INVESTIGATING ISLAM

Critical Response to the Six Articles of Faith in Islam

The Foundations of Belief or the Machinery of Control?

I. Introduction: Faith or Framework for Obedience?

Islam claims that belief (īmān) in six core doctrines—God, angels, scriptures, prophets, the Day of Judgment, and divine decree—is the foundation of a Muslim’s worldview. These are presented as transcendent truths conveyed by revelation, not subject to negotiation or empirical investigation.

But this immediately raises several questions:

Are these doctrines internally coherent?
Are they logically defensible?
Do they promote human flourishing, or do they entrench a deterministic and authoritarian system?

This critique will examine each of the six articles critically, focusing on their implications for reason, freedom, and reality.

II. Article-by-Article Analysis and Critique

1. Belief in Allah: The Incoherence of Absolute Monotheism

Claim: Islam teaches tawḥīd—that Allah is utterly one, unlike anything else, and sovereign over all.

Problem 1: Incomprehensibility by Design
Qur’an 42:11 says: “There is nothing like unto Him.” But if God is truly beyond comparison, then no human concept or description can apply. If so, how can anyone know God meaningfully at all? How is worship possible when knowledge is inaccessible?

Problem 2: Arbitrary Will and Moral Volatility
The Islamic Allah is described as "doing whatever He wills" (Qur’an 3:26; 5:40). He guides whom He wills and misleads whom He wills (Qur’an 14:4). This introduces deep moral ambiguity: is Allah just, or merely powerful? Can human beings genuinely trust a deity who actively misguides?

Problem 3: No Personal Relationship
Unlike the Biblical view of a covenantal, personal God, Allah remains remote, non-immanent, and beyond relationship. Worship becomes submission (islām), not communion. This fosters authoritarian obedience rather than love-based morality.

2. Belief in Angels: Invisible Enforcers and Thought Police

Claim: Angels are sinless agents who record deeds, deliver revelation, and enforce divine orders.

Problem 1: No Empirical Evidence
Belief in invisible, undetectable beings is unfalsifiable. There is no rational basis for affirming their existence except circular appeal to the Qur’an itself.

Problem 2: Surveillance and Coercion
Islamic angels are not benign. They are surveillance agents (Qur’an 82:10–12), interrogators (Munkar and Nakīr), and enforcers (Malik of Hell). This creates a cosmic surveillance state — thought, intention, and private behavior are all monitored, incentivizing fear over virtue.

Problem 3: Undermining Human Privacy and Freedom
By placing humans under permanent observation, the angelic doctrine discourages moral autonomy. One behaves morally not because it is right, but to avoid punishment — an ethics of fear, not principle.

3. Belief in the Scriptures: A Final Revelation Built on Discrediting Others

Claim: Muslims must believe in all previous scriptures but follow only the Qur’an, believed to be preserved and final.

Problem 1: Qur’anic Contradiction on Previous Scriptures
While the Qur’an claims to confirm prior books (Qur’an 5:48), it also accuses Jews and Christians of corrupting their texts (Qur’an 2:79). Yet the Qur’an nowhere specifies how, when, or by whom these alleged corruptions occurred.

If previous scriptures were corrupted before the Qur’an, why does Allah command Jews and Christians to judge by them? (Qur’an 5:43, 47). Either they were preserved (and thus challenge the Qur’an’s divergent theology), or they were corrupted (and the Qur’an’s appeal to them is incoherent).

Problem 2: Lack of Historical Corroboration for the Qur’an
The Qur’an makes sweeping historical claims — such as Abraham building the Kaaba (Qur’an 2:127) — which have no support in archaeology, biblical tradition, or extra-Islamic records.

Problem 3: Canon Closed by Fiat
The belief that the Qur’an is “final” is not reasoned; it is imposed. The Muslim is told to believe that any further revelation is false by default. This forecloses inquiry and traps believers in one theological system.

