English Monograph Series — Book No. 13
The
Conceptof
Faith in Islam
Habib Ali al-Jifri
O believers, respond to God and
the Messenger when He calls you
unto that which will give you life.
Qur'an,
Al-Anfal, 8:24
﷽
Other Boo ks in the Series
1. The Amman Message 2008
2. A Common Word Between Us and You 2009
3. Forty Hadith on Divine Mercy 2009
4. Jihad and the Islamic Law of War 2009
5. Body Count 2009
6. The Holy Qur'an and the Environment 2010
7. Address to H. H . Pope Benedict XVI 2010
8. Keys to Jerusalem 2010
9. Islam, Christianity and the Environment 2011
10. The First UN World Interfaith Harmony Week 2011
11. Islam and Peace 2012
12. Reason and Rationality in the Qur'an 2012
13. The Concept of Faith in Islam 2012
14. Warfare in the Qur'an 2012
№ 13
MABDA
English Monograph Series
Habib Ali al-Jifri
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
MABDA · English Monograph Series · No. 13
The Concept of Faith in Islam
ISBN: 978-9957-428-49-5
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Translation from Arabic into English by Khaled Williams.
© 2012 The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought
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Contents
Introduction | 7
The Concept of Faith in Islam | 9
1. Faith (Iman) in its Lexical and Technical Meanings | 11
2. The Meaning of Faith, and its Articles | 13
3. The Levels of Surrender (Islam), Faith
(Iman) and Excellence (Ihsan) | 16
4. The Relationship Between Excellence (Ihsan)
and Surrender (Islam) and Faith (Iman) | 23
5. The Increase and Decrease of Faith | 26
6. Aspects of the Effect of Faith on
Actions and Vice-versa | 30
7. An Explanation of the Six Articles of Faith | 32
8. The Branches of Faith | 42
Conclusion: The Building of the Faithful Soul is the
Beginning of the Building of Faith‐based Society | 46
7
Introduction
From November 21-23, 2011, the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute
for Islamic Thought hosted the second seminar of the
Catholic-Muslim Forum at the Baptism Site, Jordan. The
Forum is one of the fruits of the 'A Common Word' initiative,
which was launched in 2007 and which seeks to promote
Muslim-Christian dialogue based on the two shared
religious commandments of 'Love of God' and 'Love of the
neighbour' [see http://ACommonWord.com]. The second
Forum (building on the success of the first Forum, which
was held at the Vatican in 2008) brought together 24 leading
scholars from each religion to discuss the following three
themes: 1. Reason, 2. Faith, 3. The Human Person.
On the first day, Prof. Ibrahim Kalin presented Reason
and Rationality in the Qur'an, and Prof. Vittorio Possenti presented
The Human Person in the Light of Reason: A Christian
Perspective.
On the second day, Father Francios Bousquet presented
[in French], The Human Person in the Light of Faith; A Christian
Perspective, and Habib Ali Jifri presented [in Arabic] The
Concept of Faith in Islam.
On the third day Prof. Timothy Winter presented The Human
Person in Islam, and Prof. Stefan Hammer presented The
Human Person: Dignity and Rights: A Catholic Perspective.
On each day, the presentations were followed by friendly
and frank discussions which served to better understand
8
each other's perspective.
On the second day of the event, the participants were invited
to greet H.M. King Abdullah II and share matters of
concern to both Muslims and Catholics.
A public session on the final day had a panel of three
members of each delegation answering questions put forth
by the audience. The Final Joint Declaration was also issued
during this session [see http://ACommonWord.com/docs/
FinalDeclarationen.pdf]
This book is the paper presented by Habib Ali al-Jifri, and
includes the English translation.
9
The Concept of Faith in Islam
Habib Ali al-Jifri
n the ame of od, the ompassionae, the ercifu
Praise be to God, as the believers praise him; and may
he send blessings and peace upon our master Muhammad,
and upon all of his forefathers, his brethren of
prophets and messengers, his family, and his companions.
God Almighty says:
O you who have faith! Respond to God and the Messenger
when He calls you to unto that which gives
you life; and know that God comes in between a man
and his heart, and that to Him you shall be mustered
(Al‐Anfal, 8:24),
and says:
10
Those who have faith, and have not confounded their
faith with evildoing – to them belongs the true security;
they are rightly guided (Al-An`am, 6:82).
And he says:
But whosoever turns away from My remembrance,
his shall be a life of narrowness, and on the Resurrection
Day We shall raise him blind.' He shall say, 'O
my Lord, why have you raised me blind, and I was wont
to see?' God shall say, 'Even so it is. Our signs came unto
you, and you forgot them; and so today you are forgotten'
(Ta Ha, 20:124–126),
and says:
By the soul, and Him who shaped it, inspiring it with
its lewdness and its God‐ consciousness. Prosperous
is he who purifies it, and a failure is he who stunts it
(Al-Shams, 91:7–10).
We will consider the topic of the concept of faith by
means of the following points:
1. Faith (iman) in its lexical and technical meanings.
2. The meaning of faith, and its articles.
11
3. The levels of surrender (islam), faith (iman) and
excellence (ihsan).
4. The relationship between excellence and surrender and
faith.
5. The increase and decrease of faith.
6. Aspects of the effect of faith on actions and vice-versa.
7. An explanation of the six articles of faith.
8. The branches of faith.
1. Faith (Iman) in its Lexical and Technical Meanings
The author of Maqayis al-Lugha says:
The root letters '‐m‐n have two closely‐related root
meanings: the first is the faithfulness (amana) that is
the opposite of treachery, meaning the heart's assurance;
and the other is belief. The two meanings are
close. Al‐Khalil says that al-amana (security) comes
from amn (safety), and that aman means to give safety,
whilst amana means the opposite of treachery.1
Lisan al-'Arab says:
1 Ahmad ibn Faris al-Razi, Mu`jam Maqayis al-Lugha, ed. `Abd al-
Salam Harun (Beirut, Dar al-Fikr 1979), entry for amn, 1/133.
12
Amina: al-aman and al-amana mean the same. The
verb is amina, the active participle amin. Amana
means to give amn and aman to someone else. Amn is
the opposite of fear; amana is the opposite of treachery;
iman is the opposite of unbelief. Iman also means
to believe; its opposite is to belie. It is said, 'Some
people believed (amana) in him, and others belied
him.' To have faith is something means to believe
in it, and to be sure (amina) that the one telling it
is not lying. Iman also means to show acquiescence
and acceptance to the Sacred Law, and to all that
the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace)
brought, and to accept it and believe in with the heart.
The one who does all this is a believer (mu'min) and
a Muslim, having neither misgivings nor doubts; and
he is the one who sees that completing the obligations
[of the religion] is incumbent upon him, and
has no doubt about this. The Glorious Revelation
says: You are not a mu'min in us (Yusuf, 12:17),
meaning 'you do not believe us'; iman means belief.
... As for iman, it is the gerund of the verb amana/
yu'minu/iman, active participle mu'min. The scholars,
linguists are otherwise, are agreed that iman means
'belief.' Al‐Azhari said: 'The basis of iman is to enter
into a state of belief in the trust (amana) that God
13
Almighty has given one.'2
The technical meaning of faith is firm belief in something
real, based on evidence. Experts in this subject have defined
faith as being 'to believe with the heart and proclaim with
the tongue'; some have added 'to act with the body.' Or, in
the words of Abu `Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Salam: 'Faith is to
have sincere devotion to God with the heart, to testify this
with the tongue, and to act on it with the body.'3
2. The Meaning of Faith, and its Articles
The meaning of faith (iman) and its qualities and articles,
and its position between surrender (islam) and spiritual
excellence (ihsan), were given in the very famous hadith of
our master Gabriel (peace be upon him) in the two Sahih
collections. `Umar ibn al-Khattab said:
We were with the Messenger of God (God bless him and
grant him peace) one day, when there came to us a man
wearing dazzling white clothes, with jet black hair; there
were no marks of travel on him, and yet not one of us
knew him. He sat by the Prophet (God bless him and
2 Ibn Manzur al-Afriqi, Lisan al-`Arab (Beirut, Dar Sadir, 1414AH), entry
for amn, 13/23.
3 Abu `Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Salam, Kitab al-Iman (Beirut, Maktabat
al-Ma`arif, 2000), p. 10.
14
grant him peace), knee to knee, placed his hands on his
thighs, and said: "O Muhammad, tell me about surrender
(islam). The Messenger of God (God bless him and
grant him peace) said: "Surrender is to testify that there
is no god but God and that Muhammad is God's Messenger
(God bless him and grant him peace), to perform
the prayer, bestow the alms, fast Ramadan and make,
if you can, the pilgrimage to the Holy House." He said:
"You have spoken truly", and we were amazed that having
questioned him he should corroborate him. He then
said: "Tell me about faith (iman)." He said: "To believe
in God and His angels and His books and His messengers
and the Last Day, and to believe in Providence, the
good of it and the evil of it." "You have spoken truly," he
said, and then: "Tell me about excellence (ihsan)." He
said: "To worship God as if you saw Him; for if you see
Him not, He assuredly sees you." He said: "Tell me about
the Hour." He said: "The one questioned knows no more
about it than the questioner." He said: "Then tell me of
its portents." He said: "That the slave‐girl shall give birth
to her mistress; and that those who were but barefoot
naked needy herdsmen shall build buildings ever higher
and higher." Then the stranger went away, and I tarried
a while. He then said to me: "O `Umar, do you know
who the questioner was?" I said: "God and His Messenger
know best." He said: "It was Gabriel. He came unto
15
you to teach you your religion."4
The articles of faith, then, as the leading scholars of hadith
have clarified in the introductory sections of the works they
have authored on the science of the holy prophetic hadith,
are faith in God Almighty, the angels, the revealed scriptures,
the messengers and prophets, the resurrection and the Last
Day, and Providence, the good of it and the evil of it. The
Muslim scholars have authored lengthy works of commentary
and reflection on the aforementioned hadith, concerning
the meaning and implications of the articles of faith, and
the difference between surrender and faith; they have even
called this hadith the 'Mother of the Sunna', just as Surat Al-
Fatiha is called the 'Mother of the Book.'5
4 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Ma`rifat
al-Iman wal-Islam wal-Qadar wa `Alamat al-Sa`a, 1/36, no. 8; and by
Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Su'al Jibril al-Nabi Salla
Allahu `alayhi wa Sallam `an al-Iman wal-Islam wal-Ihsan wa `Ilm al-
Sa`a, 1/19, no. 50; the wording here is that of Muslim.
5 Ibn Hajr al-`Asqalani says in Fath al-Bari: 'Al‐Qurtubi said that this
hadith could rightly be called the 'Mother of the Sunna' because of how
it constitutes such a wealth of information about the Sunna; and al-
Tayyibi said that this is the reason why al-Baghawi began his two books
al-Masabih and Sharh al-Sunna with it, just as the Qur'an begins with
Al-Fatiha because of how it comprises a summary of all the knowledge
conveyed in the Qur'an. Al‐Qadi `Iyad said: "This hadith contains all
the duties of worship, both the outward and the inward, including the
covenants of faith (at the first, the present, and the last), the acts of the
body, the sincerity of the inner heart, as well as the way to protect one16
3. The Levels of Surrender (Islam), Faith (Iman) and
Excellence (Ihsan)
Imam Nawawi says, in his commentary on Muslim's Sahih, in
the beginning of Kitab al-Iman:
Al‐Zuhri said: 'Surrender is the word, and faith is the
deed.' He cites as evidence for this the Almighty's
words: The Bedouins say: 'We have attained to faith.'
Say: You have not attained to faith, but say, 'We have
surrendered'; for faith has not yet entered your hearts'
(Al-Hujurat, 49:14). Others say that surrender and
faith are the same thing, citing as evidence for this
God's words: Then we brought forth such of the faithful
(mu'minin) as were there; yet We found there but one
house of those who surrendered (muslimin) (Al-Dhariyat,
51:35–36).
Al‐Khattabi said: 'The correct way to approach this
is to speak in specific and not general terms; for one
who surrenders (muslim) might be faithful in some
circumstances but not in others, whilst one who is
self from those things which spoil one's actions. Indeed, all the sciences
of the Sacred Law come back to it, and sprout forth from it." This is why
I have said so much about it; and all that I have mentioned, although
it seems a lot, is really only a little when compared to all that this hadith
contains.' Ahmad ibn Hajr al-`Asqalani, Fath al-Bari Sharh Sahih
al-Bukhari (Beirut, Dar al-Marifa, 1379 AH), vol. 1, p. 125.
17
faithful (mu'min) is in a state of surrender in all circumstances.
Every mu'min is a muslim, but not every
muslim is a mu'min. If you take the matter in this way,
you will be able to interpret all the verses and speak
about them equally without changing your position
from one to the other. The basis of faith is belief, and
the basis of surrender is submission and acquiescence;
a man might surrender on the outside whilst not acquiescing
on the inside; and he might believe on the
inside whilst not acquiescing on the outside."6
Al‐Khattabi also said, about the Prophet's (God bless
him and grant him peace) words 'Faith is seventy‐something
branches':7
This hadith makes it clear that faith, according to the
Sacred Law, is a name for a concept which has many
branches, and lower and higher levels; and the name
can be applied to any individual part just as it can be
applied to the whole; and the reality of it comprises all
its branches, and includes all its parts. It is like canonical
prayer, which has branches and parts: the name
can be applied to its parts, yet the reality comprises
6 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 145.
