Aqidah

Islamic creed or articles of faith. Quranic formulation includes belief in God, angels, prophets, scriptures, and the Day of Judgment. Early creeds reflected Shii-Sunni polemics: Shiis upheld the notion of the designated imamate, and Sunnis responded that the community elected the imam and that the historical order of the caliphates of Abu Bakr , Umar , Uthman , and Ali was theologically proper. More detailed formulations stress a triad—belief in God, the Prophet, and the Day of Judgment—as constituting the essential belief system in Islam.