4. Belief in Prophets: Do 124,000 Prophets Serve a Coherent Purpose?

Claim: Prophets were sent to every nation (Qur’an 16:36), culminating in Muhammad as the final messenger.

Problem 1: The Silence of History
Outside the Qur’an, there is no trace of most of these alleged prophets. There is no historical or archaeological evidence that thousands of divine messengers were sent to every people.

Problem 2: The Supersession Claim
Islam teaches that all previous prophets taught Islam, and that Judaism and Christianity are corrupt deviations from an original Islamic message. Yet this retroactive reinterpretation is not supported by the texts or traditions of those religions.

Problem 3: The Problem of Muhammad
Islam holds Muhammad to be the “Seal of the Prophets” (Qur’an 33:40), but:

His reported actions (marrying a 9-year-old, ordering assassinations) raise serious moral questions.
There is a historical gap between his life and the compilation of Islamic sources.
Early external sources hardly mention him, raising questions about the authenticity of the traditional Islamic narrative.

5. Belief in the Day of Judgment: Eternal Reward and Infinite Punishment

Claim: Every person will be resurrected and judged, then sent to either eternal Paradise or Hell.

Problem 1: Disproportionate Justice
Islam teaches eternal torment in Hell for finite offenses — even disbelief. Qur’an 4:56 promises never-ending burning. This violates basic moral intuitions of proportional justice. How is disbelief — a state of mind — worthy of unending torture?

Problem 2: No Interpersonal Grace
Islam’s eschatology leaves no room for grace or reconciliation between enemies, no concept of loving one’s enemies (cf. Matthew 5:44). It is strictly retributive.

Problem 3: Conditional Ethics
Muslim ethics become transactional: do good to gain Paradise, avoid evil to escape Hell. There is no incentive to be moral for morality’s sake, only for reward or punishment.

6. Belief in Divine Decree: Fatalism Disguised as Faith

Claim: Everything happens by Allah’s will, but humans are still morally responsible.

Problem 1: Logical Incoherence
If Allah wills all things — including disbelief — then punishing people for disbelieving becomes unjust. You cannot blame someone for doing what your god decreed he would do.

Problem 2: The Problem of Evil
Islam attempts to explain evil by claiming it is either a test or part of divine wisdom. But this explanation collapses if God wills evil — such as genocide, rape, or apostasy laws — yet still punishes victims or dissenters.

Problem 3: Denial of True Autonomy
Islamic theology, especially Ashʿarism, teaches that Allah creates all human actions — even the evil ones — but humans "acquire" them. This vague doctrine of kasb is a philosophical sleight of hand: it allows moral blame without true moral freedom.

III. Theological and Ethical Implications

1. Human Agency

Islamic theology undermines real human autonomy. One is born into a system where disobedience equals damnation, even though Allah predestines one’s fate. Moral agency becomes superficial.

2. Moral Accountability

Accountability is disconnected from freedom. If all is decreed, punishment is arbitrary. True morality requires the ability to choose differently — something denied by omnipotent predestination.

3. The Nature of Reality

Islam divides reality into dunyā (temporal) and ākhirah (eternal). The visible world is devalued, creating a tension between living fully and preparing for the next life. This dualism fosters escapism, fatalism, and potentially violence in pursuit of afterlife rewards.

IV. Conclusion: Six Chains, Not Six Pillars

The Six Articles of Faith are presented as the foundation of a divinely revealed worldview. But upon close inspection, they function more as mechanisms of control:

A remote, unknowable deity who must be obeyed
Angelic surveillance enforcing thought conformity
Textual supremacy that cancels competing revelations
A prophetic monopoly ending in unquestioned finality
Eternal judgment used as moral blackmail
Predestination masked as responsibility

This system removes genuine freedom, suppresses inquiry, and elevates blind submission. It does not promote rational or ethical excellence — it imposes doctrinal obedience.

If Islam is to be believed on its own terms, the Six Articles of Faith are not simply beliefs — they are ideological imperatives, demanding not just belief, but surrender.