> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Pillars of Faith: The Hadith of Jibrīl and the History of Creed - URL: https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/pillars-of-faith/ - Published: 2026-11-11T00:03:22.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-11T00:04:13.000Z - Description: The six pillars of faith and five of Islam, set out from the hadith of Jibrīl in Arabic, with the Qur'an and sound hadith behind each, the names of Allah, and how Muslims came to argue about and write down their creed. - Author: Sarge Siddiqui - Tags: Deen, New to Islam, Belief, Interactive Tools New to the Qur'an? Start with [The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/the-quran/), then read [Muhammad ﷺ: A Life](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/prophet-muhammad/). All articles: [Deen: Start Here](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/deen/). Deen · Interactive · أركان الإيمان What a Muslim believes, set out the way the Prophet ﷺ answered Jibrīl: faith, submission and excellence. Each pillar comes with the Qur'an in Arabic and English and a sound hadith, followed by the history of how Muslims came to argue about and write down their creed. The hadith of Jibrīl Six pillars of faith Five pillars of Islam Names of Allah History of creed Schools of theology Check yourself Qur'anSunnasound evidenceScholarshistory and school positionsDisputeda report whose chain is contested This hadith exists because of an argument. Around the year 80 AH, Yaḥyā ibn Yaʿmar and a friend left Basra for Hajj, troubled that a man called Maʿbad al-Juhanī was teaching there that there is no divine decree. In Madinah they met ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿUmar, who disowned the idea and answered with what his father ʿUmar had seen: a stranger in white, with no trace of travel, who sat knee to knee with the Prophet ﷺ and asked him about Islam, faith and excellence. Muslim placed it first in his Ṣaḥīḥ. Islam الإِسْلاَمُ أَنْ تَشْهَدَ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَتُقِيمَ الصَّلاَةَ وَتُؤْتِيَ الزَّكَاةَ وَتَصُومَ رَمَضَانَ وَتَحُجَّ الْبَيْتَ إِنِ اسْتَطَعْتَ إِلَيْهِ سَبِيلاً Islam is to testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to establish the prayer, pay the zakat, fast Ramaḍān, and make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able. Īmān: faith أَنْ تُؤْمِنَ بِاللَّهِ وَمَلاَئِكَتِهِ وَكُتُبِهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَتُؤْمِنَ بِالْقَدَرِ خَيْرِهِ وَشَرِّهِ That you believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers and the Last Day, and that you believe in the divine decree, its good and its bad. Iḥsān: excellence أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ That you worship Allah as though you see Him, and if you do not see Him, He sees you. Sunna [Muslim 8](https://sunnah.com/muslim:8a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com), Arabic as on sunnah.com. A shorter version from Abū Hurayrah is [Bukhārī 50](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:50?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). When the stranger left, the Prophet ﷺ told ʿUmar: “That was Jibrīl. He came to teach you your religion.” Scholars read the three answers as three levels of one religion: what the limbs do, what the heart holds, and the quality of both. The Qur'an names five of the six together, and the believers' creed in the last verses of al-Baqarah. ## Islam is built on five بُنِيَ الإِسْلاَمُ عَلَى خَمْسٍ شَهَادَةِ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ وَأَنَّ مُحَمَّدًا رَسُولُ اللَّهِ، وَإِقَامِ الصَّلاَةِ، وَإِيتَاءِ الزَّكَاةِ، وَالْحَجِّ، وَصَوْمِ رَمَضَانَ Islam is built on five: testifying that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establishing the prayer, paying the zakat, the Hajj, and fasting Ramaḍān. Sunna [Bukhārī 8](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:8?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com), from Ibn ʿUmar For each pillar in depth, see [The Five Pillars and the Six Articles of Faith](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/five-pillars/). “Allah has ninety-nine names; whoever counts them will enter Paradise” [Bukhārī 2736](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2736?