Islam: Relationship Questions
Now we’ve looked at all the content for the ‘beliefs’ section, we can look at analysis style questions. In this section, you could be asked to analyse the relationship between any of the mandatory content points.
For example, in 2022 they asked:
Analyse the relationship between Al-Jannah and prayer. 10
And in 2021 they asked:
Analyse the relationship between beliefs about free will and Day of Judgement. 10
In the example from 2022, you should notice that this is a relationship between a belief (Al-Jannah) and a practice (prayer). Whereas in 2021 this was the relationship between two beliefs.
Given we haven’t studied practices yet, you should be able to answer a question asking about the relationship between any of the following terms:
- Beliefs about God
- nature of human beings: free will; suffering; khalifas
- beliefs about Muhammad
- Akhira: Day of Judgement; Al-Jannah; Jahannam
There are a few structures that can be used here, I’ll include two different ones below and think about which one you prefer:
Analyse the relationship between beliefs about God and about Muhammad.
Muslims believe in one God who should be worshipped above all other things. They believe that Muhammad is His messenger but Muhammad should not be worshipped. So, the two beliefs are related as we wouldn’t know as much about God if Muhammad hadn’t been chosen as His prophet.
Muslims also believe that God appointed humans to be His representatives on earth. They believe that Muhammad was the perfect Muslim and exemplified how to do this. The two beliefs relate to each other because through following Muhammad’s example, Muslim’s know that they will please God.
Muslims believe that God is the ultimate judge and they will face him on the day of judgement. They believe that Muhammad will be there and he is able to intercede on their behalf. Again, the beliefs are related because it is only because of Muhammad that we know we can communicate with God.
Muslims also believe that God has 99 names but that ultimately He is indescribable. God sent the angel Jibril to Muhammad with the words of the Qur’an, and it’s because of those words that Muslims can begin to know how to please God. For example, they know to worship God through prayer.
Notice that by using this structure, I have ended up with some additional KU marks and I have had to also really focus on not repeating myself!
Analyse the relationship between beliefs about suffering and Jahannam.
Jahannam is the Muslim belief in hell. Muslims believe that if you are handed your book of life in your left hand on judgement day, then you will be sent to Jahannam. Muslims believe that those who are sent there have done more bad deeds than good and have failed to live this life in a way that is pleasing to God.
Jahannam is a place of fire and torment. The people there are given pus and boiling water to drink. They are made to wear clothes of fire and when their skin burns off they are given new skin so it can happen again. They are kept in chains and if they try to escape there are hooks to drag them back in. It is a place of eternal suffering.
Muslims believe that suffering is part of the nature of human beings, and that Allah has made sure it is part of life so that we can be tested. Some Muslims believe that God uses suffering as a punishment for wrongdoing.
These beliefs relate to each other in a number of ways: through experiencing suffering in this life, Muslims might be more motivated to try and avoid suffering in the next life and try even harder to please Allah. Also, some Muslims believe that suffering helps to purify a person of their sin’s so they also related because it means by suffering now they won’t go to Jahannam. They are also related because suffering happens when people don’t follow God’s wishes and go away from His commands and Jahannam is the ultimate suffering because God is not there. If an individual chooses to inflict suffering on someone else – perhaps by stealing from them or lying about them – then Jahannam would be seen as justice for them inflicting that suffering on others.
By using this structure, I don’t end up with excessive KU marks and I have more time to think about the relationship between the beliefs.
