ALLAH IS NOT ENOUGH

Belief in Allah alone in not sufficient.  It must be accompanied by belief in the apostleship of Muhammad.  A delegation of the tribe of RabI�a visits Muhammad.  He tells the delegates: �I direct you to affirm belief in Allah alone,� and then asks them: �Do you know what belief in Allah really implies?� Then he himself answers: �It implies testimony to the fact that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.� Other things mentioned are prayer, zakAt, RamzAn, and �that you pay one-fifth of the booty� (23).  We shall hear more about war booty in its proper place.

In the same vein, Muhammad tells Mu�Az, whom he sends out as governor of Yemen: �First call them to testify that there is no god but Allah, that I [Muhammad] am the Messenger of Allah; and if they accept this, then tell them that Allah has made ZakAt obligatory for them� (27).

There is a still clearer statement of Muhammad�s mission.  �I have been commanded to fight against people till they testify that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and they establish prayer, and pay ZakAtand if they do it, their blood and property are guaranteed protection on my behalf� (33).

Muhammad retails the word �Allah� profusely, but there are times when even Allah occupies a backseat.  �None of you is a believer till I am dearer to him than his child, his father and the whole mankind,� Muhammad tells the believers (71).

Allah and his Messenger-rather, Muhammad and his God-prayer, zakAt, RamzAn, and pilgrimage are sometimes called the �five pillars� of Islam, but there are other beliefs and institutions no less important which recur again and again in the HadIs.  These are, to name the more important ones, Paradise, Hell, Doomsday, jihAd (holy war against polytheists,) jizyA (the poll tax paid by polytheists), war booty (ghanImah), and khums (the holy one-fifth).  These are the staples of the religion preached by Muhammad.  Allah becomes concrete in His threats and punishments of Hell, and in His promises and rewards of Paradise.  Similarly, in the history of Islam, jihAd and war booty have played a more important role than even pilgrimage or zakAt.  All of these concepts will come up for review in this study in their proper places.

AUTHOR:  RAM SWARUP