7 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Shu`ab
al-Iman, 1/63, no. 35.
18
and includes all of its parts. This is supported by his
(God bless him and grant him peace) words: 'Shyness
is a branch of faith.'8 This affirms that there is a hierarchy
in faith, and that the faithful are distinguished
from one another by its degrees.
Imam Abu Muhammad al-Husayn ibn Mas`ud al-
Baghawi says:
The Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace)
made 'surrender' a name for outward actions, and
'faith' a name for inward beliefs. This is not because
actions are not part of faith, or that belief of the heart
is not part of surrender; rather, it is a detailed explanation
of a totality which is in fact one single thing, the
sum of which is called 'religion.' Therefore he (God
bless him and grant him peace) said: 'It was Gabriel;
he came to you to teach you your religion.' Belief and action
are both included in the names of faith and surrender
together; this is supported by the fact that the
Almighty says Verily, before God, religion is surrender
(Aal `Imran, 3:19), and It has been My good pleasure
to choose surrender for you as your religion (Al-Ma'ida,
5:3). The Almighty is saying here that the religion
which He has gladly chosen, and which He accepts
8 Part of the aforementioned hadith.
19
from His servants, is surrender; and religion could
not be acceptable or pleasing unless it included belief
alongside action.9
Some see that if surrender and faith are mentioned together,
they take on different meanings, whilst if they are
mentioned separately, they mean the same thing: if they are
mentioned in the same place, surrender comes to mean outward
action, and faith comes to mean inward action; and
if either one of them is mentioned on its own, it is taken
to mean both, in which case there is no difference between
them.
The Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) explained
iman as being the faith and submission of the heart,
meaning faith in God, His angels, His books, His messengers,
and so on; and he explained islam as being a particular
surrender, namely that of the Five Pillars. The same is the
case for the rest of what he (God bless him and grant him
peace) said: he explained faith in that way, and surrender in
this; and that way is the higher one. Therefore the Prophet
(God bless him and grant him peace) said: 'Surrender is public,
and faith is in the heart.'10 Outward actions can be seen by
9 Imam Nawawi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 145.
10 Anas said: 'The Messenger of God (God bless him and grant him
peace) said: "Surrender is public, and faith is in the heart." He then signalled
with his hand to his chest three times, and then said: "God‐consciousness
is here, God‐consciousness is here."' Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his
20
others, whilst the belief, knowledge, love, fear and hope of
the heart are hidden, although they do have effects which
might indicate them – although effects do not indicate anything
unless their cause is certain.
Both `Abd Allah ibn `Amr and Abu Huraya reported that
the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) said: 'The
muslim is the one from whose tongue and hands the Muslims are
safe; and the mu'min is the one whom the people trust with their
lives and their possessions.'11 So he explained the muslim with
an outward matter, namely the people's safety from him, and
explained the mu'min with an inward matter, namely that
the people trust him with their lives and their possessions.
The latter quality is higher than the former, since if a person
is trusted, the people are safe from him, whilst not everyone
who they are safe from can be trusted, since someone might
refrain from harming them, yet nevertheless they might not
trust him in fear that he might only have refrained from
harming them out of desire or fear, and not because of any
faith in his heart.12
Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi says in his Tafsir:
Musnad, 3/134, no. 12408.
11 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad 2/379, no. 8918, Imam Tirmidhi
in his Sunan: Abwab al-Iman, Bab ma ja' fi anna al-Muslim man
Salima al-Muslimuna min Lisanih wa yadih, 5/17, no. 2627.
12 Taqi al-Din Abu al-`Abbas ibn Taymiyya, Majmu` al-Fatawa (Medina,
King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur'an, 1995),
vol. 7, pp. 263–264.
21
There is a difference between the general and the specific.
Faith can only be attained by the heart, though it
might be spoken with the tongue. Surrender is more
general than that; but when the general is presented
in the form of the specific, it unites with it, and is not
something apart from it. For example, the word 'animal'
is more general than the word 'man'; but when
a man is called an animal, this does not constitute
something that can be separated from the man, and
it cannot be said that this 'animal' is only an animal
and not a man. The general and the specific and different
in generality, but united in existence. The same is
true of the mu'min and the muslim: the truth is that the
word muslim is more general than the word mu'min,
yet there is nothing to prevent the general word being
used with the specific intent: if the mu'min can be
called a muslim, this does not imply that they mean
exactly the same thing.13
From this, we can see how the heart is the locus for belief
and faith, and the thing that the Almighty Real is interested
in, as the Messenger of God (God bless him and grant him
peace) said:
13 Abu `Abd Allah Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Mafatih al-ghayb, or al-Tafsir
al-Kabir (Beirut, Dar Ihya` al-Turath al-`Arabi, 1420 AH, 3rd edition),
vol. 28, p. 116, 181.
22
Indeed, in the body there is a morsel which, if it is sound,
the whole body is sound, and if it is spoiled, the whole
body is spoiled. Indeed, it is the heart.14
Because of this, God Almighty denied the existence of
firm faith in the hearts of those Bedouins who claimed to
have reached the station of faith when they entered Islam,
and affirmed that they were participating in the outward actions
of surrender, saying:
The Bedouins say: 'We have attained to faith.' Say:
You have not attained to faith, but say, 'We have
surrendered'; for faith has not yet entered your hearts'
(Al-Hujurat, 49:14).
So faith is more specific than surrender, and excellence is
more specific, and a higher level, than faith.
The be‐all and end‐all of spiritual excellence is for the servant
to ascend the levels of awareness of God Almighty and
to witness Him in all one's actions and one's conduct. This is
the third degree, after surrender and faith, and is higher than
them both; and it is built upon them, and not extraneous
to them. There can be no faith without surrender, and no
14 Narrated by Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Fadl man
Istabra'a li‐Dinih (1/20, no. 52), and by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab
al-Talaq, Bab Akhdh al-Halal wa Tark al-Shubuhat (3/1219, no. 1599), on
the authority of Nu`man ibn Bashir (God be pleased with him).
23
excellence without faith. It is an excellence which the believer
observes in all situations, and in worship in its most
comprehensive meaning, which means more than just rites
and supererogatory acts of devotion. Indeed, other narrated
versions of the hadith have it: 'Excellence is to work for God
as though you see Him; for if you see Him not, He assuredly
sees you',15 and also: 'Excellence is to fear God as though you
see Him; for if you see Him not, He assuredly sees you.'16 This is
what makes excellence a constant conduct of the faithful in
all their deeds and situations.
4. The Relationship Between Excellence (Ihsan) and
Surrender (Islam) and Faith (Iman)
Surrender is a designation attained by all who testify with
their tongues that there is no god but God and that Muhammad
is the Messenger of God. It pertains to this worldly
life, and to ruling and interactions which have to do with
its adherent's connection to the rest of the Muslims: he may
marry from them, inherit from them, be prayed over and
buried in their graveyards, and so on the for the rest of the
outward laws. It also requires adherence to the other Pillars:
prayer, the alms, fasting, and the pilgrimage.
But the reality of this, and its fruits in the heart and in
15 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 1/314, no. 184.
16 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab al-Islam
ma huwa wa ma hiya Khisaluh, 1/30, no. 108.
24
the Hereafter, depend on this adherence to the Pillars being
sincerely devoted to God Almighty, without any ostentation,
hypocrisy, pretention, self‐satisfaction or arrogance.
This can only be attained when the Muslim adheres to the
pillars of Islam whilst being in a state of awareness of God
Almighty with love, desire, fear and hope. This is the meaning
of excellence.
Faith is belief; and this belief might be knowledge, witnessing,
or true certainty. Certainty has three degrees and
levels: the knowledge of certainty (`ilm al-yaqin), the vision
of certainty (`ayn al-yaqin) and the truth of certainty
(haqq al-yaqin), as God indicates in the Holy Qur'an when
He says: Nay! Would that you knew with the knowledge of
certainty (Al-Takathur, 102:5), You shall surely see it with
the eye of certainty (Al-Takathur, 102:7), Indeed, this is the
truth of certainty (Al-Waqi`a, 56:95), and And indeed, it
is the truth of certainty (Al-Haqqa, 69:51). Yet faith on the
level of the knowledge of certainty is itself dependable and
acceptable; for knowledge pertains to the mind's perception,
and its certainty is attained by the heart's assurance and firm
belief.
To have knowledge of the articles of faith, and for the
mind to accept them, is the lowest level of faith, and is
enough to make the morally responsible person a believer
(mu'min); yet faith at this level is exposed to disturbances,
and could be beset by the gales of doubt, disturbed by the
winds of uncertainty, or uprooted by the hurricanes of trial
25
and misfortune. To ascend, however, to a higher level than
the knowledge of certainty makes faith firm and stable so
that it is impervious to backsliding. This can only be attained
through a feeling of cognisance of God's signs which are
manifest in existence; and one of the clearest of these signs
are those that exist in the soul of man, as the Almighty says:
And in the earth are signs for the certain; and in your own
selves – will you not, then, see? (Al-Dhariyat, 51:20–21). It can
also be through cognisance of how God is watching over the
believer's heart, as He says: We created man, and We know
what his heart whispers; and We are closer to him than his jugular
vein (Qaf, 50:16). This is the level of excellence, which
is to worship God as though you see Him; for if you see him
not, He assuredly sees you. Hence, we find the mention of
faith in the Holy Qur'an indicating excellence when God
says: Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured
by the remembrance of Allah . Unquestionably, by the remembrance
of Allah hearts are assured (Al-Ra'd, 13:28). Assuredness
is a state of the heart which has to do with certainty
and awareness of God's presence. Consequently, when excellence
is actualized it brings perfection to the realm of action;
the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) said:
'God the Exalted One, loves that if any of you performs an action,
he should do it with perfection'.17 In this way, the connection
between surrender, faith and excellence can be clearly seen.
17 Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman (4/344 no. 5312)
26
5. The Increase and Decrease of Faith
The Proof of Islam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, in his book Ihya
`Ulum al-Din, says:
Faith is a word with various meanings, used in three
ways: the first is belief with the heart by way of doctrine
and imitation, without there being any personal
discovery of expansion of breast; this is the faith of
the ordinary people, the faith of all mankind save for
the elite. This doctrine (i`tiqad) is a knot (`uqda) tied
around the heart; sometimes it tightens and strengthens,
and at other times it loosens and weakens, just
like a knot in a piece of string.18
In that sense, God says:
And whenever a surah is revealed, there are among
the hypocrites those who say, "Which of you has
this increased faith?" As for those who believed, it has
increased them in faith, while they are rejoicing (Al-Tawbah,
9:124)
The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned,
their hearts become fearful, and when His
18 Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Ihya' `Ulum al-Din (Beirut, Dar al-Marifa),
vol. 1, p. 120f.
27
verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and
upon their Lord they rely (Al-Anfal, 8:2);
It is He who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of
the believers that they would increase in faith along
with their [present] faith(Al-Fath, 48:4);
and that those who were given the Scripture will be convinced
and those who have believed will increase in faith (Al-
Muddaththir, 74:31).
The second usage is belief and action together, as the
Messenger of God (God bless him and grant him
peace) said: 'Faith is seventy‐something portals';19 and
he (God bless him and grant him peace) said: 'When
the fornicator fornicates, he is not a believer.'20 When action
is included in the meaning of the word 'faith', the
fact that it increases and decreases is obvious; as to
whether this implies the increase of the faith which
is only belief, that is a matter of debate; we have indicated
before that indeed it does.21
19 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 2/445 , no. 9747, and by
Tirmidhi in his Sunan, 5/10, no. 2614; he declared it to be rigorously
authentic.
20 Narrated by Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Hudud, Bab Ithm
al-Zunnah, 8/164, no. 2810.
21 Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, op. cit.
28
There are around fifty Qur'anic verses that couple faith
with righteous deeds; for example, God says: Your guardian
can be only Allah; and His messenger and those who believe,
who establish regular prayers and regular charity, and bow
down [in worship] (Al-Ma'idah, 5:55). Hence, God made it
clear that those who believe are those who establish regular
prayers and charity (zakah), which are amongst the highest
righteous deeds. In fact, the Qur'an goes so far as to state in
the context of describing believers, that faith – in a sense of
attainment and firmness – is confined to those who perform
such deeds:
The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned,
their hearts become fearful, and when His
verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and
upon their Lord they rely. The ones who establish prayer,
and from what We have provided them, they spend. Those
are the believers, truly. For them are degrees [of high position]
with their Lord and forgiveness and noble provision
(Al-Anfal, 8:2–4).
So, God made here a bond between true faith and the
establishment of the regular prayers and charity.
The third usage is that it means certain belief by way
of personal discovery, expansion of the breast, and a
beholding of the insight's light. This is the most un29
likely of the three to be subject to increase; but I say
that when it comes to something certain in which
there is no doubt, the soul's assurance of it can differ:
the soul's assurance that two is greater than one is not
the same as its assurance that the world is created and
contingent, even if neither one of them are doubted.
Certain matters differ in their level of clarity, and how
assured the soul is about them.22
God says:
The believers are only those who believe in Allah and
His Messenger and, when they are [meeting] with
him for a matter of common interest, do not depart until
they have asked his permission. Indeed, those who ask
your permission, [O Muhammad] - those are the ones
who believe in Allah and His Messenger (Al-Nur, 24:62).
