Cambridge IGCSE Islamiyat: Paper 2 (0493)

This guide covers Paper 2, the second of two compulsory papers in Cambridge IGCSE Islamiyat (0493), 2026-2027 series. Where Paper 1 centres on the Qur’an and the life of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), Paper 2 moves to the Hadiths, the leadership of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and the core beliefs and practices that structure a Muslim’s faith and daily life.

Where this fits in 0493

Both papers are 1.5 hours long with five questions each; candidates must answer Question 1 and Question 2, plus two more chosen from the remaining questions. Paper 2’s four topics are examined this way too, and Cambridge specifies that either one or two questions will be set on each of Paper 2’s first three topics, so candidates should be ready to answer in depth on any of them, not just their strongest one.

Syllabus coverage

CAMBRIDGE IGCSE ISLAMIYAT (0493) — PAPER 2

2.1 Major teachings in the Hadiths of the Prophet

• Two groups of set passages for close study, covering individual conduct and life in the community, studied with reference to both the original Arabic text and its English translation (passages are set in both languages in the examination)
• What each passage teaches Muslims to believe and how to act

2.2 The history and importance of the Hadiths

• The history of the compilation of the Hadiths, the earliest collections, and the main musnad and musannaf collections and their compilers
• The methods used to test a Hadith’s reliability, based on examination of the chain of transmitters (isnad) and the text itself (matn)
• The main features of the six collections of Sunni Hadiths and the four collections of Shi’a Hadiths
• The major themes running through the Hadiths, their use in legal thinking, their relationship with the Qur’an, consensus (ijma’) and analogy (qiyas), and their overall significance in Islamic thought and action

2.3 The period of rule of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and their importance as leaders

• The main events of the rules of the four Caliphs, their policies for maintaining and expanding the state, and their approaches to leading the community
• Their main achievements and the main difficulties they faced
• Their significance as examples of leadership, including the importance of their rules as models for government and for relations with other states, both at the time and since

2.4 The Articles of Faith and the Pillars of Islam

• The Six Articles of Faith: belief in God; angels, their nature and duties; the divine books, their contents and purpose; the prophets, their character and function; God’s predestination and decree; and the Resurrection and the Last Day
• Jihad, understood across its range of meanings – physical, mental and spiritual
• The Five Pillars of Islam: the declaration of faith (shahada); prayer (salat), including its preparation, performance, timing, place and significance, both congregational and private; almsgiving (zakat) and its role in the community; fasting (sawm), including who is exempted; and pilgrimage (hajj), including its main observances

The four topics also connect to one another in ways worth noticing while revising. The isnad-based method for testing a Hadith’s reliability (2.2) is the same scholarly tradition that recorded the events of the Rightly Guided Caliphs’ rule (2.3), since much of what is known about the early Caliphate comes down through Hadith and early historical reports. Similarly, the Articles of Faith and Pillars of Islam (2.4) are themselves referenced throughout the Hadith passages set for study in 2.1, so a candidate who understands 2.4 well will often recognise its themes when reading the set passages for 2.1. Treating the four topics as connected, rather than four separate units to revise in isolation, makes both recall and the “explain the importance of” style questions more manageable.

How to approach it

Paper 2’s four topics reward candidates who can move between knowledge and significance in the same answer, since Cambridge’s own guidance stresses that candidates should understand not just what each belief, event or practice is, but why it matters – to individual Muslims, to the wider community, or to later history. For 2.1, revise the set passages with both languages side by side, since questions can draw on the Arabic text directly. For 2.2, keep the Hadiths and the Qur’an distinct in your answers: 2.2 specifically asks about the Hadiths’ relationship to the Qur’an, consensus and analogy, so an answer that only describes Hadith compilation without addressing that relationship misses part of the mark scheme. For 2.3, note that the Caliphs’ lives during the Prophet’s own lifetime belong to Paper 1, not Paper 2 – Paper 2 covers only their period of rule after his death, so keep the two timeframes separate when revising. For 2.4, the Five Pillars are the most detailed part of this topic and benefit from a consistent structure for each one – what it is, how it is performed, and why it matters – which also maps directly onto how Cambridge phrases its own assessment objectives for this component.

Since Paper 2’s five questions require candidates to answer Question 1 and Question 2 plus two more of their choosing, it is worth being able to answer confidently on at least three of the four topics above – relying on only two leaves no room if one of those two topics is examined in a way that does not suit a candidate’s preparation that year.

Official syllabus

Cambridge IGCSE Islamiyat (0493) syllabus for exams in 2026 and 2027 — cambridgeinternational.org.