking a pilgrimage to Makkah, so that special journey, is following the examples of prophets in Islam such as Muhammad.

And risalah is a belief that God has sent prophets in the past to show an example of how to behave.

So the belief of risalah and prophethood, it has literally influenced many Muslims to follow in the footsteps, literally, of the prophets when they take part in that pilgrimage in Makkah.

So now Laura's going to ask Iqbal, the Muslim we met earlier in the lesson, how do the six articles of faith influence him? So Laura asks, "How does a belief in the six articles of faith influence you, Iqbal?" And Iqbal says, "The six articles of faith influence me to believe Allah and Allah's messengers, and to follow their example.

A belief in risalah influences me to pray in the way that the Prophet Muhammad did.

A belief in akhirah makes me feel hopeful about the afterlife, because I believe I can do the right actions in order to spend eternity in paradise." So there's many parts of Iqbal's life which is influenced by the six articles of faith.

And you can see here we've got things that are actions, thoughts, and beliefs, are all influenced by these six articles of faith.

Lucas is asking Meryem, "How does a belief in the six articles of faith influence you, Meryem?" "A belief in the oneness of God, tawhid, influences me to want to worship only Allah.

To me this means not putting anything else above Allah in my life.

By giving zakat, the charity tax, each year I know that I'm not putting money and wealth above God in my heart.

Everything I have is thanks to Allah's provision." So here we've got this belief in tawhid directly influencing Meryem to want to give zakat because she wants God to be first in her heart, not like chasing money and wealth.

And so we can see the influence there leading directly to an action.

So let's think about some of the other articles of faith then.

Well, we've got the unity of God as a very important key belief in the six articles of faith.

That could directly influence a Muslim to not want to worship any other gods and to only worship Allah, to only think about Allah when they're in prayer and worship.

A belief in angels might influence a Muslim to feel protected.

If you remember, influence doesn't just mean like actions.

It can also mean feelings, thoughts, and beliefs.

So someone might believe that they're protected and have that feeling that they're protected by angels being around them.

A belief in holy books or kutub could influence a Muslim to read the Qur'an and to try and understand it and study it more because of their belief that it's something revealed from God.

A belief in prophethood or risalah could encourage a Muslim to want to follow the example of the prophets.

So as we said, in Sunni Islam, the idea is that you are following the traditions and the life of the Prophet Muhammad as the sunnah, and so therefore, believing that he's a prophet in the first place is gonna influence why someone wants to do that.

Beliefs about life after death or akhirah can help someone to feel hopeful about life after death.

They might feel comforted.

They might have lost a loved one or a family member and they might feel comforted that they might spend time with them again in the afterlife.

So again, influence can be about feelings and thoughts and beliefs as well as actions.

And finally, predestination or al-Qadr, that idea of God's will being supreme could help a Muslim to feel that they can trust God's will in hard times when things feel unfair or like there's no way out of a situation.

They can feel that they can trust God's will because that wouldn't be happening if it wasn't God's plan.

So Meryem and Iqbal have shown us there's often more than one way that beliefs can influence believers.

So we have a question here, give one way that a belief in prophethood, risalah, might influence a Muslim.

So we're thinking about specifically risalah, and we want an influence, so it could be a belief, a thought, or an action that is different because of this belief in a Muslim.

And a suggestion is that it could be going on a pilgrimage to Makkah, as we said, literally following the footsteps of prophets.

So over to you then.

Give another way that a belief in prophethood, risalah, might influence a Muslim.

Have a think about an influence that could be a belief, thought, or action.

Pause the video, have a go, and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done.

I've got the suggestion here, praying each day the way Muhammad prayed, but you may have said other things that are an influence of a belief in prophethood or risalah influencing a Muslim.

Well done.

So let's do another practise task to see what we've learnt.

Explain two ways the six articles of faith can influence a Muslim.

So we're really looking at why is a Muslim's life different because of this belief? What thoughts, beliefs, and actions may they have which are influenced by these beliefs? And because this is an explain question, it's important that you develop the points that you make.

So you're not just stating something, you're developing it in some way.

You might say this means that or this is because to develop it further.

So you're going to give one way the six articles of faith can influence a Muslim, then you're going to explain how and why this could impact the life of a Muslim.

So really showing that influence, like what difference does it make.

And then give a second one, another way the six articles of faith can influence Muslims. And then finally, explain how and why that could impact the life of a Muslim.

So there's no need specifically for the source in this kind of question, but it's the explanation of the influence that counts.

So pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, some great work there.

So your response might look something like this to the question, explain two ways the six articles of faith can influence Muslims. The six articles of faith can influence a Muslim to read and follow the Qur'an.

This is because the Qur'an is a holy book, which is one of the six articles of faith.

It is an important authority in Islam to read and follow.

So here we got the influence, which is to read and follow the Qur'an, and then we got the explanation, because it's a holy book and also it's an important authority.

Secondly, the six articles of faith can also influence a Muslim to feel comforted and hopeful about life after death.

This is because akhirah means beliefs about the afterlife.

Muslims are hopeful they will spend eternity with Allah in paradise because of this belief.

So here again, we've got our point, which is that the idea of akhirah can be a comfort to Muslims, and then we've explained it by saying it's because it's to do with the afterlife and people can be hopeful they'll spend eternity in paradise.