This verse affirms that the word Iman [faith] signifies a
multiplicity of meanings. It is noted here that the faithful
are defined as those who believe, and this describes the state
of heart, and that they do not depart until they have asked his
permission, and this pertains to action. So the Almighty God
mentioned the attribute of faith in defining the faithful The
believers are only those who believe, and this does not make
22 Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, op. cit.
30
logical sense unless the definition using the same term of the
object defined has different usage from it.
6. Aspects of the Effect of Faith on
Actions and Vice-versa
Faith impacts on action from a viewpoint that faith is the
energy on which man draw his activity towards performing
a good deed. Man needs to have an impetus that makes him
proceed to work and endure the discomforts and difficulties
facing him while trying to accomplish or avoid something.
The faith of a labourer, for example, in his need for money to
obtain food and clothing, attain self-realization and care for
his family constitutes an impetus that drives him to wake up
early and accept tiredness and hardship at work. The same
is true of the faith in God as being the impetus that makes
the faithful constantly obey the commandants and avoid the
prohibitions of God, even if such a thing is burdensome on
the soul. in addition, faith has its effect on man's steadfastness
and his excellence at work as a result of the meaning
that the work holds for him, clarity of the way he operates,
and stability of his decisions about it, particularly at the intru-
sion of feelings of greed and fear, so as to continue to
avoid cheating or deceiving and evade anything that may
affect the quality or continuity of the work. The Almighty
says:
31
Who created me, and He [it is who] guides me. And
it is He who feeds me and gives me drink. And
when I am ill, it is He who cures me. And who will cause
me to die and then bring me to life. And who I aspire that
He will forgive me my sin on the Day of Recompense (Al-
Shu'ara', 26:78-82);
and He says:
Those to whom hypocrites said, "Indeed, the people
have gathered against you, so fear them." But it
[merely] increased them in faith, and they said, "Sufficient
for us is Allah , and [He is] the best Disposer of
af- fairs. So they returned with favor from Allah and
bounty, no harm having touched them. And they pursued
the pleasure of Allah , and Allah is the possessor of great
bounty (Aal 'Imran, 3:173–174).
Similarly, action impacts on faith. For example, if the
soul is accustomed to fail to adhere to a certain command of
God and this state continues for a longtime, then its interest
and faith in such command incline to gradually go down;
and perhaps the soul becomes apathetic toward it and its
life goes on without any effect of such faith on it. Therefore,
the denial of faith in such command when does not go
along with the soul's behaviors and desires would be easier
than changing what became entrenched improper conduct.
32
God says: No! rather, the stain has covered their hearts of
that which they were earning. No! Indeed, from their Lord, that
Day, they will be partitioned (Al-Mutaffifin, 83:14-15). Abu
Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of God said: 'When
the believer commits a sin, a black dot will be engraved on
his heart. If he repents, refrains and regrets, his heart will
be polished again. If he commits more errors, the dots will
increase until they cover his heart. This is the ran (stain) that
God described: N o! Rather, the stain has covered their
hearts of that which they were earning '.23 The Almighty
says: S ay, "Then why did you kill the prophets of Allah before,
if you are [indeed] believers?" (Al-Baqarah, 2:91); so
God the exalted One made the act of killing evidence which
negates belief.
7. An Explanation of the Six Articles of Faith
Faith in God
The foundation and basis of faith is faith in God Almighty,
which is innate to man's primordial nature, which all spirits
acknowledged from the beginning in the 'realm of the seed'
before creation, as God Almighty says:
23 Narrated by Imam Tirmidhi in his Sunan, Abwab Tafsir Al-Qur'an
(5/434 no. 3334)
33
Remember when your Lord took the seeds of the
sons of Adam from their loins and made them
bear wit- ness against themselves, and said: 'Am I not
your Lord?' They said: 'Yea, we testify.' This was lest you
should say on the day of Resurrection: 'Of this we were
unaware' (Al-A`raf, 7:172).
The spiritual void we now see is but a consequence of
the yearning of all spirits to relive that defining moment by
reviving their faithful connection to the Almighty Creator.
The Muslim believes, and is certain, and testifies, that
there is no god but God, alone with no partner: a Mighty
God, a Glorious King, besides whom there is no other Lord,
nor any other object of worship. He is Eternal, without
beginning or end; there is no beginning to His First‐ness,
nor any end to His Last‐ness. He is One, the Self‐sufficient
Besought of all, who neither begat nor was begotten, and
none is like him. He has no likeness nor counterpart; there
is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All‐Hearing, All‐Seeing.
In His Holiness He is beyond time and space, and the resemblance
of any created thing. Direction does not encompass
Him, nor do temporal events befall Him. He is settled
upon His Throne in the way that He said it, according to the
meaning He intended, with a settling that befits the might of
His Majesty and the height of His Glory and His Grandeur.
He is near to all things, and nearer to man than his jugular
vein. He watches over all things, and observes them. He is
34
Living and All‐Sustaining. Neither slumber nor sleep overcome
Him. He made the heavens and the earth; and when
He decrees a thing, He but says to it 'Be!', and it is. God is the
Creator of all things, and the Patron of all things.24
Faith in the angels
Another article of faith is faith in the noble and holy angels
(peace be upon them), who are creatures of light, who do
not disobey God when He commands them, and who do as they
are commanded (Al-Tahrim, 66:6). Qur'anic verses and
noble hadiths speak of them with praise and honour, and indeed
with love; for God mentioned those of them who bear
the Throne, and made it clear that the hearts of the believers
should be filled with love for them:
Those who bear the Throne, and those around it,
hymn the praise of their Lord and have faith in
Him, and ask forgiveness for those who have faith: 'Lord,
You encompass all things in mercy and knowledge; forgive,
then, those who repent and follow Your way, and guard
them from the torment of Hell!' (Ghafir, 40:7);
24 Imam `Abd Allah ibn `Alawi al-Haddad on the doctrine of the
people of the Sunna and the community, from the conclusion of Kitab
al-Nasa'ih al-Diniyya wal-Wasaya al-Imaniyya, Dar al-Hawi lil‐Taba`a
wal-Nashr, 1413 AH, pp. 415–416.
35
The heavens are well nigh rent above them, when the
angels proclaim the praise of their Lord, and ask forgiveness
for those on earth. Indeed, God is the Forgiving,
the Merciful (Al-Shura, 42:5).
There are also angels who come in turns to mankind by
night and by day, and the recording scribes who abide with
every person at all times.
There are also angels charged with certain tasks pertaining
to mankind, including:
1. Revelation: Gabriel
2. Provision: Michael
3. Blowing the trumpet [of the resurrection]: Raphael
(Israfil)
4. Taking spirits: the Angel of Death
5. Counting good and bad deeds: the Diligent Observer
6. The questions of the grave: Munkar and Nakir
7. The guardian of Paradise: Ridwan
8. The guardian of hell: Malik
Peace be upon them all.
36
Faith in the scriptures and messengers
Another article of faith, without which the Muslim's faith is
invalid, is faith in the messengers and prophets (peace be
upon them all), and in the revealed scriptures that God Almighty
sent down; these include the scriptures of Abraham,
Moses, the Psalms, the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur'an.
none of these scriptures contained a promise from God to
undertake to preserve them, save only the Holy Qur'an, in
which the Almighty says: It is We who have sent down the
Remembrance; and indeed, We are its Guardian (Al-Hijr,
15:9). Islam is the religion which includes all the prophets
and envoys in faith, belief, allegiance and love; and God Almighty
has made our worship contingent on faith in all the
messengers and prophets, may God's blessings and peace be
upon them.
So for us, faith is invalid if one does not believe in the
prophethood of our master Noah, or our master Abraham,
or our master Moses, or our master Jesus, or any other of the
prophets whom God mentions in his Glorious Book when
he says:
Say: We believe in God, and in what has been sent
down to us, and what was sent down to Abraham,
and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and
what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from
their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them,
37
and to Him we surrender (Aal `Imran, 3:84).
From the article of faith in all the prophets and messengers,
the Holy Qur'an made a foundation upon which the
Muslim community can base its relations to other communities.
The Almighty says:
Oyou who have faith! Have faith in God, and His Messenger,
and the Book which He has revealed unto His
Messenger, and the Book which He revealed aforetime.
Whoso disbelieves in God, and His angels, and His books,
and His messengers, and the Last Day, has indeed wandered
far astray (Al-Nisa', 4:136).
The principal and general basis, then, for our relations
with all of our blessed prophets (upon them all be peace
and blessings) is the connection of faith, love, belief and allegiance
to their guidance: It is they whom God has guided;
follow, then, their guidance (Al-An'am, 6:90), and taking lessons
and wisdoms from their stories and experiences with
the communities of old. The best of the prophets are 'the
resolute (ulu al-`azm) from among the messengers, namely
our masters Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad,25
peace be upon them. Faith in the messengers must make no
distinction between them, for God Almighty says:
25 See Surat Al-Ahqaf, 46:35.
38
The Messenger believes in what has been sent down
to him from his Lord, as do the believers. Each believes
in God, and His angels, and His books, and His
messengers: 'We make no distinction between any of His
messengers' (Al-Baqarah, 2:285).
Yet it is valid to believe that some of them are preferred
over others, for God has said:
These are the messengers; We favoured some of them
over others. Some there are to whom God spoke,
and some He raised in rank; and We gave Jesus son of
Mary clear signs, and aided him with the Holy Spirit (Al-
Baqarah, 2:253).
The Father of the Prophets and the Friend of the Compassionate,
our master Abraham (peace be upon him) was
blessed with a special position, which gives him a certain
eminence in our connection to him, in several ways. These
include the ascription of the primordial faith (al-hanifiyya)
to him, as well as how our prophet Muhammad (God bless
him and his family and grant him peace) is descended from
him, and is the answer to the prayer he made when he called
upon God Almighty, saying:
Our Lord, raise among them a messenger from them,
who shall convey unto them Your signs, and teach
39
them scripture and wisdom, and cause them to grow
in purity; You are the Almighty, the wise (Al-Baqarah,
2:129).
Our master Moses (peace be upon him) also has a special
eminence in his connection to us, which was manifested
when our master Muhammad (God bless him and grant
him peace) went back to him several times during his holy
Ascension; each time, he advised him to ask God Almighty
to lessen the burden of the canonical prayer for his community,
until finally God decreed it to be five prayers, after it
had been fifty.26
As for our master Jesus (peace be upon him), he has a
special place with regards to his connection to the Islamic
community in that God Almighty made him one of the most
distinctive major portents of the Hour, and one of the keys
of deliverance for this community in the end times, when
Jesus (peace be upon him) will descend, as our Messenger
described it:
He will descend by a white tower east of Damascus wear-
26 See the narration of Imam Bukhari in his Sahih (1/132), Kitab al-
Salah, Bab Kayfa Furidat al-Salawat fil‐Isra', (no. 349); and Imam Muslim
in his Sahih, Kitab al-Iman, 2/176, no. 136 according to Nawawi's
commentary, Bab al-Isra' bi‐Rasul Illah ila al-Samawat wa Fard al-Salawat,
on the authority of Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (God be pleased with
him).
40
ing two robes of pale yellow, his hands placed on the
wings of two angels. When he lowers his head, beads of
water will drip from it; and when he raises it, silver beads
like pearls will scatter from it.27
How beautiful, then, will be the scene of this descent, and
how awe‐inspiring will his appearance be (peace be upon
him). The fact that this description is so detailed only adds
to the certainty and the attachment of mind, understanding
and sensibility to the meaning of our connection with
this holy man so ennobled by his Lord. The hadiths which
describe the time, place and manner of his blessed descent
are at the level of mass‐transmission.28
Therefore, the Muslim believes that he has a special connection
with Christ (peace be upon him), and that he will
lead the Muslims after he descends, according to God's religion
that he revealed to his messengers, and his law that
he made the seal of the messages of all his envoys: that of
our master Muhammad (God bless him and his family and
grant him peace).
27 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih, Kitab al-Fitan wa Ashrat
al-Sa`a, 18/51, no. 2937 according to Nawawi's commentary, Bab Dhikr
al-Dajjal wa Sifatih wa ma ma`ah, on the authority of Nawwas ibn
Sam`an (God be pleased with him). The word mahrudatayn means
two robes dyed with wars [a yellow herb] and then with saffron. Juman
means large silver beads which resemble pearls in their resplendence
and beauty.
28 `Ali al-Jafri, al-Masih `Isa wa Ummihi al-Siddiqa `alayhima al-Salam
(Abu Dhabi, Dar al-Faqih, 2011), pp. 11–15.
41
Islam addresses the faithful in a way that gives them a
special attachment, great love, firm esteem and spiritual aptness
for following our master Christ (peace be upon him)
when he descends. May God make us among those whom
He chooses to love, serve and aid Him – Amin!
Faith in the Last Day
Another article of faith is faith in the resurrection, the Last
Day, the reckoning and the requital according to divine mercy
and justice, as God says: Save for those who repent and do
good works: God shall replace their sins with good deeds, and
God is forgiving, merciful (Al-Furqan, 25:70), and He forgives
much (Al-Shura, 42:30), Whoso does an atom's weight
of good shall see it; and whoso does an atom's weight of evil shall
see it (Al-Zalzala, 99:7–8). This is his way of stirring the believer's
aspiration and strengthening his resolve to take hold
of himself and buckle down to acts of obedience and good
deeds, and to forswear indulging caprices and delusions of
happiness based on passions and fleeting pleasures. It also
shows the believer how to take the long view of his future,
which will stretch out without limit, far beyond the time he
spends in this world.
