True faith (iman) consists of complete belief in the Divine Unity and submission to the will of God. In
order to indicate the "straight path" (al-sirat al mustaqim), to true faith, God has periodically sent prophets
to communicate his message to weak and forgetful mankind. Muhammad is the last and greatest in a
long line of men elected to prophethood by God. Many of these are shared with the Judeo-Christian
scriptures - Abraham, Noah, Moses and Jesus, to name a few - and the Koran relates their stories in
very similar, although not entirely identical terms. Others, such as Hud and Salih are derived from Arab
traditions. Abraham is the first prophet, and is also regarded as the first Muslim, being the first to whom
the faith was revealed, indeed, the Koran frequently refers to Islam as "the faith of Abraham". There is
also a sense of the Arabs being a "chosen people". Each prophet came from among a particular tribe
or race, in order to guide his own people. The Koran states that God is very careful about whom he
chooses as the recipients of his word, "He leads astray whom he will, and guides whom he will", and
also explains that the Arabs were particularly favoured, being the descendants of Abraham, "Abraham
enjoined the faith on his children" (K.2:132). Muhammad was sent to the Arabs in order to confirm and
consummate the messages of the earlier prophets, "to warn the mother of cities (Mecca) and those
round about her"(K. 42:5), in the face of the imminent Last Day. The Koran is his miraculous revelation,
referring to itself as "a guide and joyful tidings for the faithful, confirming previous scriptures".
The Koran
states that at the end of the world, the dead will be resurrected and each individual will be judged according
to his faith and deeds. The Koranic argument for the necessity of this final judgement, is that because
not all moral requital is meted out in our earthly lives, a conclusive judgement at the resurrection is needed
to complete the process. Moreover on a physical level, God, being omnipotent has the ability to give
and to destroy all life. As has been observed, all created life is limited, and therefore subject to God's
uncreated and limitless power. According to the Koran, there will be no intercession (although Islamic
tradition developed the notion of intercession quite early on). God is infinitely merciful, but it is up to
his discretion alone which sinners shall be saved. Due to his weakness of nature, man is ever prone to
forget of willfully reject the word of God. He is encouraged in this by the machinations of Satan (Shaytan),
whom the Koran teaches was an angel who fell from divine favour by an act of disobedience resulting
from his sinful pride. It seems that prior to Muhammad man has been particularly obdurate regarding
God's message.
Very few men have accepted the grace of God; most have rejected it, and become "the
ungrateful" (kuffar). Humans have proved especially prone to the grave sin of polytheism. However, as
God is infinitely merciful, it is always possible for a sinner to repent, and to redeem his soul by a genuine
conversion to faith in the Divine Unity, which will have the effect of annulling all previous sins. Those
who have true faith will be saved and will enter heaven, whilst the condemned will burn in hell. Heaven
and Hell are described as both spiritual and physical states. The blessed will bask in the blissful pleasure
of divine grace, and shall experience endless physical enjoyment "His (the righteous man) shall be a
Blissful state in a lofty garden, with clusters of fruit within his reach" (K.69:20). On the other hand, the
damned will suffer fire in their hearts and will also have to endure the physical torments of "chains and
fetters and a blazing fire".