The Six Articles of Faith (Arkan al-Iman)

A look at six articles of faith in Islamic teaching, drawn from the Quran and authentic hadith.

Where the five pillars describe what a Muslim does, the six articles of faith, arkan al-iman, describe what a Muslim believes. Their clearest statement comes from a hadith recorded in Sahih Muslim known as the Hadith of Jibreel, in which the angel Jibreel appeared to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in human form before his companions and asked him directly to define iman, faith – a question the Prophet ﷺ answered by naming all six articles in a single breath.

Six articles of faith: Belief in Allah

The first article is belief in Allah – His existence, His oneness, and His right to be worshipped exclusively, the foundation from which every other article of faith follows. Without this first belief intact, scholars note, the remaining five articles have no basis to stand on, since belief in angels, books, and prophets only matters insofar as they are understood as coming from Allah.

Belief in the Angels

The second article is belief in the angels, created from light, who do not disobey Allah in what He commands them (Surah at-Tahrim, 66:6) and carry out specific, named functions – Jibreel delivering revelation, Mikail associated with provision, and others recording each person’s deeds as they happen.

Belief in the Divine Books

The third article is belief in the books Allah revealed to His messengers, including the Torah given to Musa (AS), the Psalms given to Dawud (AS), the Gospel given to Isa (AS), and the Quran given to Muhammad ﷺ – with the Quran held to be the final revelation, preserved in its original form and abrogating what came before it.

Belief in the Prophets and Messengers

The fourth article is belief in all the prophets and messengers Allah sent, without distinguishing between them in terms of the truth of their mission, even while recognizing that they were given different laws and different degrees of honor. Surah al-Baqarah (2:285) instructs believers to say “we make no distinction between any of His messengers,” from Adam (AS) through to Muhammad ﷺ, the last of them.

Belief in the Day of Judgment

The fifth article is belief in the Last Day – that this life ends, that every soul will be resurrected, and that each person will be held to account for what they did, with a reckoning that leads to either Paradise or the Fire. This belief is paired with Allah so frequently in the Quran that the phrase “Allah and the Last Day” appears together dozens of times, treated as the two beliefs that most directly shape a person’s conduct in daily life.

Belief in Divine Decree (Qadar)

The sixth article is belief in al-qadar, that Allah has decreed all things, the good of it and the difficult of it, with full prior knowledge of everything that will occur. In the same Hadith of Jibreel, after the Prophet ﷺ finished naming all six articles, the angel confirmed his answer and left, and the Prophet ﷺ told his companions that this had been Jibreel, come to teach them their religion – a detail scholars cite to explain why these six specific beliefs, rather than any longer list, are treated as the fixed core of Islamic creed.

Why the Hadith Also Defines Islam and Ihsan Alongside Iman

The same Hadith of Jibreel is unusual among hadith in that it does not stop at defining iman; the angel goes on to ask the Prophet ﷺ to define Islam and ihsan as well, and scholars have treated the structure of all three answers together as forming a complete map of the religion rather than three unrelated questions. Islam, in the Prophet’s ﷺ answer, is defined through the five pillars – the outward acts a Muslim performs. Iman, the six articles just described, is the inward belief underlying those acts. Ihsan, the third and final term, is defined as worshipping Allah as though one sees Him, and knowing that even without seeing Him, He certainly sees you – a standard of sincerity scholars treat as sitting above both belief and outward practice, since a person could technically satisfy the first two categories while still worshipping without genuine presence of heart. Classical scholars have used this threefold structure – action, belief, and sincerity – to explain why the six articles of faith are never treated in isolation from the five pillars in the first place, since correct belief without corresponding practice, or practice without the ihsan described in the same hadith, is considered by scholars to be an incomplete expression of the religion the Hadith of Jibreel as a whole was given to summarize.

This discussion pairs naturally with our article on Angels in Islam: Their Nature and Duties. The verses and hadith cited above can be cross-referenced in full at Quran.com.