Faith in Providence
The last of these articles is faith in Providence, both the good
and the bad, the sweet and the bitter; and faith that the uni42
verse is never outside the control of the Lord's mercy, justice
and wisdom. This is what causes the believer to live a life
which is refined by contentment, tranquillity, security and
patience.
It remains to be said that all the articles of faith are indicators
that constitute powerful means of building a soul that is
assured and confident of its connection to God Almighty, its
outlook on life, and its consequent deeds and conduct, especially
in light of the breadth of the concept of the branches
of faith, which cover every aspect of human outlook and
interaction.
8. The Branches of Faith
The essential cultural basis of the concept of the branches of
faith is the saying of the Prophet (God bless him and grant
him peace):
Faith is seventy‐something – or sixty‐something – branches;
the greatest of them is saying "there is no god but God",
and the least of them is to remove harmful objects from
the road. Shyness is a branch of faith.29
29 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Shu`ab
al-Iman, 1/63, no. 35, on the authority of Abu Hurayra (God be pleased
with him); similar versions are narrated by Bukhari and others, such as:
'Faith is sixty‐something branches, and shyness is a branch of faith'; 'Faith
is seventy‐something portals, the greatest of which is "there is no god but
God", and the least of which is to remove bones from the road; and shyness
43
So there are many means of refinement in the circle of
the branches and portals of faith, between the testimony of
Divine Oneness at the top, and removing harmful objects
from the road at the bottom. This means that all the aspects
of individual and communal life are included. One of the
greatest of them is to love God, the Messenger and his Family,
one's brother and one's neighbour; he (God bless him
and his family and grant him peace) said:
Three things which, if they are in a person, he experiences
the sweetness of faith: for God and His Messenger to be
more beloved to him than anything else; for him to love
a man for no reason other than God's sake; and for him
to hate to return to unbelief just as he would hate to be
cast into fire.'30
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also said: 'By Him in whose hand is my soul, no servant believes
until he loves for his brother the goodness he loves for himself.'31
is a branch of faith'; 'faith is sixty‐four portals, the highest and loftiest of
which is to say "there is no god but God", and the lowest of which is to remove
harmful objects from the road'; and 'faith is seventy (or seventy‐two)
portals, the highest of which is "there is no god but God", and the lowest of
which is to remove harmful objects from the road; and shyness is a branch
of faith.'
30 Narrated by Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Halawat
al-Iman, 1/12, no. 16.
31 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 3/206, no. 13169.
44
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace) also
said: 'He who has no trust has no faith; he who has no covenant
has no religion.'32 He (God bless him and his family and grant
him peace) also said: 'The believer is not he who sleeps full while
his neighbour goes hungry.'33 He (God bless him and his family
and grant him peace) also said:
Whoso believes in God and the Last Day, let him honour
his guest. Whoso believes in God and the Last Day, let
him not offend his neighbour. Whoso believes in God and
the Last Day, let him say what is good, or be silent.34
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also said:
A servant's faith is not upright until his heart is upright,
and his heart is not upright until his tongue is upright;
and no man will enter Paradise whose neighbour is not
safe from his harm.35
32 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 3/135, no. 12410.
33 Narrated on the authority of Anas ibn Malik (God be pleased with
him), in the Musnad of Bazzar 14/26, no. 7429, and in the Mu`jam Kabir
of Tabarani, 1/259 no. 754, and in the Majma` of Haytami 8/167, where
he ascribed it to Tabarani and Bazzar with a sound chain.
34 Narrated by Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Adab, Bab Man
kana Yu'minu bil‐Llah wal-Yawm al-Akhir fala Yu'dhi Jarah, 8/11, no. 6018.
35 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 3/198, no. 13079.
45
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also said:
God has divided your characters among you just as He divided
your provision among you. God Almighty gives this
world to those He loves and those He loves not; but He
only gives religion to those He loves. If God gives religion
to someone, then He loves them. By Him in whose hand is
my soul, no servant surrenders until his heart and tongue
surrender; and he does not have faith until his neighbour
is safe from his harm.36
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also said:
By Him in whose hand is my soul, you will not enter Paradise
until you have faith, and you will not have faith until
you love one another. Shall I not show you something that,
if you do it, you cause you to love one another? Give one
another greetings of peace.37
36 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 1/387, no. 3672.
37 NarratedbyImamMusliminhisSahih:Kitabal-Iman,Babannahula
Yadkhul al-Janna illa al-Mu'minun wa anna Mahabbat al-Mu'minin min
al-Iman wa anna Ifsha' al-Salam Sabab li‐Husuliha, 1/74, no. 54.
46
Conclusion: The Building of the Faithful Soul is the
Beginning of the Building of Faith‐based Society
The building of the faithful soul and its education according
to the concept of faith outlined by the aforementioned
articles and qualities, followed by the things the Messenger
of God (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
called the 'branches of faith', and the signs explained by the
scholars of faith's increase and decrease – these all have consequences
in real life on the individual, communal and global
level, and on all political, economic, social and cultural
levels, which lead to the building of a faith‐based civilisation.
This is because man, as all religious teachings indicate, is
composed of a spirit, a soul, a heart, a mind and a body. If
a man understands the meaning of faithful interaction with
God with his entire being – that is to say, with his spirit,
mind, heart, soul and body, things will be right between him
and God. And if his connection to God Almighty is healthy,
then his connection to all others around him will also be
healthy. What this means is that the turmoil in which we are
currently living, and in which the whole world is living – not
only the believers – is simply the natural result of man's rejection
of, and obliviousness to, the purpose for which God
created him, and for which He subjected all existence to him.
The Spirit
The spirit, as Imam Ghazali (God have mercy on him) de47
fines it, is the divine connection inside man, which inspires
him to turn toward the higher realm and the holier realm,
and to connect with the mystery of the first address that took
place between him and God Almighty. It is because of the
spirit that the believer is able to connect to his Lord with
worship: And I breathed into him of My Spirit (Al-Hijr,
15:29), and it is the means by which the believer ascends
the stations of love: He loves them, and they love Him (Al-
Ma'ida, 5:54); the love which leads to endless states of extinction
in the Beloved, and to subsistence through him: to
union with him, to separation, to the union of union, to the
separation of separation, and so on.
The Soul
What is meant by 'soul' is that part of man that is subject
to change, so that thereafter the extent of his connection to
damnation or felicity can be determined, as the Lord says:
By the soul, and Him who shaped it, inspiring it with
its lewdness and its God‐consciousness. Prosperous
is he who purifies it, and a failure is he who stunts it (Al-
Shams, 91:7–10).
The most important element of man that has to do with
change and progress to a higher state, or regression to a
lower state, is the soul, which ascends through seven levels,
48
according to the scholars of spiritual discipline and purification.
The Seven States of the Soul
The first of them is the soul that enjoins evil, to which the
Almighty alluded through the words of the Court Officer's
wife: 'Nor do I exonerate my own soul; indeed, the soul enjoins
evil, save when my Lord has mercy' (Yusuf, 12:53). The word
ammara ['one who enjoins'] is an emphatic nominal form,
which implies that it continuously embellishes evil to its
owner. Yet this evil‐enjoining soul can be raised, by means
of effort and purification, to the second level, which is that
of the reproachful soul.
The reproachful soul is that which sometimes incites
good, and sometimes evil; and when its owner commits evil,
it reproaches him and tells him to repent and turn back. God
alludes to it when he says: Nay, I swear by the reproachful
soul (Al-Qiyamah, 75:2).
Higher still is the third level, that of the inspired soul, to
which God alludes when he says: Inspiring it with its lewdness
and its God‐consciousness (Al-Shams, 91:8). When a
person rises in his faith in God, his soul begins to abate from
its instigations and passions. When he begins to ascend up
the levels of his connection to God Almighty, struggling
against his reproachful soul, this soul comes to be receptive
to the inspirations of the Almighty real, and its instiga49
tions of caprice and desire begin to subside. it comes to be
dominated by reflection, meditation and deep thought, and
is inspired to utilise sound insight and powerful perception,
resulting in a prevalent inclination towards what is good and
righteous.
If the person continues to ascend in self‐purification, he
reaches a higher level than the inspired soul, namely that
of the soul at peace, of which God says: O soul at peace!
(Al-Fajr, 89:27). When the light of divine inspiration shines
upon this soul, it comes to find peace in the Almighty real,
and its certainty becomes stronger, and the vicissitudes and
phenomena around it are no longer capable of wresting this
peace from it.
This peace or tranquillity is a quality of the righteous
friends of God: it is related that Ibrahim ibn Adham (God
have mercy on him) once boarded a ship which was beset
by waves on all sides. ibrahim wrapped his cloth around his
head and lay down to sleep, for there was nothing that could
physically be done, and all that remained was either fear or
tranquillity. The other passengers of the ship clamoured
with cries of fear and prayers, and woke him up and said, 'Do
you not see the peril we are in?' (You can well see how this
turbulent situation resembled the panic and dire straits the
world is experiencing today.) 'That's not peril', he said. 'And
what is peril, then?', they asked. He answered: 'to have need
for human beings.' He then said: 'O God, You have shown
us Your power; show us now Your clemency'; and the sea
50
became as calm as a jug of oil.38 When peace and inner stability
were preponderant in the soul of one man, this led to a
kind of stability in real life, to the point that the sea became
as calm as a jug of oil. This is something we need to seek for
our own souls, to bring the ship of our modern world back
under control.
Then comes another level higher still; the fifth level of
the soul. This is the contented soul, to which God alludes
by saying: Return to your Lord, contented (Al-Fajr, 89:28).
This contentment is higher than conventional contentment,
for it means the settling of contentment in the soul so that
it becomes content with God's actions and His planning in
this world. This contentment, whose locus is the heart, does
not oppose or contradict the actions of the body in utilising
means to change reality for the better; we are speaking here
about a contented soul, endowed with wisdom, genius and
depth, not a soul that neglects the real world or fails to deal
with it and work to improve it.
Then comes the sixth level, namely the accepted soul, to
which the very same verse alludes: Return to your Lord,
con- tented and accepted (Al-Fajr, 89:28), because of how
close it is to the contented soul. He who is content is given
contentment, and he who lives according to the meaning of
38 Jamal al-Din Abu al-Faraj al-Jawzi, Sifat al-Safwa (Cairo, Dar al- Hadith,
2000), vol. 2, p. 337.
51
contentment in God is in turn gladly welcomed by God Almighty,
and thus is accepted.
And when the contentment of the servant is combined
with the contented acceptance of the Almighty Lord, the
soul becomes ready to ascend to the highest level of human
souls, that of the perfect soul. The meaning of perfection
here is relative perfection, since absolute perfection belongs
only to God; and this perfection makes a person worthy and
able to continue onward to infinite horizons of connection
to God Almighty.
The Mind
As for the mind, it is one of the most important constituents
of man, and is what singles him out from all other creatures.
It is the core of perception, and the means by which man
measures the barrage of events that surround him against
the changes of his own soul at moments of anger, sadness,
joy, love or hate; for the mind comes to weigh things according
to knowledge, whether it be religious knowledge or
empirical knowledge. Both of these come back to the mind,
which in turn is equipped to receive them; a person benefits
from them according to the power of his mind, once he has
cleansed it from the distractions of his soul's caprices and
desires.
52
The Heart
It is the seat of choice in man, which is affected by the states
of the spirit, the levels of the soul and the opinion of the
mind, and makes the decision based on these. It is also the
thing at which the Lord looks, as the noble hadith says: 'God
looks not at your bodies or your forms; but He looks to your hearts
and your deeds.'39 Spiritual ascent causes the heart to rise and
live in a state of certainty, in its three levels as described by
the experts in this art, namely knowledge of certainty, vision
of certainty and truth of certainty, which is the highest level
to which a man can rise, after which there is no end to the
ascent of his heart's stability. In this way, the heart ascends
through the nine stations of certainty, which are: repentance,
renunciation, patience, gratitude, fear, contentment, hope,
reliance, and love, according to how they are enumerated in
Qut al-Qulub.40
The Body
It is the clay‐hewn container of the spirit, soul, mind and
39 Agreed upon [by Bukhari and Muslim], on the authority of our master
Abu Hurayra (God be pleased with him).
40 Abu Talib al-Makki, Qut al-Qulub fi Mu`amalat al-Mahbub wa Wasf
Tariq al-Murid ila Maqam al-Tawhid, ed. Dr. `Asim Ibrahim al-Kayali
(Beirut, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1426 AH), Chapter 32: 'An Explanation
of the Stations of Certainty and the States of the Certain'; vol. 1, p. 302f.
53
heart, and asks for various things; some are needs, and others
are responses to the caprice of the soul. Needs fall into
the legal categories of obligatory or recommended (such as
eating for necessity or to give the body growth and preservation;
vaccines or medicines to protect the body or cure its
ails; or marriage for necessity or for the benefit of preserving
the human species and increasing it). As for the caprices of
the soul, they might fall into the category of recommended,
permitted, reprehensible or forbidden.
