Assalamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Brothers & Sisters in Islam,
May Allah bless you at all times and make every single moment in our lives ‘ibadah’.. Ameen.
Just to share with you, brothers and sisters, this article was written in an attempt to understand the true fact of iman (faith), and have some reflections from it. May Allah grant us guidance and preserve us in all actions and sayings.
Generally, any feeling that can move one’s emotions and shape or direct his attitudes is regarded as faith or belief. And in Islam, Iman means to believe in the heart, to confess with the tongue and to demonstrate in physical actions.
Iman is the soul of hearts and bodies, it is the key to happiness, it is the way of salvation in this world and the Hereafter, it sends contentment and satisfaction to the heart, and the higher a person climbs in the levels of iman the more he gets the sweet tastes of it, and his soul (the true soul) gets satisfaction from it. Rasulullah said: “three of which, if found in anyone, he gets the sweetness of iman; to make God and His Messenger dearer to him than anything else, to love a man just for the sake of Allah, s.w.t., and to hate to be back into disbelief as he would hate to be thrown into the fire.” Narrated by Bukhari and Muslim.
Basically, iman has six pillars that every Muslim has to believe in them, accept them and be fully convinced with them. Each of these six pillars requires a stand-alone article.
These six pillars are, to believe in:
- Allah (SWT).
- His Angels.
- His Messengers.
- His Books.
- The Last Day.
- Divine Preordainments, good or bad.
The true fact of iman that was brought by our beloved prophet, Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, is based on three components, of which if any of it is missing, the iman may not be valid and may not be considered as a genuine one. These three components are:
- To believe in the heart;
- To confess with the tongue;
- And to demonstrate in physical action.
In fact, the second and the third parts (components) are true reflections of what the heart is carrying. In other words, the heart is a common ground for what the tongue expresses and what the body physically demonstrates.
The first component itself (belief in the heart) consists of two parts:
- Adoption of the heart, whereby the heart recognizes and accepts that , whatever Allah and His Messenger have told is true; that God and His Messenger are Just in whatever judgment they make; and does not have any doubts in this adoption and acceptance.
- The work of the heart, which means, the heart is to practice whatever is instructed to by Allah (s.w.t.), such as having love for God and His Messenger, and the believers; and not keeping love for the non-believers.
Allah says: “The bedouins say: “We believe.” Say: “You believe not but you only say, ‘We have surrendered (in Islam),’ for Faith has not yet entered your hearts…” [Surah Al-Hujurat: 14], He also said: “You (O Muhammad SAW) will not find any people who believe in Allah and the Last Day, making friendship with those who oppose Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad SAW), even though they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred (people). For such He has written Faith in their hearts…” [Surah Al-Mujadilah: 22].
These verses are actually to draw our attention to the fact that heart is the original source of iman.
The second component; confess with the tongue: This happens by saying the ‘shahadah’ (witness); there is no god except Allah, and Muhammad is His Messenger. There is something important about confessing with the tongue (shahadah), which is, it must be intended and meant, and should not be just a fact of pronunciation.
The third component of iman is to demonstrate in physical actions that is meant by doing what Allah (s.w.t.) has commanded, and staying away from what Allah (s.w.t.) has forbade. Allah (s.w.t.) says in Surah Al-Hujurat, 15: “Only those are the believers who have believed in Allah and His Messenger, and afterward doubt not but strive with their wealth and their lives for the Cause of Allah. Those! They are the truthful.” He (s.w.t) also says in Surah Al-Anfal, 2-4: “The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His Verses (this Qur’an) are recited unto them, they (i.e. the Verses) increase their Faith; and they put their trust in their Lord (Alone); (2) Who perform As-Salat (Iqamat-as-Salat) and spend out of that We have provided them. (3) It is they who are the believers in truth. For them are grades of dignity with their Lord, and Forgiveness and a generous provision (Paradise). (4)”
It is narrated by Bukhari and Muslim that Rasulullah, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, said: “I am ordering you with faith in Allah alone. Do you know what faith in Allah alone is? Said (the sahabah): Allah and His Messenger know best, he, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, said: “to certify that there is no god but Allah, to establish prayer, pay zakat, and give away one fifth of your gains (spoils).”
Rasulullah also said in a Hadeeth narrated by Muslim: “Faith has seventy-odd branches or sixty-odd Divisions, the best of it is saying: “there is no god but Allah”, and the lowest of it is removing something harmful from the road, and modesty is a branch of faith”
We can find this Hadeeth as an explanation to the fact that iman is a base with various branches, every branch is also called iman (or a division of iman), solat for instance is part of iman, as well as fasting, Hajj and Zakat, and other invisible deeds like modesty and inner trust (tawakkul) are also part of iman.
Some of these branches may cause invalidity to the base of iman once they are no longer recognized by the person; such as ‘shahadah’. And some may not cause any invalidity to it, such as removing something harmful from the road. And there are various branches in between these two branches (shahadah and removing something harmful form the road) that vary in their strengths and weaknesses, some are in the same strength level as ‘shahadah’ or closer to it, and some are in the same level of weakness as ‘removing something harmful from the road’ or closer to it.
This is the truth of faith, followed with the components of it, and it is a requirement for faith in (by) the heart to be accompanied with faith in physical actions at all times, which means, the quantity and quality of our physical actions (with faith) reflects the strength of the acceptance of the faith by our hearts, and our tongues will play the part of verbal expressions.
Al-Hasan Al-Basri (r.a.) once said: “Faith is not by wish and adornment, but something that settles in the heart and been proved by deed.”
Allah knows best.
Wassalam.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. And may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon our Holy Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and companions, at all times.
It saddens when some of us can be outstanding in Fiqh for example, and yet fail to properly perform ablution, not talking about performing salat (prayer) which is the backbone of our Islamic religion.
Therefore, our practical targets are not less importance than our theoretical ones, although we have to put effort to achieve the latter effectively.
