Iman [faith: what the heart believes and holds true] has six pillars. They are not six separate subjects; they are the supports of one belief, and the Prophet ﷺ named them together in a single answer. This page takes them in his order.
What follows is quoted from the scholars’ explanations; the words between the quotations are mine, kept plain. When Islam and Iman are named together, Islam is the outward actions, the five pillars, and Iman is the inward beliefs, these six, whose place is in the heart, and a Muslim brings the two together. That difference is explained in full on What Is the Difference Between Islam, Iman and Ihsan? and is not taught again here.
A pillar is a support, not an addition. Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan explains the treatise’s words “and its pillars are six”:
“Meaning, the supports upon which it stands; and it is lost by way of them being lost, or by way of one of the six pillars being lost.”
Each one carries weight, and the loss of one is the loss of iman itself. First, the evidence the treatise itself gives.
The Evidence
The treatise names its proof from the Qur’an, in the translation printed in Shaykh al-Fawzan’s explanation:
“It is not al-birr [piety, righteousness, and each and every act of obedience to Allah, etc.] that you turn your faces towards east and (or) west (in prayers); but al-birr is (the quality of) the one who believes in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets.”
Surah al-Baqarah (2), verse 177. The verse names five of the six; the sixth, the divine decree, is named in the Prophet’s ﷺ own answer, next.
The Answer of the Prophet ﷺ
In the Hadith of Jibril, the Prophet ﷺ was asked about iman. His answer, in the wording printed in Shaykh al-Fawzan’s explanation, stands alone here:
“He said, ‘Inform me about al-iman,’ so he ﷺ said, ‘It is that you believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, the Last Day, and that you believe in al-qadar, its good and its evil.’”
Nothing else of that long narration is quoted here. It stands in full on Hadith 2: The Hadith of Jibril. The six sections below follow the answer’s order.
1. Belief in Allah
The first pillar is iman in Allah itself. Shaykh al-Fawzan:
“The first pillar is iman in Allah, and it comprises the three categories of tawhid: iman in Allah, the One, the Singular, the Unique, the Self-Sufficient, who has no partners in His Lordship, His worship, or His names and attributes.”
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen opens his explanation of this pillar with the words “Eemaan in Allah comprises four matters”, and his commentary on al-Aqidah al-Wasitiyyah lists the four:
“Because we have mentioned that faith in Allah, the Mighty and Sublime, comprises four things: Believing in His Existence, and His sole (right of) Lordship, and Divinity, and believing in His Names and Attributes. That is, part of believing in Allah is the faith in what He describes Himself with.”
The last of the four, the names and attributes, he explains in his Three Fundamental Principles commentary:
“(4) Belief in Allah’s names and attributes. That is to affirm whatever names and attributes Allah affirmed for Himself in His Book, or in the Sunnah of his Messenger (ﷺ), in a manner befitting Him, without changing or twisting their wording or meaning (tahreef), without denial of them (ta’teel), without asserting how they are (takyeef) and without declaring them to be like the attributes of the creation (tamtheel).”
The three categories in the first quotation are named on this page, not taught. The worship of Allah alone is the subject of Tawheed (Monotheism).
2. Belief in the Angels
The second pillar is iman in the angels. Shaykh al-Fawzan:
“And the angels are a creation of Allah within the realm of the unseen. Allah created them for his worship and to carry out His commands within His kingdom.”
The same page continues:
“And they are of different categories. Each category has a function with which they have been entrusted and which they establish. And they do not disobey Allah in that which He has commanded them, and they do what they have been commanded. So, from them is he who was instructed with the revelation, and this is Jibril; and he is the noblest of the angels. And he is the trustworthy Spirit who is mighty in his strength.”
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen describes them:
“The angels (al-malaa’ikah) are created beings unseen to us and hidden from us. They are worshippers of Allah, the Most High, and have none of the qualities of Lordship or Divinity, nor any right to be worshipped. Allah, the Most High, created them from light, and bestowed upon them complete submission to His commands and the power to carry them out.”
And as-Sa’di, explaining the verse in the Evidence above, says the angels named in it are those “whom Allah has described to us in His Book”, and that His Messenger ﷺ has also described them. The belief rests on what has been described, not on what a person imagines about the unseen.
3. Belief in the Books
The third pillar is iman in the Books. Shaykh al-Fawzan:
“And they are Books He has revealed to his messengers to guide the human beings. We believe that they are the speech of Allah in truth, and we believe in those which Allah has named and those which He has not named. Allah has named for us from them at-Tawrah, al-Injil, az-Zabur, the magnificent Qur’an, and the scriptures of Ibrahim and Musa; therefore, we believe in them. We believe in those which Allah has not named from amongst them. So, iman in the previous Books is an iman which is general. Iman in the Qur’an is an iman which is detailed in all that it contains, because it is our Book and it was revealed to our Prophet, Muhammad ﷺ.”
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen explains what the word Books means here:
“The Books (kutub, plural of kitaab) – meaning that which is written. What is meant here is those Books which Allah, the Most High, sent down to His messengers as a mercy to the creation, and as guidance for them, in order to enable them to attain success and happiness in this world and in the Hereafter.”
As-Sa’di says of the Book named in the verse that it “refers to all the Books that Allah sent down to His Messengers, the greatest of which is the Qur’an”. And on the same page, the Shaykh adds that whoever believes in some of the Books and disbelieves in some of them is a disbeliever. The belief is in all of them together.
