Allahu ta'ala has mercy upon all people on the earth. He creates useful things and sends them to everybody. He shows the way to Endless Bliss. He guides to the right path whomever He wishes among those who left the true way and followed the way to kufr (infidelity) and heresy as a result of being deceived by their own nafs (human desires), bad friends, harmful books, and the media. He saves them from eternal calamity. He does not bestow this blessing upon those who are cruel and exceed the limits. He lets them stay on the way of kufr, which they like and desire. In the next world, He will forgive whomever He wants of those guilty believers who are to go to Hell, and He will admit them to Paradise. He alone creates every living creature, keeps every being in existence every moment and protects all against fear and horror. Trusting ourselves to the honorable name of Allahu ta'ala, that is, expecting help from Him we begin to write this book.

May glory be to Allahu ta'ala. Peace and blessings be upon His beloved Prophet Muhammad ('alaihi 's-salam). May all auspicious prayers be on his Ahl al-Bait and on each of his just and devoted Companions (as-Sahabat al-kiram).

Thousands of precious books have been written on the tenets of the Islamic faith and its commands and prohibitions, and many of them have been translated

into foreign languages and distributed to every country. On the other hand, ill-willed and short-sighted people have continuously attacked the useful, bountiful and lightsome rules of Islam and have striven to blemish and change it and to deceive Muslims.

It is still seen with gratitude that in almost every country scholars of Islam are striving to disseminate and defend this path. Unsuitable speeches and articles, however, are still being witnessed, which claimed to be taken from but out of misunderstanding of - the Qur'an al-karim and the hadith ash-Sharif by a few people who have not read or understood the books by the 'ulama' of Ahl as-Sunnat. Yet these speeches and articles are ineffective in front of the firm iman of Muslim brothers and have no influence, but indicate the ignorance of their agents.

A person who claims to be a Muslim and who has been seen performing salat in jamaat must be regarded as Muslim. If, later on, in his speech, writing or behavior something is seen disagreeing with the knowledge of iman as conveyed by the 'ulama' of Ahl as-Sunnat, he will be told that this is disbelief or heresy. He will be told to cease from it and repent. If, with his short mind and coarse reasoning, he answers that he will not, it will be understood that he is a heretic or disbeliever. Even if he continues performing salat, performs hajj and does all kinds of worship and good deeds, he will not escape this disaster unless he gives up the things or acts which causes kufr and unless he repents; he will not be a Muslim. By learning well the things that cause disbelief, each Muslim should protect himself from becoming a disbeliever and should know well the disbelievers and those liars who pretend to be Muslims and keep away from their harm.

Rasulullah (sall-Allahu ta'ala 'alaihi wa sallam) said in a hadith ash-Sharif that wrong, false meanings would be extracted from the Qur'an al-karim and hadith, and thus seventy-two heretical groups would appear. This hadith ash-Sharif is explained in the books Bariqa and Al-Hadiqa, which derived it from the Sahihain of al-Bukhari and Muslim. We should not be taken in by the books and lectures of the men of these groups who come forward under such names as 'great scholar of Islam' or 'professor of religion,' and we should be very alert not to fall into the traps of these thieves of faith and belief. Besides those insidious enemies, communists and freemasons, and also Christian missionaries and Jewish Zionists try to deceive the Muslim youth through made-up and deceitful articles, motion pictures, theater, and radio or television broadcasts. They spend millions for this purpose. The 'ulama' of Islam (rahimahumullah) have given necessary responses to all of them and have shown Allahu ta'ala's religion and the way to happiness and salvation.

From among them, we have chosen the book Itiqad-nama by Mawlana Diya' ad-din Khalid al-Baghdadi al-'Osmani (quddisa sirruh), who was a distinguished scholar of Islam. Itiqad-nama was formerly translated into Turkish by the late Haji Faizullah Effendi of Kemah, Erzincan, with the title Fara'id al-fawa'id and was printed in Egypt in 1312 A.H. This translation is simplified under the title Belief and Islam. The translators' own explanations are given in blocked brackets. We thank Allahu ta'ala for vouchsafing the lot of publishing this book for the 14th time in English. The original of this book, Itiqad-nama, is in Persian and exists in the Istanbul University Library (Ibnul Emin Mahmud Kamal Dept. F. 2639).

It is written at the end of the subject about 'disbeliever's marriage' in Durr al-mukhtar, "If a Muslim girl with nikah (marriage contract as prescribed by Islam) does not know Islam when she reaches puberty, her nikah becomes void [she becomes a renegade]. The attributes of Allahu ta'ala must be told to her, and she must repeat them and say, 'I believe these.' " In explaining this, Ibn 'Abidin (rahimah- Allahu ta'ala) said, "As the girl is little, she belongs in her parents' faith; she is Muslim. When she reaches puberty, she does not belong to her parents' faith any longer. When she reaches puberty, because of her unawareness of Islam, she becomes a renegade. Unless she learns and believes the six tenets of Islam and believes that it is necessary to live up to Islam, she will not continue to be Muslim even if she utters the Kalimat at-tawhid, that is, says, 'La ilaha illa'llah Muhammadun Rasul-Allah.' She has to believe the six tenets expressed in 'Amantu bi-'llahi..,' and she has to say, 'I accept the commands and prohibitions of Allahu ta'ala.' "This explanation of Ibn 'Abidin shows that a disbeliever becomes Muslim as soon as he says the Kalimat at-tawhid and believes its meaning. But, like any other Muslim, when he has the chance he has to memorize the following words and learn their meaning precisely: "Amantu bi'llahi wa Mala'ikatihi wa Kutubihi wa Rasuluhi wal-yawm-il-akhiri wa bil-qadari khayrihi wa sharrihi minallahi ta'ala walba'su ba'd-al-mawti haqqun ash-hadu an la ilaha illallah wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhu wa Rasuluhu."

Also, if a Muslim boy does not learn these six tenets and say that he believes them, he becomes a renegade when he reaches puberty. This work, Belief and Islam, contains detailed information on these six tenets. Every Muslim should read this book well and do his best to get his children and all his acquaintances to read it.

In the text, the meaning of ayat-i karimas are given as ma'al, which means 'meaning as reported by the scholars of tafsir'; because, the meaning of ayat-i karimas had been understood only by Rasulullah (sall-Allahu 'alaihi wa sallam) and were revealed to his Sahaba by him. The scholars of tafsir (science of interpretation of the Qur'an al-karim) differentiated these hadiths from those made up by munafiqs, mulhids and zindiqs, and, for those hadith ash-Sharifs they could not find, they themselves gave meanings to those ayats by following tafsirs. What is understood by the ignorant in religion, who speak Arabic but have no knowledge of tafsir, is not called the tafsir (interpretation) of the Qur'an. That is why a hadith ash-Sharif says, 'One who gives meaning to the Qur'an al-karim according to his own understanding becomes a disbeliever.' A glossary of Arabic and other non-English terms foreign to the English reader is appended.

May Allahu ta'ala have us all keep to the right path shown by the scholars of Ahl as-Sunnat! May he protect us from believing in the false, deceitful, insidious lies of the enemies of Islam and of the non-madhhabite using the name 'great scholar of Islam'!

Miladi (1992) Hijri Shamsi (1370) Hijri Kamari (1412)