This perspective might amount to a subtle difference, but
it also shows that there is a big difference between the perspective
of faith‐based civilisation and that of other civilisations
when it comes to life and man's role in life. Modern
civilisation sees man's connection with the universe from
the viewpoint of his being the master of the world, having
the right to use it however he pleases; even the discourse of
the environmentalists is predicated on the aim of preserving
mankind and the future of the children who live on the
planet, with the exception of certain civil liberties organisations
which take a humanistic outlook and speak about lofty
concepts.
The perspective of faith‐based civilisation concerning
man's connection to the life he lives, however, is higher than
that, for it sees man as God's vicegerent on earth. This perspective
means that when man listens to what God says to
him, utilising the understanding of his mind, he rises with
his spirit to a state of harmony with existence and all that
54
is within it.
If man understands how to correct his aims in life by ridding
his heart of heedlessness, correcting his concept of faith
and connecting himself to God Almighty – that is, if all of
our affairs, motions, words, states, and even the impulses
of our hearts, as far as we are able, are characterised by an
understanding of what it means to offer worshipful service
to God in every part of them – if that is achieved, then our
relationships with all creation will be rectified, and we will
have true mastery, thriving and vicegerency. This is because
man has a purpose in existence, namely to worship; and he
has a task, namely to thrive; and he has a way to achieve
the purpose and the task, namely self‐purification. These are
three essential matters of earthly existence. We find the purpose
of worship in God's words: And I created not the jinn
and mankind save that they should worship Me (Al-Dhariyat,
51:56); and the task of thriving in his words:
You have no god other than He. It is He who produced
you from the earth, and has given you to
thrive thereon; so ask forgiveness of Him, then repent to
Him; surely my Lord is nigh, and answers prayer (Hud,
11:61);
and the way of purification in his words: Prosperous is
he who purifies it, and a failure is he who stunts it (Al-Shams,
91:9–10).
55
God Almighty has made us responsible for thriving on
the earth upon which we live a stage of our lives, a thriving
wherein we benefit from the earth and look after it. The
Prophet (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
told us that
A prostitute of the Israelites saw a dog pacing about a well,
about to die of thirst. She removed her sock and drew
some water in it, and gave it to him – and on account of
that, God forgave her.41
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also told us that
A man who never did any good at all, except to move a
thorn from the road – either it was on a tree, so he cut it
off and threw it away, or it was lying on the ground, so
he removed it – so God thanked him for it, and admitted
him into Paradise.42
Each of them were aware of the responsibility of having
mercy on the earth and all that is upon it; and this was a
means of their entering Paradise.
41 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih, Kitab al-Adab, Bab Fadl Saqi
al-Baha'im al-Muhtarama, 4/1761, no. 2245.
42 Narrated by Abu Dawud in his Sunan, Kitab al-Adab, Bab fi Imatat
al-Adha `an al-Tariq, 4/532, no. 5247.
56
We need to re‐examine how to link the moral of thriving
with the moral of purification, and with the ascent to the
meaning of faith and worshipful service of God Almighty;
for upon this will be based a whole way of life and civilizational
conduct. This way of life does not require us – as some
people imagine – to withdraw from real life, nor to dive into
its vicissitudes; rather, it is a matter of understanding faithbased
interaction with the constituents and events of reality,
so that we can arrive to a refined and humane civilisation.
I ask God Almighty to grant us success in attaining
this, by His grace, and to help us to spread
it; only He can grant it, and
He is well able to do so.
Praise be to God,
Lord of the
worlds.
The
Conceptof
Faith in Islam
Habib Ali al-Jifri
O believers, respond to God and
the Messenger when He calls you
unto that which will give you life.
Qur'an,
Al-Anfal, 8:24
﷽
Other Boo ks in the Series
1. The Amman Message 2008
2. A Common Word Between Us and You 2009
3. Forty Hadith on Divine Mercy 2009
4. Jihad and the Islamic Law of War 2009
5. Body Count 2009
6. The Holy Qur'an and the Environment 2010
7. Address to H. H . Pope Benedict XVI 2010
8. Keys to Jerusalem 2010
9. Islam, Christianity and the Environment 2011
10. The First UN World Interfaith Harmony Week 2011
11. Islam and Peace 2012
12. Reason and Rationality in the Qur'an 2012
13. The Concept of Faith in Islam 2012
14. Warfare in the Qur'an 2012
№ 13
MABDA
English Monograph Series
Habib Ali al-Jifri
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
MABDA · English Monograph Series · No. 13
The Concept of Faith in Islam
ISBN: 978-9957-428-49-5
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Translation from Arabic into English by Khaled Williams.
© 2012 The Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought
20 Sa'ed Bino Road, Dabuq
PO BOX 950361
Amman 11195, JORDAN
www.rissc.jo/
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any means, electronic or mechanic, including photocopying or recording
or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior
written permission of the publisher.
Views expressed in the Essay Series do not necessarily reflect those of RABIIT
or its advisory board.
Designed by Besim Ali Bruncaj
English set in Arno Pro
Arabic set in Naskh
Printed in The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
LEGAL DEPOSIT NUMBER
The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan National Library
2012/1/126
Contents
Introduction | 7
The Concept of Faith in Islam | 9
1. Faith (Iman) in its Lexical and Technical Meanings | 11
2. The Meaning of Faith, and its Articles | 13
3. The Levels of Surrender (Islam), Faith
(Iman) and Excellence (Ihsan) | 16
4. The Relationship Between Excellence (Ihsan)
and Surrender (Islam) and Faith (Iman) | 23
5. The Increase and Decrease of Faith | 26
6. Aspects of the Effect of Faith on
Actions and Vice-versa | 30
7. An Explanation of the Six Articles of Faith | 32
8. The Branches of Faith | 42
Conclusion: The Building of the Faithful Soul is the
Beginning of the Building of Faith‐based Society | 46
7
Introduction
From November 21-23, 2011, the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute
for Islamic Thought hosted the second seminar of the
Catholic-Muslim Forum at the Baptism Site, Jordan. The
Forum is one of the fruits of the 'A Common Word' initiative,
which was launched in 2007 and which seeks to promote
Muslim-Christian dialogue based on the two shared
religious commandments of 'Love of God' and 'Love of the
neighbour' [see http://ACommonWord.com]. The second
Forum (building on the success of the first Forum, which
was held at the Vatican in 2008) brought together 24 leading
scholars from each religion to discuss the following three
themes: 1. Reason, 2. Faith, 3. The Human Person.
On the first day, Prof. Ibrahim Kalin presented Reason
and Rationality in the Qur'an, and Prof. Vittorio Possenti presented
The Human Person in the Light of Reason: A Christian
Perspective.
On the second day, Father Francios Bousquet presented
[in French], The Human Person in the Light of Faith; A Christian
Perspective, and Habib Ali Jifri presented [in Arabic] The
Concept of Faith in Islam.
On the third day Prof. Timothy Winter presented The Human
Person in Islam, and Prof. Stefan Hammer presented The
Human Person: Dignity and Rights: A Catholic Perspective.
On each day, the presentations were followed by friendly
and frank discussions which served to better understand
8
each other's perspective.
On the second day of the event, the participants were invited
to greet H.M. King Abdullah II and share matters of
concern to both Muslims and Catholics.
A public session on the final day had a panel of three
members of each delegation answering questions put forth
by the audience. The Final Joint Declaration was also issued
during this session [see http://ACommonWord.com/docs/
FinalDeclarationen.pdf]
This book is the paper presented by Habib Ali al-Jifri, and
includes the English translation.
9
The Concept of Faith in Islam
Habib Ali al-Jifri
n the ame of od, the ompassionae, the ercifu
Praise be to God, as the believers praise him; and may
he send blessings and peace upon our master Muhammad,
and upon all of his forefathers, his brethren of
prophets and messengers, his family, and his companions.
God Almighty says:
O you who have faith! Respond to God and the Messenger
when He calls you to unto that which gives
you life; and know that God comes in between a man
and his heart, and that to Him you shall be mustered
(Al‐Anfal, 8:24),
and says:
10
Those who have faith, and have not confounded their
faith with evildoing – to them belongs the true security;
they are rightly guided (Al-An`am, 6:82).
And he says:
But whosoever turns away from My remembrance,
his shall be a life of narrowness, and on the Resurrection
Day We shall raise him blind.' He shall say, 'O
my Lord, why have you raised me blind, and I was wont
to see?' God shall say, 'Even so it is. Our signs came unto
you, and you forgot them; and so today you are forgotten'
(Ta Ha, 20:124–126),
and says:
By the soul, and Him who shaped it, inspiring it with
its lewdness and its God‐ consciousness. Prosperous
is he who purifies it, and a failure is he who stunts it
(Al-Shams, 91:7–10).
We will consider the topic of the concept of faith by
means of the following points:
1. Faith (iman) in its lexical and technical meanings.
2. The meaning of faith, and its articles.
11
3. The levels of surrender (islam), faith (iman) and
excellence (ihsan).
4. The relationship between excellence and surrender and
faith.
5. The increase and decrease of faith.
6. Aspects of the effect of faith on actions and vice-versa.
7. An explanation of the six articles of faith.
8. The branches of faith.
1. Faith (Iman) in its Lexical and Technical Meanings
The author of Maqayis al-Lugha says:
The root letters '‐m‐n have two closely‐related root
meanings: the first is the faithfulness (amana) that is
the opposite of treachery, meaning the heart's assurance;
and the other is belief. The two meanings are
close. Al‐Khalil says that al-amana (security) comes
from amn (safety), and that aman means to give safety,
whilst amana means the opposite of treachery.1
Lisan al-'Arab says:
1 Ahmad ibn Faris al-Razi, Mu`jam Maqayis al-Lugha, ed. `Abd al-
Salam Harun (Beirut, Dar al-Fikr 1979), entry for amn, 1/133.
12
Amina: al-aman and al-amana mean the same. The
verb is amina, the active participle amin. Amana
means to give amn and aman to someone else. Amn is
the opposite of fear; amana is the opposite of treachery;
iman is the opposite of unbelief. Iman also means
to believe; its opposite is to belie. It is said, 'Some
people believed (amana) in him, and others belied
him.' To have faith is something means to believe
in it, and to be sure (amina) that the one telling it
is not lying. Iman also means to show acquiescence
and acceptance to the Sacred Law, and to all that
the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace)
brought, and to accept it and believe in with the heart.
The one who does all this is a believer (mu'min) and
a Muslim, having neither misgivings nor doubts; and
he is the one who sees that completing the obligations
[of the religion] is incumbent upon him, and
has no doubt about this. The Glorious Revelation
says: You are not a mu'min in us (Yusuf, 12:17),
meaning 'you do not believe us'; iman means belief.
... As for iman, it is the gerund of the verb amana/
yu'minu/iman, active participle mu'min. The scholars,
linguists are otherwise, are agreed that iman means
'belief.' Al‐Azhari said: 'The basis of iman is to enter
into a state of belief in the trust (amana) that God
13
Almighty has given one.'2
The technical meaning of faith is firm belief in something
real, based on evidence. Experts in this subject have defined
faith as being 'to believe with the heart and proclaim with
the tongue'; some have added 'to act with the body.' Or, in
the words of Abu `Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Salam: 'Faith is to
have sincere devotion to God with the heart, to testify this
with the tongue, and to act on it with the body.'3
2. The Meaning of Faith, and its Articles
The meaning of faith (iman) and its qualities and articles,
and its position between surrender (islam) and spiritual
excellence (ihsan), were given in the very famous hadith of
our master Gabriel (peace be upon him) in the two Sahih
collections. `Umar ibn al-Khattab said:
We were with the Messenger of God (God bless him and
grant him peace) one day, when there came to us a man
wearing dazzling white clothes, with jet black hair; there
were no marks of travel on him, and yet not one of us
knew him. He sat by the Prophet (God bless him and
2 Ibn Manzur al-Afriqi, Lisan al-`Arab (Beirut, Dar Sadir, 1414AH), entry
for amn, 13/23.
3 Abu `Ubayd al-Qasim ibn Salam, Kitab al-Iman (Beirut, Maktabat
al-Ma`arif, 2000), p. 10.
14
grant him peace), knee to knee, placed his hands on his
thighs, and said: "O Muhammad, tell me about surrender
(islam). The Messenger of God (God bless him and
grant him peace) said: "Surrender is to testify that there
is no god but God and that Muhammad is God's Messenger
(God bless him and grant him peace), to perform
the prayer, bestow the alms, fast Ramadan and make,
if you can, the pilgrimage to the Holy House." He said:
"You have spoken truly", and we were amazed that having
questioned him he should corroborate him. He then
said: "Tell me about faith (iman)." He said: "To believe
in God and His angels and His books and His messengers
and the Last Day, and to believe in Providence, the
good of it and the evil of it." "You have spoken truly," he
said, and then: "Tell me about excellence (ihsan)." He
said: "To worship God as if you saw Him; for if you see
Him not, He assuredly sees you." He said: "Tell me about
the Hour." He said: "The one questioned knows no more
about it than the questioner." He said: "Then tell me of
its portents." He said: "That the slave‐girl shall give birth
to her mistress; and that those who were but barefoot
naked needy herdsmen shall build buildings ever higher
and higher." Then the stranger went away, and I tarried
a while. He then said to me: "O `Umar, do you know
who the questioner was?" I said: "God and His Messenger
know best." He said: "It was Gabriel. He came unto
15
you to teach you your religion."4
The articles of faith, then, as the leading scholars of hadith
have clarified in the introductory sections of the works they
have authored on the science of the holy prophetic hadith,
are faith in God Almighty, the angels, the revealed scriptures,
the messengers and prophets, the resurrection and the Last
Day, and Providence, the good of it and the evil of it. The
Muslim scholars have authored lengthy works of commentary
and reflection on the aforementioned hadith, concerning
the meaning and implications of the articles of faith, and
the difference between surrender and faith; they have even
called this hadith the 'Mother of the Sunna', just as Surat Al-
Fatiha is called the 'Mother of the Book.'5
4 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Ma`rifat
al-Iman wal-Islam wal-Qadar wa `Alamat al-Sa`a, 1/36, no. 8; and by
Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Su'al Jibril al-Nabi Salla
Allahu `alayhi wa Sallam `an al-Iman wal-Islam wal-Ihsan wa `Ilm al-
Sa`a, 1/19, no. 50; the wording here is that of Muslim.
