Doctrines and beliefs

Shahadah, tawhid, akhirah and Yawm al-din — plus the statement that Islam is not only belief but also practice.

Tawhid is the oneness of Allah, an Islamic expression of monotheism. Shirk is polytheism — associating anything with God.

Iman is faith in God; islam is submission to the will of Allah; risalah is God's message as it was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad.

Akhirah is life after death; Yawm al-din is Judgment Day. The guide asks for the Day of Judgment and its signs, and for the life to come with its reward and punishment.

Allah as Creator — creation in time, creation at once — and the purpose of creation: of the world, of humankind, of angels and of jinns.

Because shirk is associating anything with God, so God is not depicted — which is why calligraphy and inscription rather than images are the major religious art.

It is a statement of belief and the first Pillar at once — the same words functioning as doctrine and as ritual act, valid only when uttered with niyya.

Christianity recites formal creeds settled at councils; Judaism has few formal statements because the emphasis is on obedience to the Torah. Islam fuses both in a single declaration that is also an act.

Because a tradition that has a word for unbelief is not indifferent to belief — which counts against any claim that Islam is only about practice.

The Prophet Muhammad (Sunna of the Prophet), previous prophets, caliphs, imams in Shia and Sunni thought, qadis and muftis, Shaykhs and Pirs in Sufism, and other leaders.

Four Sunni — Maliki, Hanbali, Hanafi and Shafi'i — and the Shi'i school, the Ja'faris.

Because the schools are recognised methods rather than rival institutions: a Muslim follows one, and a question may be answered differently in another without either leaving Islam.

Mutakallimun (theologians), philosophers, and the different interpretations offered by Sufis and Shi'is.

Because in Sunnism it names the person who leads prayer, while in Shi'a thought the Imams are the line of authority descended from the Prophet's family. The guide lists imams in Shia and Sunni thought.

The ulama are the religious scholars; a qadi is a judge; a mufti gives a legal opinion. Authority here is earned by learning rather than conferred by ordination.

As a mystical strand within both branches rather than a third branch — the guide lists Sufi interpretations under schools of thought and Shaykhs and Pirs under authority of the person.

Roman Catholicism has a teaching office that can define a question for all Catholics; Sikhism has no priesthood or jurists at all; Islam sits between, with an undisputed text and a scholarly class whose rulings bind those who accept them.