4. Belief in the Messengers
The fourth pillar is iman in the messengers. Shaykh al-Fawzan:
“Iman in the messengers; iman in all the messengers, from the first to the last of them, those whom Allah has named from them, and those whom He did not name — we believe in all of them and we believe that they are Allah’s messengers in truth. They came with the message and conveyed it to their nations. So, he who disbelieves in one prophet, he has disbelieved in all of the messengers.”
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen explains who a messenger is:
“The messengers (ar-Rusul, plural of Rasool) meaning one who is sent to convey a message and what is meant here is: those of mankind who had Revelation and religious law sent to them and were ordered to convey it to the people. The first of the messengers was Nooh (Noah) and the last of them was Muhammad (ﷺ).”
As-Sa’di draws the same point wider, over everything named in the verse he is explaining:
“It should be understood that disbelieving in any of these things is like disbelieving in all of them, because they are interconnected and it is not possible to believe in some of them without believing in others.”
There is no choosing among the messengers. The named and the unnamed are believed in together.
5. Belief in the Last Day
The fifth pillar is iman in the Last Day. Shaykh al-Fawzan:
“Iman in the Last Day means to believe in that which is after death, the punishment of the grave and its bliss, and the questioning of the two angels in the grave. Believing in everything after the grave is from iman in the Last Day.”
The same page continues:
“Likewise, to believe in the resurrection, the assembling, and the gathering, as well as the recompense, the weighing of the actions, the Sirat (the Bridge), the Mizan (the Scale) upon which the good deeds and evil deeds will be weighed, Paradise, and the Hellfire. (Regarding) the details of what will take place on the Last Day, we believe in them in general as well as in detail, beginning from death until the time when the people of Paradise settle in Paradise and the people of the Hellfire settle in the Hellfire. We believe in everything which has been authentically narrated about this, and we do not doubt anything from it.”
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen explains the name itself:
“The Last Day (al-Yawmul-Aakhir) is the Day of Resurrection when the people will be resurrected, and brought for account, and rewarded or punished. It is called the Last Day since there is no day which comes after it, because on it the people of Paradise will take up residence in their final homes and the people of the Fire in their final abode.”
The weighing of deeds belongs to this pillar, where the Shaykh places it. What happens in the grave before that Day is taught on its own page, in Further Reading.
6. Belief in the Divine Decree (al-Qadar)
The sixth pillar is belief in al-qadar [the divine decree: what Allah has decreed for His creation], its good and its evil. Shaykh al-Fawzan, in the commentary paragraph under that heading:
“You must believe that whatever occurs in this universe is decreed — from good and evil, from kufr and iman, from blessings and curses, from ease and hardship, from illness and health, from life and death — and it is not coincidence, nor is it happenstance (meaning that it is something newly initiated, having not been preceded by its decree). You must believe in all of this, that it is by the decree and preordainment of Allah. We believe that what befalls you was not going to miss you, and what misses you was not going to befall you. And that this is by way of the decree of Allah and its preordainment.”
Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen defines the decree:
“Al-Qadar (Pre-Decree) is ‘Allah, the Most High’s, ordainment of the creation, in accordance with His Knowledge that preceded everything, and in accordance with His Wisdom.’”
And he gives its proof:
“The proof for pre-decree is the Saying of Allah, the Most High, ‘We have created all things in accordance with a pre-decreed measure.’”
Surah al-Qamar (54), verse 49. The Shaykh goes on to set out the levels of this belief; they are not taught on this page. His Wasitiyyah commentary, quoted under the first pillar, is listed in the Book Library.
What It Means to Deny a Pillar
The introduction’s quotation said it plainly: iman is lost by the loss of even one of its six pillars. These beliefs concern the unseen, which a person cannot test with his senses. Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen writes:
“Since the creation cannot reach and perceive all that exists, then it is not permissible to reject those affairs of the Hidden and Unseen that have been affirmed but which they are unable to perceive.”
Iman also increases and decreases, with obedience and with disobedience. That is its own subject, taught on How Can a Muslim Increase His Iman?, and only named here. The six are held together, all of them, or iman itself is not whole.
References
Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles: Shaykh Salih al-Fawzan; Authentic Statements Publishing, translated by Raha Batts (printed pp. 236, 244-245, 252-253, 255-256, 258, 275).
Explanation of the Three Fundamental Principles: Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen; Al-Hidaayah Publishing and Distribution, First Edition 1418 AH/1997 CE, translated by Aboo Talhah Daawood ibn Ronald Burbank (printed pp. 134, 148, 150, 154, 156, 164, 181-182).
Commentary on Al-Aqidah Al-Wasitiyyah, Vol. 1: Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-Uthaymeen; Dar-us-Salam, edition of November 2016, no translator named in my copy (printed p. 96).
Tafsir as-Sa’di, Vol. 1 (Juz 1-3): Shaykh Abdur-Rahman ibn Nasir as-Sa’di; IIPH, English Edition 1, 2018, translated by Nasiruddin al-Khattab (printed p. 213).
Tafsir as-Sa’di, Vol. 2 (Juz 4-6): the same author, edition, and translator (printed p. 308).
Further Reading
- Tawheed (Monotheism): the worship of Allah alone.
- Who Is Allah?: who the first pillar believes in.
- What Are the Five Pillars of Islam?: the outward pillars beside these six.
- Hadith 2: The Hadith of Jibril: the narration in full, in two book wordings.
- What Is the Difference Between Islam, Iman and Ihsan?: the three levels compared from the books.
- How Can a Muslim Increase His Iman?: iman rising and falling.
- What Is the Punishment of the Grave?: what the fifth pillar believes about the grave.
- What Are the Signs of the Day of Judgment?: what comes before the Last Day.
- Book Library: where the Wasitiyyah commentary quoted here is listed.
Verified on 2026-10-24 against the books listed above.