5 Ibn Hajr al-`Asqalani says in Fath al-Bari: 'Al‐Qurtubi said that this
hadith could rightly be called the 'Mother of the Sunna' because of how
it constitutes such a wealth of information about the Sunna; and al-
Tayyibi said that this is the reason why al-Baghawi began his two books
al-Masabih and Sharh al-Sunna with it, just as the Qur'an begins with
Al-Fatiha because of how it comprises a summary of all the knowledge
conveyed in the Qur'an. Al‐Qadi `Iyad said: "This hadith contains all
the duties of worship, both the outward and the inward, including the
covenants of faith (at the first, the present, and the last), the acts of the
body, the sincerity of the inner heart, as well as the way to protect one16
3. The Levels of Surrender (Islam), Faith (Iman) and
Excellence (Ihsan)
Imam Nawawi says, in his commentary on Muslim's Sahih, in
the beginning of Kitab al-Iman:
Al‐Zuhri said: 'Surrender is the word, and faith is the
deed.' He cites as evidence for this the Almighty's
words: The Bedouins say: 'We have attained to faith.'
Say: You have not attained to faith, but say, 'We have
surrendered'; for faith has not yet entered your hearts'
(Al-Hujurat, 49:14). Others say that surrender and
faith are the same thing, citing as evidence for this
God's words: Then we brought forth such of the faithful
(mu'minin) as were there; yet We found there but one
house of those who surrendered (muslimin) (Al-Dhariyat,
51:35–36).
Al‐Khattabi said: 'The correct way to approach this
is to speak in specific and not general terms; for one
who surrenders (muslim) might be faithful in some
circumstances but not in others, whilst one who is
self from those things which spoil one's actions. Indeed, all the sciences
of the Sacred Law come back to it, and sprout forth from it." This is why
I have said so much about it; and all that I have mentioned, although
it seems a lot, is really only a little when compared to all that this hadith
contains.' Ahmad ibn Hajr al-`Asqalani, Fath al-Bari Sharh Sahih
al-Bukhari (Beirut, Dar al-Marifa, 1379 AH), vol. 1, p. 125.
17
faithful (mu'min) is in a state of surrender in all circumstances.
Every mu'min is a muslim, but not every
muslim is a mu'min. If you take the matter in this way,
you will be able to interpret all the verses and speak
about them equally without changing your position
from one to the other. The basis of faith is belief, and
the basis of surrender is submission and acquiescence;
a man might surrender on the outside whilst not acquiescing
on the inside; and he might believe on the
inside whilst not acquiescing on the outside."6
Al‐Khattabi also said, about the Prophet's (God bless
him and grant him peace) words 'Faith is seventy‐something
branches':7
This hadith makes it clear that faith, according to the
Sacred Law, is a name for a concept which has many
branches, and lower and higher levels; and the name
can be applied to any individual part just as it can be
applied to the whole; and the reality of it comprises all
its branches, and includes all its parts. It is like canonical
prayer, which has branches and parts: the name
can be applied to its parts, yet the reality comprises
6 Op. cit., vol. 1, p. 145.
7 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Shu`ab
al-Iman, 1/63, no. 35.
18
and includes all of its parts. This is supported by his
(God bless him and grant him peace) words: 'Shyness
is a branch of faith.'8 This affirms that there is a hierarchy
in faith, and that the faithful are distinguished
from one another by its degrees.
Imam Abu Muhammad al-Husayn ibn Mas`ud al-
Baghawi says:
The Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace)
made 'surrender' a name for outward actions, and
'faith' a name for inward beliefs. This is not because
actions are not part of faith, or that belief of the heart
is not part of surrender; rather, it is a detailed explanation
of a totality which is in fact one single thing, the
sum of which is called 'religion.' Therefore he (God
bless him and grant him peace) said: 'It was Gabriel;
he came to you to teach you your religion.' Belief and action
are both included in the names of faith and surrender
together; this is supported by the fact that the
Almighty says Verily, before God, religion is surrender
(Aal `Imran, 3:19), and It has been My good pleasure
to choose surrender for you as your religion (Al-Ma'ida,
5:3). The Almighty is saying here that the religion
which He has gladly chosen, and which He accepts
8 Part of the aforementioned hadith.
19
from His servants, is surrender; and religion could
not be acceptable or pleasing unless it included belief
alongside action.9
Some see that if surrender and faith are mentioned together,
they take on different meanings, whilst if they are
mentioned separately, they mean the same thing: if they are
mentioned in the same place, surrender comes to mean outward
action, and faith comes to mean inward action; and
if either one of them is mentioned on its own, it is taken
to mean both, in which case there is no difference between
them.
The Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) explained
iman as being the faith and submission of the heart,
meaning faith in God, His angels, His books, His messengers,
and so on; and he explained islam as being a particular
surrender, namely that of the Five Pillars. The same is the
case for the rest of what he (God bless him and grant him
peace) said: he explained faith in that way, and surrender in
this; and that way is the higher one. Therefore the Prophet
(God bless him and grant him peace) said: 'Surrender is public,
and faith is in the heart.'10 Outward actions can be seen by
9 Imam Nawawi, op. cit., vol. 1, p. 145.
10 Anas said: 'The Messenger of God (God bless him and grant him
peace) said: "Surrender is public, and faith is in the heart." He then signalled
with his hand to his chest three times, and then said: "God‐consciousness
is here, God‐consciousness is here."' Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his
20
others, whilst the belief, knowledge, love, fear and hope of
the heart are hidden, although they do have effects which
might indicate them – although effects do not indicate anything
unless their cause is certain.
Both `Abd Allah ibn `Amr and Abu Huraya reported that
the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) said: 'The
muslim is the one from whose tongue and hands the Muslims are
safe; and the mu'min is the one whom the people trust with their
lives and their possessions.'11 So he explained the muslim with
an outward matter, namely the people's safety from him, and
explained the mu'min with an inward matter, namely that
the people trust him with their lives and their possessions.
The latter quality is higher than the former, since if a person
is trusted, the people are safe from him, whilst not everyone
who they are safe from can be trusted, since someone might
refrain from harming them, yet nevertheless they might not
trust him in fear that he might only have refrained from
harming them out of desire or fear, and not because of any
faith in his heart.12
Imam Fakhr al-Din al-Razi says in his Tafsir:
Musnad, 3/134, no. 12408.
11 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad 2/379, no. 8918, Imam Tirmidhi
in his Sunan: Abwab al-Iman, Bab ma ja' fi anna al-Muslim man
Salima al-Muslimuna min Lisanih wa yadih, 5/17, no. 2627.
12 Taqi al-Din Abu al-`Abbas ibn Taymiyya, Majmu` al-Fatawa (Medina,
King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur'an, 1995),
vol. 7, pp. 263–264.
21
There is a difference between the general and the specific.
Faith can only be attained by the heart, though it
might be spoken with the tongue. Surrender is more
general than that; but when the general is presented
in the form of the specific, it unites with it, and is not
something apart from it. For example, the word 'animal'
is more general than the word 'man'; but when
a man is called an animal, this does not constitute
something that can be separated from the man, and
it cannot be said that this 'animal' is only an animal
and not a man. The general and the specific and different
in generality, but united in existence. The same is
true of the mu'min and the muslim: the truth is that the
word muslim is more general than the word mu'min,
yet there is nothing to prevent the general word being
used with the specific intent: if the mu'min can be
called a muslim, this does not imply that they mean
exactly the same thing.13
From this, we can see how the heart is the locus for belief
and faith, and the thing that the Almighty Real is interested
in, as the Messenger of God (God bless him and grant him
peace) said:
13 Abu `Abd Allah Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Mafatih al-ghayb, or al-Tafsir
al-Kabir (Beirut, Dar Ihya` al-Turath al-`Arabi, 1420 AH, 3rd edition),
vol. 28, p. 116, 181.
22
Indeed, in the body there is a morsel which, if it is sound,
the whole body is sound, and if it is spoiled, the whole
body is spoiled. Indeed, it is the heart.14
Because of this, God Almighty denied the existence of
firm faith in the hearts of those Bedouins who claimed to
have reached the station of faith when they entered Islam,
and affirmed that they were participating in the outward actions
of surrender, saying:
The Bedouins say: 'We have attained to faith.' Say:
You have not attained to faith, but say, 'We have
surrendered'; for faith has not yet entered your hearts'
(Al-Hujurat, 49:14).
So faith is more specific than surrender, and excellence is
more specific, and a higher level, than faith.
The be‐all and end‐all of spiritual excellence is for the servant
to ascend the levels of awareness of God Almighty and
to witness Him in all one's actions and one's conduct. This is
the third degree, after surrender and faith, and is higher than
them both; and it is built upon them, and not extraneous
to them. There can be no faith without surrender, and no
14 Narrated by Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Fadl man
Istabra'a li‐Dinih (1/20, no. 52), and by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab
al-Talaq, Bab Akhdh al-Halal wa Tark al-Shubuhat (3/1219, no. 1599), on
the authority of Nu`man ibn Bashir (God be pleased with him).
23
excellence without faith. It is an excellence which the believer
observes in all situations, and in worship in its most
comprehensive meaning, which means more than just rites
and supererogatory acts of devotion. Indeed, other narrated
versions of the hadith have it: 'Excellence is to work for God
as though you see Him; for if you see Him not, He assuredly
sees you',15 and also: 'Excellence is to fear God as though you
see Him; for if you see Him not, He assuredly sees you.'16 This is
what makes excellence a constant conduct of the faithful in
all their deeds and situations.
4. The Relationship Between Excellence (Ihsan) and
Surrender (Islam) and Faith (Iman)
Surrender is a designation attained by all who testify with
their tongues that there is no god but God and that Muhammad
is the Messenger of God. It pertains to this worldly
life, and to ruling and interactions which have to do with
its adherent's connection to the rest of the Muslims: he may
marry from them, inherit from them, be prayed over and
buried in their graveyards, and so on the for the rest of the
outward laws. It also requires adherence to the other Pillars:
prayer, the alms, fasting, and the pilgrimage.
But the reality of this, and its fruits in the heart and in
15 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 1/314, no. 184.
16 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab al-Islam
ma huwa wa ma hiya Khisaluh, 1/30, no. 108.
24
the Hereafter, depend on this adherence to the Pillars being
sincerely devoted to God Almighty, without any ostentation,
hypocrisy, pretention, self‐satisfaction or arrogance.
This can only be attained when the Muslim adheres to the
pillars of Islam whilst being in a state of awareness of God
Almighty with love, desire, fear and hope. This is the meaning
of excellence.
Faith is belief; and this belief might be knowledge, witnessing,
or true certainty. Certainty has three degrees and
levels: the knowledge of certainty (`ilm al-yaqin), the vision
of certainty (`ayn al-yaqin) and the truth of certainty
(haqq al-yaqin), as God indicates in the Holy Qur'an when
He says: Nay! Would that you knew with the knowledge of
certainty (Al-Takathur, 102:5), You shall surely see it with
the eye of certainty (Al-Takathur, 102:7), Indeed, this is the
truth of certainty (Al-Waqi`a, 56:95), and And indeed, it
is the truth of certainty (Al-Haqqa, 69:51). Yet faith on the
level of the knowledge of certainty is itself dependable and
acceptable; for knowledge pertains to the mind's perception,
and its certainty is attained by the heart's assurance and firm
belief.
To have knowledge of the articles of faith, and for the
mind to accept them, is the lowest level of faith, and is
enough to make the morally responsible person a believer
(mu'min); yet faith at this level is exposed to disturbances,
and could be beset by the gales of doubt, disturbed by the
winds of uncertainty, or uprooted by the hurricanes of trial
25
and misfortune. To ascend, however, to a higher level than
the knowledge of certainty makes faith firm and stable so
that it is impervious to backsliding. This can only be attained
through a feeling of cognisance of God's signs which are
manifest in existence; and one of the clearest of these signs
are those that exist in the soul of man, as the Almighty says:
And in the earth are signs for the certain; and in your own
selves – will you not, then, see? (Al-Dhariyat, 51:20–21). It can
also be through cognisance of how God is watching over the
believer's heart, as He says: We created man, and We know
what his heart whispers; and We are closer to him than his jugular
vein (Qaf, 50:16). This is the level of excellence, which
is to worship God as though you see Him; for if you see him
not, He assuredly sees you. Hence, we find the mention of
faith in the Holy Qur'an indicating excellence when God
says: Those who have believed and whose hearts are assured
by the remembrance of Allah . Unquestionably, by the remembrance
of Allah hearts are assured (Al-Ra'd, 13:28). Assuredness
is a state of the heart which has to do with certainty
and awareness of God's presence. Consequently, when excellence
is actualized it brings perfection to the realm of action;
the Prophet (God bless him and grant him peace) said:
'God the Exalted One, loves that if any of you performs an action,
he should do it with perfection'.17 In this way, the connection
between surrender, faith and excellence can be clearly seen.
