Are All the Articles of Faith Personally Obligatory to Affirm?
Answered by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Question
There are so many things to believe. Are all the points of belief personally obligatory (fard ʿayn)?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Merciful and Compassionate.
I hope you’re doing well, insha’Allah.
No, only the core beliefs are personally obligatory (fard ʿayn). These core beliefs are the clearly established and generally-known matters of religion known to everyone. [Bajuri, Tuhfat al-Murid `ala Jawharat al-Tawhid]
As for the details of belief and its nuances, these are a communal obligation (fard kifaya)—and not every individual needs to know them. [al-Fatawa al-Kamiliyya]
Know the core beliefs—attained through study of Level One and (for enrichment) Level Two courses on Islamic Beliefs in the Islamic Studies Curriculum.
Please see:
Dardir’s Kharida al-Bahiyya: What Muslims Believe and Why [Level One]
Sawi On Jawhara al-Tawhid: Understanding Islamic Beliefs [Level Two]
Sanusi’s Umm al-Barahin: Foundational Proofs for Why Islam is True [Level Two]
Beyond that, one cultivates faith through devotion, reflection, remembrance, and good works. [Sawi/Laqqani, Sharh Jawharat al-Tawhid]
Related:
Why and How Do We Believe In Angels?
Is It Obligatory to Believe in the Kalam Cosmological Argument?
Why Does Islam Not View That Publicly Committed Sins Make One a Disbeliever?
What Do We Believe About Causes and Their Effects?
And Allah is the giver of success and facilitation.
[Shaykh] Faraz Rabbani
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani spent ten years studying with some of the leading scholars of recent times, first in Damascus, and then in Amman, Jordan. His teachers include the foremost theologian of recent times in Damascus, the late Shaykh Adib al-Kallas (may Allah have mercy on him), as well as his student Shaykh Hassan al-Hindi, one of the leading Hanafi fuqaha of the present age. He returned to Canada in 2007, where he founded SeekersGuidance in order to meet the urgent need to spread Islamic knowledge–both online and on the ground–in a reliable, relevant, inspiring, and accessible manner. He is the author of: Absolute Essentials of Islam: Faith, Prayer, and the Path of Salvation According to the Hanafi School (White Thread Press, 2004.) Since 2011, Shaykh Faraz has been named one of the 500 most influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center.
