Strong Aqidah Towards the Noble Ummah In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Beneficent. Assalamualaikum w.b.

t and a very good morning I bid to the honourable chairperson, panel of wise judges, precise timekeeper, the lovely audience and of course my fellow friends. I hope you can lend me your ears to hear my speech, entitled Strong Aqidah Towards the Noble Ummah Ladies and gentlemen, What do we know about Aqidah? When we say the word Aqidah, it means that which our heart accepts without reservation, from the absolute facts revealed to Allahs messenger, our beloved Prophet Muhammad Peace Be Upon Him. The word Aqidah comes from the Arabic root of `Aqada which means to hold tightly and make a knot. The meaning of Aqidah as it relates to our behavior and mentality means to be firm and tenacious. This is the way every Muslim should feel when it comes to the fundamentals of Islam. More clearly, Aqidah is to believe in Allah and everything related to Him; His worthiness of worship and lordship, his names and attributes, belief in the angels, books, messengers, destiny, the last day and everything authentic in the religion. We must accept Allah as the ruler and legislator and accept the messenger, peace be upon him, as one worthy of obedience and as a leader and guide, whose behaviour and judgment we seek to emulate. Before I elaborate further of how one could have a strong Aqidah, lets define the term noble. There are a number of synonyms for the word noble. Insofar as the topic is concerned however, I have chosen these three meanings of relevance. 1. Pertaining to persons so distinguished. 2. Of or belonging to a hereditary class that has special social or political status in a country or state and 3. An exalted moral or mental character or excellence. Of the three meanings, the third seems to be the most appropriate as Islam has, always and will always promote excellence in all its subjects in whatever they think, say and perform in all facets of life. Be it physical, mental of spiritual. Now, lets move on to how one can become strong in his or her Aqidah. All muslims must have a strong fundamental belief in the following Six Pillars of Iman being: Belief Belief Belief Belief Belief in in in in in Allah; the angels; the revealed books; the commissioned Messengers (peace be upon them). the resurrection and the events of Qiyamah.

Belief in the predestination by Allah of all things, both the (seemingly) good and the (seemingly) bad.

My first point is belief in Allah as the only God and He is the only one of whom all the people throughout the world should obey and none other. A verse in Al-Quran, [He is Allah, than Whom there is laa ilaaha illa huwa {none
deserves to be worshiped but He} the All-Knowing of the unseen and the seen {open}. He is the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.] Surah Al Hashr {59:22}.

This verse shows that Allah is the most merciful and none deserves to be worshiped but He. So, in the term of a noble ummah , they should obey on every command of Allah. They should believe in Allah and never ever associate Him with anything else. They should hold tightly to this principle wherever they go. Either on land or sea or even in the sky. Do you remember the torture of Umaiyah towards Bilal bin Rabah? He was dragged by Umaiyyah to the middle of the dessert heat where Umaiyah put a big stone on Bilals chest. Umaiyah forced him to leave Islam and return to his old religion, but Bilal held steadfast to his belief in the only god who is Allah and asserted that again and again. This is an excellent example of his unwavering belief in Allah. Dear audience, My second point is belief in the angels. Angels are God's creatures created from light, possessed of the regular characters as always being loyal and obedient to perform all orders of Allah. Satan on the other hand are also creatures of Allah but is created from fire, he is the enemy of God who is always continuously tempting to motivate people to disbelieve in Allah. Angels are real beings, not illusions or figments of human imagination. A Muslim must believe specifically in all the angels named and/or described in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. This belief is essential in understanding that Allah is omnipotent in the sense that he can garner the strengths of His Angels in ensuring that nothing is left unobserved. These angels are also duty-bound to ensure that all Allahs decrees are carried out without failure for instance whilst Jibril: in charge of delivering revelation and Mika'il: in charge of bringing the rain, Israfil: the blower of the horn on Qiyamah, Malik-ul-Maut: the Angel of Death who takes people's souls at death right at the precise moment, not a second sooner not a second later. Hence all muslims must believe that all their actions are therefore not left unobserved by Allah through His angels.

