The Articles of Faith
There are six articles of faith which a Muslim is expected to believe (Ismail and Abdulganiyu, 2015) these articles are as follows:
1. Believe in His Oneness; A Muslim believes in one God, supreme, Merciful, compassionate, creator and provider. God has neither father nor mother, no sons nor was he fathered. None is equal to Him. He is lord of all mankind, not of a special tribe or race. The soul and conscience to be good and righteous, the feeling and sentiments to be kind and humane.
2. Believe in His Messengers: A Muslim believes in all the Messengers and prophet of Allah without any discrimination. All Messengers were mortals, human being, endowed with Divine revelations and appointed by God to teach mankind. The Holy Quran mentions the names of 25 messenger and prophet and states that there are others. These include Noah, Abrahim, Ishmael, Isaac, Moses, Jesus and Muhammed. Their message is the same and it is Islam and it came from one and the same source; God, and it is to submit to his will and to obey his law; i.e, to become a Muslim
3. Believe in His Revelations and the Quran: A Muslim believes in all scriptures and revelation of God, as they were complete and in their original versions. Allah, the creator, has not left man without guidance for the conduct of his life. Revelations were given to guide the people to the right path of Allah and sent down to selected people, the prophet and messengers, to convey it to their fellow men. The Quran is the sacred book of the Muslim. It is the last book of guidance from Allah, sent down to Muhammed, peace be upon him through the angle Jibraeel(Gabriel). Every word of it is the word of Allah. It was revealed over a period of 23 years in the Arabic language. It contains 114 surahs (chapters) and over 6000 verses. The Quran deals with man and his ultimate goal in life. Its teaching covers all areas of this life and after death. It contains principles, doctrines and directions for every sphere of human life. The theme of the Quran broadly consists of three fundamental ideas; Oneness of Allah, prophet hood and life after death. The success of human being on this earth and in the life hereafter depends on obedience to the Quran is teaching. The Quran is unrivalled in its recording and preservation. The astonishing fact about this book of Allah is that it has remained unchanged even to a dot over the past fourteen hundred years.
4. Believe in His Angels of Allah: there are purely spiritual and splendid being created by Allah. They require no food or drink or sleep. They have no physical desires nor material needs. Angels spend their time in the service of Allah. Each charged with a certain duty.Jubreal, Mikail, Israil, Asrail, are examples of Allah’s angels.
5. Believe in the Day of Judgment: A Muslim believes in the day of the judgment. His written in the holy Quran that the world shall come to an end. Even deeds, action, worden, shall be accounted for on the day of ressivection. Allahs deeds shall be rewarded with heaven while bad deed will be with hell.
6. Believe in Qadaa and Qadar: A Muslim believes in Qadaa and Qadar which relate to the ultimate power of Allah. Qadaa and Qadarmeans the Timeless knowledge of Allah and his power to plan and execute his plans. Allah is not indifferent to this world nor is he neutral to it. It implies that everything on this earth originates from the one and only creator who is also the sustainer and the sole source of guidance. Allah is wise, just and loving, and whatever he does must have a good motive. Althoughwe may fail sometime to understand it fully. We should have strong faith in Allah and accept whatever he does because our knowledge is limited and our thinking is based on individual consideration, whereas his knowledge is limitless and he plan on a universal basis. Man should think, plan and make sound choice.Butif thing do not happen the way he wants, he should not lose faith and surrender himself to mental strains or shattering worries.
Concept of Islamic Education in Nigeria
The word “Islam†is an Arabic word which is derived from “salaam†which means peace, submission and obedience. Technically, it means total submission to the will of Allah S.W.T. (Oniye,2009).Education on the other hand, is the art of learning about one’s self and environment for the purpose of self-development. It is a long-life process in which a personcontinuously acquires new capacities which may take the form of knowledge, skill, attitude and values (Fafunwa,2004). Islam examines education from a broader perspective, with a concept that is both scientific and philosophical. Thus, the concept of education in lslam means the process of developing balanced growth of the total personality of man through the training of man’s spirit, intellect, rational feedings and bodily senses. It is on this balanced growth that lslam has based its educational system and enjoined all Muslims to pursue it. This therefore leads us what could be called ‘’Islamic education’’.
Yusuf (2015) described Islamic education as a system of education dealing with teaching and learning philosophy, aims and objectives of Islam as are religion of Allah. Oniye (2009) stated that Islamic education aimed to produce a balance growth in the individual through both spiritual and intellectual training which caters for all aspects of human existence. He maintained that the guiding principle of Islam contained in the Quran and Hadith support and encourage the quest for education by all Muslims irrespective of age, sex and status. Yusuf (2015) define Islamic education as making mankind to reach the peak of Islamic beliefs, goodness, excellence through the experience of such individual to the word of Allah.