17 Narrated by al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman (4/344 no. 5312)
26
5. The Increase and Decrease of Faith
The Proof of Islam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, in his book Ihya
`Ulum al-Din, says:
Faith is a word with various meanings, used in three
ways: the first is belief with the heart by way of doctrine
and imitation, without there being any personal
discovery of expansion of breast; this is the faith of
the ordinary people, the faith of all mankind save for
the elite. This doctrine (i`tiqad) is a knot (`uqda) tied
around the heart; sometimes it tightens and strengthens,
and at other times it loosens and weakens, just
like a knot in a piece of string.18
In that sense, God says:
And whenever a surah is revealed, there are among
the hypocrites those who say, "Which of you has
this increased faith?" As for those who believed, it has
increased them in faith, while they are rejoicing (Al-Tawbah,
9:124)
The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned,
their hearts become fearful, and when His
18 Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, Ihya' `Ulum al-Din (Beirut, Dar al-Marifa),
vol. 1, p. 120f.
27
verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and
upon their Lord they rely (Al-Anfal, 8:2);
It is He who sent down tranquillity into the hearts of
the believers that they would increase in faith along
with their [present] faith(Al-Fath, 48:4);
and that those who were given the Scripture will be convinced
and those who have believed will increase in faith (Al-
Muddaththir, 74:31).
The second usage is belief and action together, as the
Messenger of God (God bless him and grant him
peace) said: 'Faith is seventy‐something portals';19 and
he (God bless him and grant him peace) said: 'When
the fornicator fornicates, he is not a believer.'20 When action
is included in the meaning of the word 'faith', the
fact that it increases and decreases is obvious; as to
whether this implies the increase of the faith which
is only belief, that is a matter of debate; we have indicated
before that indeed it does.21
19 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 2/445 , no. 9747, and by
Tirmidhi in his Sunan, 5/10, no. 2614; he declared it to be rigorously
authentic.
20 Narrated by Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Hudud, Bab Ithm
al-Zunnah, 8/164, no. 2810.
21 Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, op. cit.
28
There are around fifty Qur'anic verses that couple faith
with righteous deeds; for example, God says: Your guardian
can be only Allah; and His messenger and those who believe,
who establish regular prayers and regular charity, and bow
down [in worship] (Al-Ma'idah, 5:55). Hence, God made it
clear that those who believe are those who establish regular
prayers and charity (zakah), which are amongst the highest
righteous deeds. In fact, the Qur'an goes so far as to state in
the context of describing believers, that faith – in a sense of
attainment and firmness – is confined to those who perform
such deeds:
The believers are only those who, when Allah is mentioned,
their hearts become fearful, and when His
verses are recited to them, it increases them in faith; and
upon their Lord they rely. The ones who establish prayer,
and from what We have provided them, they spend. Those
are the believers, truly. For them are degrees [of high position]
with their Lord and forgiveness and noble provision
(Al-Anfal, 8:2–4).
So, God made here a bond between true faith and the
establishment of the regular prayers and charity.
The third usage is that it means certain belief by way
of personal discovery, expansion of the breast, and a
beholding of the insight's light. This is the most un29
likely of the three to be subject to increase; but I say
that when it comes to something certain in which
there is no doubt, the soul's assurance of it can differ:
the soul's assurance that two is greater than one is not
the same as its assurance that the world is created and
contingent, even if neither one of them are doubted.
Certain matters differ in their level of clarity, and how
assured the soul is about them.22
God says:
The believers are only those who believe in Allah and
His Messenger and, when they are [meeting] with
him for a matter of common interest, do not depart until
they have asked his permission. Indeed, those who ask
your permission, [O Muhammad] - those are the ones
who believe in Allah and His Messenger (Al-Nur, 24:62).
This verse affirms that the word Iman [faith] signifies a
multiplicity of meanings. It is noted here that the faithful
are defined as those who believe, and this describes the state
of heart, and that they do not depart until they have asked his
permission, and this pertains to action. So the Almighty God
mentioned the attribute of faith in defining the faithful The
believers are only those who believe, and this does not make
22 Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, op. cit.
30
logical sense unless the definition using the same term of the
object defined has different usage from it.
6. Aspects of the Effect of Faith on
Actions and Vice-versa
Faith impacts on action from a viewpoint that faith is the
energy on which man draw his activity towards performing
a good deed. Man needs to have an impetus that makes him
proceed to work and endure the discomforts and difficulties
facing him while trying to accomplish or avoid something.
The faith of a labourer, for example, in his need for money to
obtain food and clothing, attain self-realization and care for
his family constitutes an impetus that drives him to wake up
early and accept tiredness and hardship at work. The same
is true of the faith in God as being the impetus that makes
the faithful constantly obey the commandants and avoid the
prohibitions of God, even if such a thing is burdensome on
the soul. in addition, faith has its effect on man's steadfastness
and his excellence at work as a result of the meaning
that the work holds for him, clarity of the way he operates,
and stability of his decisions about it, particularly at the intru-
sion of feelings of greed and fear, so as to continue to
avoid cheating or deceiving and evade anything that may
affect the quality or continuity of the work. The Almighty
says:
31
Who created me, and He [it is who] guides me. And
it is He who feeds me and gives me drink. And
when I am ill, it is He who cures me. And who will cause
me to die and then bring me to life. And who I aspire that
He will forgive me my sin on the Day of Recompense (Al-
Shu'ara', 26:78-82);
and He says:
Those to whom hypocrites said, "Indeed, the people
have gathered against you, so fear them." But it
[merely] increased them in faith, and they said, "Sufficient
for us is Allah , and [He is] the best Disposer of
af- fairs. So they returned with favor from Allah and
bounty, no harm having touched them. And they pursued
the pleasure of Allah , and Allah is the possessor of great
bounty (Aal 'Imran, 3:173–174).
Similarly, action impacts on faith. For example, if the
soul is accustomed to fail to adhere to a certain command of
God and this state continues for a longtime, then its interest
and faith in such command incline to gradually go down;
and perhaps the soul becomes apathetic toward it and its
life goes on without any effect of such faith on it. Therefore,
the denial of faith in such command when does not go
along with the soul's behaviors and desires would be easier
than changing what became entrenched improper conduct.
32
God says: No! rather, the stain has covered their hearts of
that which they were earning. No! Indeed, from their Lord, that
Day, they will be partitioned (Al-Mutaffifin, 83:14-15). Abu
Hurayrah narrated that the Messenger of God said: 'When
the believer commits a sin, a black dot will be engraved on
his heart. If he repents, refrains and regrets, his heart will
be polished again. If he commits more errors, the dots will
increase until they cover his heart. This is the ran (stain) that
God described: N o! Rather, the stain has covered their
hearts of that which they were earning '.23 The Almighty
says: S ay, "Then why did you kill the prophets of Allah before,
if you are [indeed] believers?" (Al-Baqarah, 2:91); so
God the exalted One made the act of killing evidence which
negates belief.
7. An Explanation of the Six Articles of Faith
Faith in God
The foundation and basis of faith is faith in God Almighty,
which is innate to man's primordial nature, which all spirits
acknowledged from the beginning in the 'realm of the seed'
before creation, as God Almighty says:
23 Narrated by Imam Tirmidhi in his Sunan, Abwab Tafsir Al-Qur'an
(5/434 no. 3334)
33
Remember when your Lord took the seeds of the
sons of Adam from their loins and made them
bear wit- ness against themselves, and said: 'Am I not
your Lord?' They said: 'Yea, we testify.' This was lest you
should say on the day of Resurrection: 'Of this we were
unaware' (Al-A`raf, 7:172).
The spiritual void we now see is but a consequence of
the yearning of all spirits to relive that defining moment by
reviving their faithful connection to the Almighty Creator.
The Muslim believes, and is certain, and testifies, that
there is no god but God, alone with no partner: a Mighty
God, a Glorious King, besides whom there is no other Lord,
nor any other object of worship. He is Eternal, without
beginning or end; there is no beginning to His First‐ness,
nor any end to His Last‐ness. He is One, the Self‐sufficient
Besought of all, who neither begat nor was begotten, and
none is like him. He has no likeness nor counterpart; there
is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All‐Hearing, All‐Seeing.
In His Holiness He is beyond time and space, and the resemblance
of any created thing. Direction does not encompass
Him, nor do temporal events befall Him. He is settled
upon His Throne in the way that He said it, according to the
meaning He intended, with a settling that befits the might of
His Majesty and the height of His Glory and His Grandeur.
He is near to all things, and nearer to man than his jugular
vein. He watches over all things, and observes them. He is
34
Living and All‐Sustaining. Neither slumber nor sleep overcome
Him. He made the heavens and the earth; and when
He decrees a thing, He but says to it 'Be!', and it is. God is the
Creator of all things, and the Patron of all things.24
Faith in the angels
Another article of faith is faith in the noble and holy angels
(peace be upon them), who are creatures of light, who do
not disobey God when He commands them, and who do as they
are commanded (Al-Tahrim, 66:6). Qur'anic verses and
noble hadiths speak of them with praise and honour, and indeed
with love; for God mentioned those of them who bear
the Throne, and made it clear that the hearts of the believers
should be filled with love for them:
Those who bear the Throne, and those around it,
hymn the praise of their Lord and have faith in
Him, and ask forgiveness for those who have faith: 'Lord,
You encompass all things in mercy and knowledge; forgive,
then, those who repent and follow Your way, and guard
them from the torment of Hell!' (Ghafir, 40:7);
24 Imam `Abd Allah ibn `Alawi al-Haddad on the doctrine of the
people of the Sunna and the community, from the conclusion of Kitab
al-Nasa'ih al-Diniyya wal-Wasaya al-Imaniyya, Dar al-Hawi lil‐Taba`a
wal-Nashr, 1413 AH, pp. 415–416.
35
The heavens are well nigh rent above them, when the
angels proclaim the praise of their Lord, and ask forgiveness
for those on earth. Indeed, God is the Forgiving,
the Merciful (Al-Shura, 42:5).
There are also angels who come in turns to mankind by
night and by day, and the recording scribes who abide with
every person at all times.
There are also angels charged with certain tasks pertaining
to mankind, including:
1. Revelation: Gabriel
2. Provision: Michael
3. Blowing the trumpet [of the resurrection]: Raphael
(Israfil)
4. Taking spirits: the Angel of Death
5. Counting good and bad deeds: the Diligent Observer
6. The questions of the grave: Munkar and Nakir
7. The guardian of Paradise: Ridwan
8. The guardian of hell: Malik
Peace be upon them all.
36
Faith in the scriptures and messengers
Another article of faith, without which the Muslim's faith is
invalid, is faith in the messengers and prophets (peace be
upon them all), and in the revealed scriptures that God Almighty
sent down; these include the scriptures of Abraham,
Moses, the Psalms, the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur'an.
none of these scriptures contained a promise from God to
undertake to preserve them, save only the Holy Qur'an, in
which the Almighty says: It is We who have sent down the
Remembrance; and indeed, We are its Guardian (Al-Hijr,
15:9). Islam is the religion which includes all the prophets
and envoys in faith, belief, allegiance and love; and God Almighty
has made our worship contingent on faith in all the
messengers and prophets, may God's blessings and peace be
upon them.
So for us, faith is invalid if one does not believe in the
prophethood of our master Noah, or our master Abraham,
or our master Moses, or our master Jesus, or any other of the
prophets whom God mentions in his Glorious Book when
he says:
Say: We believe in God, and in what has been sent
down to us, and what was sent down to Abraham,
and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the Tribes, and
what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from
their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them,
37
and to Him we surrender (Aal `Imran, 3:84).
From the article of faith in all the prophets and messengers,
the Holy Qur'an made a foundation upon which the
Muslim community can base its relations to other communities.
The Almighty says:
Oyou who have faith! Have faith in God, and His Messenger,
and the Book which He has revealed unto His
Messenger, and the Book which He revealed aforetime.
Whoso disbelieves in God, and His angels, and His books,
and His messengers, and the Last Day, has indeed wandered
far astray (Al-Nisa', 4:136).
The principal and general basis, then, for our relations
with all of our blessed prophets (upon them all be peace
and blessings) is the connection of faith, love, belief and allegiance
to their guidance: It is they whom God has guided;
follow, then, their guidance (Al-An'am, 6:90), and taking lessons
and wisdoms from their stories and experiences with
the communities of old. The best of the prophets are 'the
resolute (ulu al-`azm) from among the messengers, namely
our masters Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad,25
peace be upon them. Faith in the messengers must make no
distinction between them, for God Almighty says:
25 See Surat Al-Ahqaf, 46:35.
38
The Messenger believes in what has been sent down
to him from his Lord, as do the believers. Each believes
in God, and His angels, and His books, and His
messengers: 'We make no distinction between any of His
messengers' (Al-Baqarah, 2:285).