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). Scholars The well-known list of ninety-nine is in al-Tirmidhī; many hadith scholars hold the list was added by a narrator rather than said by the Prophet ﷺ. Every name below is taken straight from the Qur'an. Tap one to read its verse. For the first generation, faith was simply what the Prophet ﷺ taught. The questions that became “creed” were forced by events: civil war, arguments about sin, about the decree, about the Qur'an itself. This is the outline of how the Sunni creeds took shape. Scholars Dates follow the standard biographical and historical works (al-Ṭabarī's *Tārīkh*, al-Dhahabī's *Siyar*). For more on how this history divided and connected Muslim groups, see [Belief in God, the Prophets and the Unseen](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/creed/) and [schools of thought](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/schools-of-thought/). Scholars Sunni Muslims have three main approaches to theology. All affirm the six pillars; they differ in method and in how they speak about Allah's attributes. The Amman Message (2004–05), signed by scholars across the Muslim world, recognised Ashʿarī and Māturīdī theology and “true Salafī thought” alike as within Sunni Islam. | | Atharī (Ahl al-Ḥadīth) | Ashʿarī | Māturīdī | | ---------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | **Named after** | *Athar*, “transmitted report”; Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal (d. 241 AH), later Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728 AH) | Abu'l-Ḥasan al-Ashʿarī (d. 324 AH) | Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333 AH) | | **Followed mostly by** | Ḥanbalīs; the Salafī movement today | Many Shāfiʿīs and Mālikīs; al-Azhar | Most Ḥanafīs: South Asia, Turkey, Central Asia | | **Attributes such as Allah's “hand”, or rising over the Throne** | Affirmed as stated, without asking how and without likening Him to creation | Affirmed, with their meaning consigned to Allah (tafwīḍ), or read figuratively (taʾwīl) where needed | Close to the Ashʿarī approach | | **Role of reason** | Follows the texts; reason supports | Reason defends revealed belief | Reason can know Allah exists, and some good and evil, before revelation | | **Does faith increase and decrease?** | Yes, with deeds | Yes | Faith itself is affirmation and does not change in amount; its strength and light do | | **Describing tawḥīd** | Three aspects: lordship, worship, names and attributes | Oneness in essence, attributes and acts | Similar to the Ashʿarī | All three hold to 42:11. Their differences are about how to honour both halves of that verse: nothing is like Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing. Sources Qur'an: Arabic (Uthmani script) and Dr Mustafa Khattab, *The Clear Quran*, from quran.com. Hadith Arabic and English: sunnah.com, checked 11 Nov 2026. 1. [Muslim 8](https://sunnah.com/muslim:8a?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (the hadith of Jibrīl, with the Basra background), [Bukhārī 50](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:50?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com), [Bukhārī 8](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:8?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com), [Bukhārī 2736](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:2736?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). 2. [Muslim 2996](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2996?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (angels created from light), [Muslim 2664](https://sunnah.com/muslim:2664?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (the strong believer and the decree), [Bukhārī 6502](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:6502?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (drawing near through obligations), [Bukhārī 3](https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com) (the first revelation). 3. History: al-Ṭabarī, *Tārīkh al-rusul wa'l-mulūk* (the miḥnah under al-Maʾmūn); al-Shahrastānī, *al-Milal wa'l-niḥal* (the early groups); al-Ṭaḥāwī, *al-ʿAqīdah al-Ṭaḥāwiyyah*; Ibn Taymiyyah, *al-ʿAqīdah al-Wāsiṭiyyah*; [The Amman Message](https://ammanmessage.com/?ref=mohammadsiddiqui.com). **Spotted a mistake, or know a better source?** I check and correct these pages when readers point things out. Please email [mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com](mailto:mohammad.siddiqui@icloud.com?subject=Correction%3A%20Pillars%20of%20Faith%3A%20The%20Hadith%20of%20Jibr%C4%ABl%20and%20the%20History%20of%20Creed) with the passage, what you think is wrong, and your source (Qur'an reference, hadith with collection and number, or a book with page). Related reading - [Belief in God, the Prophets and the Unseen](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/creed/) - [The Five Pillars and the Six Articles of Faith](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/five-pillars/) - [Character (Akhlāq) and Iḥsān: The Third Dimension](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/character-and-ihsan/) - [Deen: Start Here](https://www.mohammadsiddiqui.com/deen/deen/), every article and tool