Well done.

Onto our third section then, which article could be the most important? All of the six articles of faith are important to Muslims. And I said they may not call them the six articles of faith if they're in a different branch, but all of these beliefs are important to Muslims. But which one could we argue is the most important if you had to choose one? So have a look at these.

We've got the unity of God, tawhid, or the oneness of God or that there is one God; prophethood, risalah, the idea that there are messengers who are given messages for humanity from God; life after death, so there is something beyond death, there's some kind of paradise that we can aim for; angels, so the idea that there are beings of light that are here that are comforting us and around us at all times; holy books, that God has sent revelations to us so we can understand God through reading these things; and then predestination, the idea that God's will is supreme and everything's kind of part of God's plan.

So we could think about one of these being more important than the others, couldn't we? And I wonder which one you might pick.

Well, Lucas, Laura, and Sam are discussing what they think the most important article of faith could be for a Muslim.

Lucas says, "A belief in tawhid must be the most important because that's the one God that Muslims worship." I mean, that makes sense, doesn't it? And Laura says, "Yes, but how would Muslims know about tawhid without kutub," which is the holy books, "like the Qur'an.

That is more important." I suppose because that's how people know about the one God, isn't it? Sam says, "Okay, but Muslims have these holy books because God has sent prophets those messages, so risalah is more important." So Sam saying here, well, we wouldn't know about the holy books if the prophets weren't sent, and then we wouldn't know about the one God to worship.

Which one of these three do you think has the most convincing answer and why? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

I think each of them make a very valid point here.

That there is a belief in one God is very important in Islam, but then how would we know that and then how would the prophets know that to tell it to us? Well, Lucas, Laura, and Sam have shown us there can be a variety of views on what the most important article of faith is for a Muslim.

So we're now going to give one reason why one of the articles of faith could be the most important.

And we could say holy books are the most important as an article of faith because this is the words of God and this is how people know about God, through reading these holy books.

So now for a check.

Give one reason why one of the articles of faith could be the most important.

Pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

Well done.

I've got here the idea that prophethood, risalah, is the most important because the prophets are examples to Muslims, but you could have said any of the others.

What's important is your reason why.

Well, let's see what Meryem and Iqbal think then.

They are going to tell us what they think the most important article of faith is and why.

And Meryem says, "I think a belief in tawhid is the most important article of faith.

My belief in one God means that I trust the words of the Holy Books and I follow the examples of prophets." So for Meryem there, it all really starts with this idea of tawhid, this one God and the one and only God there is to worship.

Iqbal says, "Well, I think a belief in akhirah is the most important article.

My hope for life after death with Allah helps me follow the other teachings in Islam." So for him it's almost as if, well, okay, there's a belief in one God, but really what matters is that I want to spend eternity in paradise with Allah, and that's more important to him than a belief in tawhid.

Which of those two do you think is the most convincing argument and why? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've come up with in a moment.

So let's do another check.

Is this true or false? All Muslims agree on what the most important article of faith is.

Is that true or false? Pause the video and have a think and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

That is false, but why? Well, there's a variety of views on what the most important article of faith will be.

Each article is important for Muslims and one may be more important than another for some Muslims, or all equally important.

So let's do a practise task to see what we've learnt then, using some of these ideas about one article of faith being more important than another for some Muslims. So here's a full evaluation question using a statement about the six articles of faith.

So the statement is, the most important article of faith is prophethood, risalah.

And what you're going to do is write the first paragraph.

So you're going to show how some people might support the statement.

Why might some people agree with that, that it is the most important of faith? And in that answer you're going to refer to a source of authority, for example, the Qur'an.

So you can see here the other things you might be required to do if you're doing an evaluation-type answer.

We are just going to do one section, which is the blue bit, which is give reasoned arguments in support of the statement and make sure that we refer to religious arguments.

So pause the video and have a go and we'll see what you've done in a moment.

Well done, some really good thinking there.

So the statement was, the most important article of faith is prophethood, risalah.

And the whole question would be to evaluate this in a written answer.

But I asked you to do the first paragraph to support this statement and to refer to a source of authority, for example, you could use the Qur'an.

And your response may look something like this.

Some Muslims may agree with the statement because of their belief in prophethood, risalah.

Risalah is the belief that Allah sends prophets with messages for humans.

Muslims believe this because it says in the Qur'an, "Oh you who believe, believe in the Book and His messenger." The Qur'an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad as a message to humans.

This is therefore the most important article 'cause this is how humans learn about Allah and about what to do to get to paradise in the afterlife.

So you can see in this answer here, it is in support of why risalah might be seen as the most important, the answer's been developed with reasons as to why that is, and then I've also got that quote from the Qur'an in there as the source of authority, "Oh you believe, believe in the Book and His messenger." So well done for your answers there.

So in summary, everything we've learnt today then about the six articles of faith.

The six articles of faith are six key beliefs in Islam.

The six articles of faith are associated with Sunni Islam.

Tawhid, risalah, angels, holy books, akhirah, and predestination are the six articles of faith.

The Qur'an and Hadith are sources of authority that support these.

The six articles of faith are important to Muslims and influence the life of a Muslim in many different ways.

And there are arguments as to why different articles may be more important than the others.

So well done for your hard work today and I'll see you again soon.

Bye-bye!.