Islam

What Islam covers

One of the six Paper 4 options. The six beliefs and the five pillars, the life of the Prophet, the Qur'an, Sunnah and Shari'ah, the Sunni and Shi'a division and its origins, Sufism, and Islam's engagement with science, gender and the modern world.

The 15 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

• The Six Beliefs of IslamRecall questions on the Sunni articles of faith and the Twelver Shi'a scheme, adalat, tawhid and the 99 Names, Chittick and Nasr on tawhid, angels, the books and prophets, the afterlife, and qadr and human responsibility.Open →
• The Life of the Prophet MuhammadRecall questions on Muhammad's life, Khadijah, the Night of Power, the hijrah and Madinah, the farewell address, pre-Islamic Arabia and its religion, trade, poetry and society, and Armstrong's and Lings's accounts of the Prophet.Open →
• Hadith and SunnahRecall questions on the difference between the two, isnad and matn, the grading of reports, and the major collections.Open →
• The Qur'an and Shari'ahRecall questions on the Qur'an's status and compilation, the opening surah and al-Baqarah, the sources of Shari'ah and fiqh, the five categories of the Ahkam, alcohol, modesty, gambling and slaughter, and Nasr and Malik on reading the tradition.Open →
• The Five PillarsRecall questions on shahada, salah and Sunni and Shi'a prayer, zakat and khums, the Ramadan fast, the rites of Hajj, intention, diversity in practice, and Nasr and Mona Siddiqui on what the ritual acts accomplish.Open →
• The UmmahRecall questions on the meaning, origins and spread of the ummah, whether it has ever been united, its institutions and political uses, Sunni and Shi'a understandings of the community, Watt's sociological account and Nasr on its threats.Open →
• Sunni and Shi'a IslamRecall questions on the succession dispute, Ghadir Khumm, Abu Bakr and Ali, the differing sources, the caliphate and the Imamate, practical differences and distribution, and Armstrong and Nasr on the division.Open →
• The Rightly Guided CaliphsRecall questions on Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and Ali, the expansion under them, and the conflicts that led to division.Open →
• The Martyrdom of Husain and the Rites of MuharramRecall questions on Husain and Karbala, Ashura and the first ten days of Muharram, forms of mourning, pilgrimage and ta'ziya, Halm's historical work and N Ahmed on Karbala's significance.Open →
• SufismRecall questions on the origins of Sufism and its early figures, its acceptance in Sunni orthodoxy, the tariqas and Sufi practice, Sunni and Shi'a responses, Geaves on Sufism in Britain and Chittick's emphasis.Open →
• Islam and ScienceRecall questions on medieval Muslim science, the philosophical conflict, al-Ghazali on the philosophers and causation, the arrival of modern science, modernist compatibility arguments, the scientific miracles approach, and Nasr's critique of modern science.Open →
• JihadRecall questions on the meaning of jihad, the greater and lesser jihad and the nafs, classical conditions and restraints on fighting, dar al-Islam and dar al-harb, Khadduri and Tariq Ramadan, the verse of the sword, and Nasr.Open →
• Islam and Other ReligionsRecall questions on Qur'anic categories and the People of the Book, coercion in religion, classical provision for non-Muslims, tolerant traditions and restrictions, Scriptural Reasoning, views of other truths and non-religious worldviews, and T Ramadan and Madjid.Open →
• Gender and IslamRecall questions on the Qur'an and hadith on men and women, women in the earliest community, the veiling debate, changing roles, Islamic feminism and the case against it, and L Ahmed and Nasr.Open →
• Islam, Secularisation and the Modern WorldRecall questions on secularisation, Shari'ah under secular law and religious councils, literalist, traditionalist and modernist readings, the liberationist strand, migration, modesty and entertainment, and Nasr and Mona Siddiqui on the modern world.Open →

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Take Islam further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

• Qur'an vs Hadith

  Qur'an: the revelation received by Muhammad and held to be the speech of God. Hadith: a report of what the Prophet said or did.

• Shari'ah vs Fiqh

  Shari'ah: the divine law itself. Fiqh: the scholarly understanding and elaboration of that law.

• Sunni Islam vs Shi'a Islam

  Sunni Islam: the majority tradition accepting the succession of the elected caliphs. Shi'a Islam: the tradition holding leadership belonged to the Prophet's family through Ali.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   What are the six articles of faith that Sunni Muslims traditionally list?

   Model answer

   Belief that Allah is one; belief in angels; belief in the revealed scriptures; belief in the prophets; belief in the Day of Judgement; and belief in divine decree, qadr. Sunni tradition calls them the pillars of faith, arkan al-iman, and summarises them in a set creedal formula that many Muslims learn by heart.

2. 2

   Why do Muslims describe these beliefs as interlocking rather than as a list?

   Model answer

   Because each depends on tawhid. Angels and prophets are the means by which the one God communicates; the scriptures are that communication; judgement is the moral outcome of accepting or refusing it; and qadr is the framework within which the whole thing runs. Remove the first and the rest lose their point.

3. 3

   How does the Twelver Shi'a scheme of fundamental beliefs differ in shape?

   Model answer

   Twelver Shi'a Muslims speak of five roots of religion: tawhid, divine justice (adalat), prophethood, the Imamate and the resurrection. The content overlaps heavily with the Sunni six, but adalat and the Imamate are raised to the status of foundations, while angels, scriptures and decree are treated within those headings rather than listed separately.

4. 4

   What work does adalat do in Shi'a theology?

   Model answer

   It holds that justice belongs to Allah's very nature rather than being simply whatever Allah happens to will, so Allah cannot act unjustly. Twelver Shi'a Muslims draw from this that human beings must be genuinely free, since punishing someone for what they could not avoid would be unjust. Much Sunni theology, especially the Ash'ari school, instead makes the good whatever Allah decrees, and puts the weight on omnipotence.

5. 5

   Tawhid is usually translated as oneness. What does it rule out as well as affirm?

   Model answer

   It affirms that Allah is one, without partner, parts or offspring, and unlike anything created. It rules out shirk, associating anything with Allah, which Muslims regard as the gravest of sins; it rules out picturing the divine in creaturely form, which shapes Islamic art; and it rules out any intermediary whose permission is needed for access to Allah.

6. 6

   Why do Muslims speak of Allah through the 99 Beautiful Names?

   Model answer

   Muslims hold that the divine essence is unknowable in itself, so the names are how Allah has chosen to be known: the Merciful, the Compassionate, the Sovereign, the Holy, the Just, the Provider. They are recited in remembrance, counted on prayer beads, and give many Muslims their own names, such as Abd al-Rahman, servant of the Merciful.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.

Islam revision questions

What does Islam cover in Edexcel A-Level Religious Studies?

15 subtopics: the six beliefs of islam, the life of the prophet muhammad, hadith and sunnah, the qur'an and shari'ah, the five pillars, the ummah, sunni and shi'a islam, the rightly guided caliphs, the martyrdom of husain and the rites of muharram, sufism, islam and science, jihad, islam and other religions, gender and islam and islam, secularisation and the modern world. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.

How is Islam organised?

By the Edexcel 9RS0 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.