The main principles of Islam are given in the very beginning of the Holy Quran, which opens with the words:
“This Book, there is no doubt in it, is a guide to those who keep their duty, who believe in the Unseen and keep up prayer and spend (charitably) out of what We have given them, and who believe in that which has been revealed to thee (O Muhammad) and that which was revealed before thee, and of the Hereafter they are sure” (2:2–4).
These verses point out the essential principles which must be accepted by those who would follow the Holy Quran. Here we have three main points of belief and two main points of practice, or three theoretical and two practical ordinances. Before I take up these points separately, I think it necessary to point out, as is indicated in these verses, that in Islam mere belief counts for nothing if not carried into practice. “Those who believe and do good” is the ever-recurring description of the righteous as given in the Quran. Right belief is the good seed which can only grow into a good tree if it receives nourishment from the soil in which it is placed. That nourishment is given by good deeds. Another point necessary to be borne in mind in connection with the five principles of belief and practice mentioned in the verses quoted above is that they are, in one form or another, universally accepted by the human race.
The five principles as already indicated are: (1) a belief in God, the Great Unseen, (2) in Divine revelation, (3) in the life to come; and on the practical side: (4) prayer to God, which is the source from which springs the love of God, and (5) charity in its broadest sense; indicating respectively the performance of our duties to God and man. Now, these five principles of belief and action are recognized by all nations of the earth, and these are the common principles on which all religions are based. In fact, these five fundamental principles of the holy religion of Islam are imprinted on human nature. Here I take them separately as detailed in the Holy Quran.