My third point is belief in the Books of Allah. In order to have a solid aqidah, all
muslims must have a general belief in the phenomenon of the sending of books. There

are six specific books mentioned in the Qur'an namely:

As-Suhuf of Ibrahim and Musa, Az-Zabur given to Daud, At-Taurat revealed to Musa, Al-Injil revealed to Isa and of course Al-Qur'an - the final revelation which was revealed to our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him). One of the greatest the attributes of the Qur'an is that it is flawless and untampered with. It is A guidance and a mercy not just to muslims but to all mankind and hence it must be must be followed and applied without doubts or questions.
My fourth point is belief in Belief in the commissioned Messengers (peace

be upon them). However as our last Prophet is Muhammad Rasulullah (Peace Be Upon Him) and we are all born after his time, he is therefore the central and integral part of our life as he has set an excellent example to the whole world. I am sure we all know of his trials and tribulations during his dakwah to convert his people in converting to Islam and to worship Allah, right? How many of us really follow his sunnah? If the answer is yes, then its good. However, if we have not, then we should all endeavour to make ourselves better. We can all become a noble ummah by following closely the sunnah of Rasulullah. We all know that Rasulullah during his time is a very polite, responsible, respectful and lovely person. The way he talks is very soft and polite. He never forces anyone to profess Islam but he shows the sweetness and beauty of Islam. Through his great examples, he has managed to attract the quraisy people to be interested in Islam and hence profess this great religion of ours. Thus, by following his sunnah, we can also be a noble ummah. Allah subhanahuwa taala states in the noble quran : [And
whoever obeys Allh and His Messenger, he has won a great success. (33:71)] My fifth point is belief in the resurrection and the events of Qiyamah. This

is the day of reconstruction of the body and return of the soul to it. People will come forth out of their graves like locusts. Faces bent down. Rushing to the Caller. In one Hadith as narrated by Muslim: The sun will come down toward the people on the day of Qiyamah until it is only about a mile up. The people will be in their own perspiration according to their acts: some of them will be in it up to their ankles, some up to their groin and others up to their chins, and he pointed to his mouth. The point that I wish to stress is the fact that all mankind will be duly rewarded or otherwise punished on this judgement day. In becoming a person with strong faith and aqidah, a muslim knows that whatever good or bad deeds that he or she has performed on this earth even the size of an atom will has its consequence good or bad. A noble muslim will therefore think first before committing any act that will only result in him or her being punished during the judgement day. Likewise, it will also be a drive for him

or her to perform good deeds without hesitation because of the belief of pahala which is the reward that he or she will get in the hereafter.
Finally my sixth point is belief in the predestination by Allah of all things,

both the (seemingly) good and the (seemingly) bad. No muslim with a strong aqidah will ever blame Allah for whatever misfortune or misfortunes that befalls him because he or she knows that these are merely tests that Allah has given him to see whether he or she can withstand such tests to become His subject. As stated in Al Quran: Whatever Allah grants to people of mercy - none can withhold it; and whatever He withholds - none can release it thereafter. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise. Fathir verse 2. When a muslim fully understand this very verse and all the other true verses in the Quran, he or she knows that Allah has predestined him or her in such al way to ensure that he or she is guided in the right way always. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it is indeed not easy to have a strong aqidah in becoming a noble muslim. Yet, Allah has provided us with all the tools and technology to achieve this greatness that we are all predestined towards in the Six Pillars of Iman and the performance of the Five Tenets of Islam. In conclusion the most important part of the Aqidah of the Muslim is AlTawheed, which is the oneness of Allah in worship, lordship and names and attributes. The importance and meaning of Al-Tawheed enables us to use the term interchangeably with Aqidah. Allah created the heavens and the earth solely for Al-Tawheed; he sent all the messengers and prophets to invite the people to Al-Tawheed and to worship him alone. Consequently, it is incumbent upon us as Muslims to learn this, to know the purpose behind our existence, and to teach and spread this knowledge to our children, families and humanity. We should strive to return to the pure faith, and correct some common Aqidah mistakes which affect many Muslims, whether in belief or practice. Thats all from me, wabillahitaufiq warahmatullah hiwabarakatuh. Thank you walhidayah wasalamualaikum