Yet it is valid to believe that some of them are preferred
over others, for God has said:
These are the messengers; We favoured some of them
over others. Some there are to whom God spoke,
and some He raised in rank; and We gave Jesus son of
Mary clear signs, and aided him with the Holy Spirit (Al-
Baqarah, 2:253).
The Father of the Prophets and the Friend of the Compassionate,
our master Abraham (peace be upon him) was
blessed with a special position, which gives him a certain
eminence in our connection to him, in several ways. These
include the ascription of the primordial faith (al-hanifiyya)
to him, as well as how our prophet Muhammad (God bless
him and his family and grant him peace) is descended from
him, and is the answer to the prayer he made when he called
upon God Almighty, saying:
Our Lord, raise among them a messenger from them,
who shall convey unto them Your signs, and teach
39
them scripture and wisdom, and cause them to grow
in purity; You are the Almighty, the wise (Al-Baqarah,
2:129).
Our master Moses (peace be upon him) also has a special
eminence in his connection to us, which was manifested
when our master Muhammad (God bless him and grant
him peace) went back to him several times during his holy
Ascension; each time, he advised him to ask God Almighty
to lessen the burden of the canonical prayer for his community,
until finally God decreed it to be five prayers, after it
had been fifty.26
As for our master Jesus (peace be upon him), he has a
special place with regards to his connection to the Islamic
community in that God Almighty made him one of the most
distinctive major portents of the Hour, and one of the keys
of deliverance for this community in the end times, when
Jesus (peace be upon him) will descend, as our Messenger
described it:
He will descend by a white tower east of Damascus wear-
26 See the narration of Imam Bukhari in his Sahih (1/132), Kitab al-
Salah, Bab Kayfa Furidat al-Salawat fil‐Isra', (no. 349); and Imam Muslim
in his Sahih, Kitab al-Iman, 2/176, no. 136 according to Nawawi's
commentary, Bab al-Isra' bi‐Rasul Illah ila al-Samawat wa Fard al-Salawat,
on the authority of Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (God be pleased with
him).
40
ing two robes of pale yellow, his hands placed on the
wings of two angels. When he lowers his head, beads of
water will drip from it; and when he raises it, silver beads
like pearls will scatter from it.27
How beautiful, then, will be the scene of this descent, and
how awe‐inspiring will his appearance be (peace be upon
him). The fact that this description is so detailed only adds
to the certainty and the attachment of mind, understanding
and sensibility to the meaning of our connection with
this holy man so ennobled by his Lord. The hadiths which
describe the time, place and manner of his blessed descent
are at the level of mass‐transmission.28
Therefore, the Muslim believes that he has a special connection
with Christ (peace be upon him), and that he will
lead the Muslims after he descends, according to God's religion
that he revealed to his messengers, and his law that
he made the seal of the messages of all his envoys: that of
our master Muhammad (God bless him and his family and
grant him peace).
27 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih, Kitab al-Fitan wa Ashrat
al-Sa`a, 18/51, no. 2937 according to Nawawi's commentary, Bab Dhikr
al-Dajjal wa Sifatih wa ma ma`ah, on the authority of Nawwas ibn
Sam`an (God be pleased with him). The word mahrudatayn means
two robes dyed with wars [a yellow herb] and then with saffron. Juman
means large silver beads which resemble pearls in their resplendence
and beauty.
28 `Ali al-Jafri, al-Masih `Isa wa Ummihi al-Siddiqa `alayhima al-Salam
(Abu Dhabi, Dar al-Faqih, 2011), pp. 11–15.
41
Islam addresses the faithful in a way that gives them a
special attachment, great love, firm esteem and spiritual aptness
for following our master Christ (peace be upon him)
when he descends. May God make us among those whom
He chooses to love, serve and aid Him – Amin!
Faith in the Last Day
Another article of faith is faith in the resurrection, the Last
Day, the reckoning and the requital according to divine mercy
and justice, as God says: Save for those who repent and do
good works: God shall replace their sins with good deeds, and
God is forgiving, merciful (Al-Furqan, 25:70), and He forgives
much (Al-Shura, 42:30), Whoso does an atom's weight
of good shall see it; and whoso does an atom's weight of evil shall
see it (Al-Zalzala, 99:7–8). This is his way of stirring the believer's
aspiration and strengthening his resolve to take hold
of himself and buckle down to acts of obedience and good
deeds, and to forswear indulging caprices and delusions of
happiness based on passions and fleeting pleasures. It also
shows the believer how to take the long view of his future,
which will stretch out without limit, far beyond the time he
spends in this world.
Faith in Providence
The last of these articles is faith in Providence, both the good
and the bad, the sweet and the bitter; and faith that the uni42
verse is never outside the control of the Lord's mercy, justice
and wisdom. This is what causes the believer to live a life
which is refined by contentment, tranquillity, security and
patience.
It remains to be said that all the articles of faith are indicators
that constitute powerful means of building a soul that is
assured and confident of its connection to God Almighty, its
outlook on life, and its consequent deeds and conduct, especially
in light of the breadth of the concept of the branches
of faith, which cover every aspect of human outlook and
interaction.
8. The Branches of Faith
The essential cultural basis of the concept of the branches of
faith is the saying of the Prophet (God bless him and grant
him peace):
Faith is seventy‐something – or sixty‐something – branches;
the greatest of them is saying "there is no god but God",
and the least of them is to remove harmful objects from
the road. Shyness is a branch of faith.29
29 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Shu`ab
al-Iman, 1/63, no. 35, on the authority of Abu Hurayra (God be pleased
with him); similar versions are narrated by Bukhari and others, such as:
'Faith is sixty‐something branches, and shyness is a branch of faith'; 'Faith
is seventy‐something portals, the greatest of which is "there is no god but
God", and the least of which is to remove bones from the road; and shyness
43
So there are many means of refinement in the circle of
the branches and portals of faith, between the testimony of
Divine Oneness at the top, and removing harmful objects
from the road at the bottom. This means that all the aspects
of individual and communal life are included. One of the
greatest of them is to love God, the Messenger and his Family,
one's brother and one's neighbour; he (God bless him
and his family and grant him peace) said:
Three things which, if they are in a person, he experiences
the sweetness of faith: for God and His Messenger to be
more beloved to him than anything else; for him to love
a man for no reason other than God's sake; and for him
to hate to return to unbelief just as he would hate to be
cast into fire.'30
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also said: 'By Him in whose hand is my soul, no servant believes
until he loves for his brother the goodness he loves for himself.'31
is a branch of faith'; 'faith is sixty‐four portals, the highest and loftiest of
which is to say "there is no god but God", and the lowest of which is to remove
harmful objects from the road'; and 'faith is seventy (or seventy‐two)
portals, the highest of which is "there is no god but God", and the lowest of
which is to remove harmful objects from the road; and shyness is a branch
of faith.'
30 Narrated by Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Iman, Bab Halawat
al-Iman, 1/12, no. 16.
31 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 3/206, no. 13169.
44
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace) also
said: 'He who has no trust has no faith; he who has no covenant
has no religion.'32 He (God bless him and his family and grant
him peace) also said: 'The believer is not he who sleeps full while
his neighbour goes hungry.'33 He (God bless him and his family
and grant him peace) also said:
Whoso believes in God and the Last Day, let him honour
his guest. Whoso believes in God and the Last Day, let
him not offend his neighbour. Whoso believes in God and
the Last Day, let him say what is good, or be silent.34
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also said:
A servant's faith is not upright until his heart is upright,
and his heart is not upright until his tongue is upright;
and no man will enter Paradise whose neighbour is not
safe from his harm.35
32 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 3/135, no. 12410.
33 Narrated on the authority of Anas ibn Malik (God be pleased with
him), in the Musnad of Bazzar 14/26, no. 7429, and in the Mu`jam Kabir
of Tabarani, 1/259 no. 754, and in the Majma` of Haytami 8/167, where
he ascribed it to Tabarani and Bazzar with a sound chain.
34 Narrated by Imam Bukhari in his Sahih: Kitab al-Adab, Bab Man
kana Yu'minu bil‐Llah wal-Yawm al-Akhir fala Yu'dhi Jarah, 8/11, no. 6018.
35 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 3/198, no. 13079.
45
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also said:
God has divided your characters among you just as He divided
your provision among you. God Almighty gives this
world to those He loves and those He loves not; but He
only gives religion to those He loves. If God gives religion
to someone, then He loves them. By Him in whose hand is
my soul, no servant surrenders until his heart and tongue
surrender; and he does not have faith until his neighbour
is safe from his harm.36
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also said:
By Him in whose hand is my soul, you will not enter Paradise
until you have faith, and you will not have faith until
you love one another. Shall I not show you something that,
if you do it, you cause you to love one another? Give one
another greetings of peace.37
36 Narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad, 1/387, no. 3672.
37 NarratedbyImamMusliminhisSahih:Kitabal-Iman,Babannahula
Yadkhul al-Janna illa al-Mu'minun wa anna Mahabbat al-Mu'minin min
al-Iman wa anna Ifsha' al-Salam Sabab li‐Husuliha, 1/74, no. 54.
46
Conclusion: The Building of the Faithful Soul is the
Beginning of the Building of Faith‐based Society
The building of the faithful soul and its education according
to the concept of faith outlined by the aforementioned
articles and qualities, followed by the things the Messenger
of God (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
called the 'branches of faith', and the signs explained by the
scholars of faith's increase and decrease – these all have consequences
in real life on the individual, communal and global
level, and on all political, economic, social and cultural
levels, which lead to the building of a faith‐based civilisation.
This is because man, as all religious teachings indicate, is
composed of a spirit, a soul, a heart, a mind and a body. If
a man understands the meaning of faithful interaction with
God with his entire being – that is to say, with his spirit,
mind, heart, soul and body, things will be right between him
and God. And if his connection to God Almighty is healthy,
then his connection to all others around him will also be
healthy. What this means is that the turmoil in which we are
currently living, and in which the whole world is living – not
only the believers – is simply the natural result of man's rejection
of, and obliviousness to, the purpose for which God
created him, and for which He subjected all existence to him.
The Spirit
The spirit, as Imam Ghazali (God have mercy on him) de47
fines it, is the divine connection inside man, which inspires
him to turn toward the higher realm and the holier realm,
and to connect with the mystery of the first address that took
place between him and God Almighty. It is because of the
spirit that the believer is able to connect to his Lord with
worship: And I breathed into him of My Spirit (Al-Hijr,
15:29), and it is the means by which the believer ascends
the stations of love: He loves them, and they love Him (Al-
Ma'ida, 5:54); the love which leads to endless states of extinction
in the Beloved, and to subsistence through him: to
union with him, to separation, to the union of union, to the
separation of separation, and so on.
The Soul
What is meant by 'soul' is that part of man that is subject
to change, so that thereafter the extent of his connection to
damnation or felicity can be determined, as the Lord says:
By the soul, and Him who shaped it, inspiring it with
its lewdness and its God‐consciousness. Prosperous
is he who purifies it, and a failure is he who stunts it (Al-
Shams, 91:7–10).
The most important element of man that has to do with
change and progress to a higher state, or regression to a
lower state, is the soul, which ascends through seven levels,
48
according to the scholars of spiritual discipline and purification.
The Seven States of the Soul
The first of them is the soul that enjoins evil, to which the
Almighty alluded through the words of the Court Officer's
wife: 'Nor do I exonerate my own soul; indeed, the soul enjoins
evil, save when my Lord has mercy' (Yusuf, 12:53). The word
ammara ['one who enjoins'] is an emphatic nominal form,
which implies that it continuously embellishes evil to its
owner. Yet this evil‐enjoining soul can be raised, by means
of effort and purification, to the second level, which is that
of the reproachful soul.
The reproachful soul is that which sometimes incites
good, and sometimes evil; and when its owner commits evil,
it reproaches him and tells him to repent and turn back. God
alludes to it when he says: Nay, I swear by the reproachful
soul (Al-Qiyamah, 75:2).
Higher still is the third level, that of the inspired soul, to
which God alludes when he says: Inspiring it with its lewdness
and its God‐consciousness (Al-Shams, 91:8). When a
person rises in his faith in God, his soul begins to abate from
its instigations and passions. When he begins to ascend up
the levels of his connection to God Almighty, struggling
against his reproachful soul, this soul comes to be receptive
to the inspirations of the Almighty real, and its instiga49
tions of caprice and desire begin to subside. it comes to be
dominated by reflection, meditation and deep thought, and
is inspired to utilise sound insight and powerful perception,
resulting in a prevalent inclination towards what is good and
righteous.
If the person continues to ascend in self‐purification, he
reaches a higher level than the inspired soul, namely that
of the soul at peace, of which God says: O soul at peace!
(Al-Fajr, 89:27). When the light of divine inspiration shines
upon this soul, it comes to find peace in the Almighty real,
and its certainty becomes stronger, and the vicissitudes and
phenomena around it are no longer capable of wresting this
peace from it.
This peace or tranquillity is a quality of the righteous
friends of God: it is related that Ibrahim ibn Adham (God
have mercy on him) once boarded a ship which was beset
by waves on all sides. ibrahim wrapped his cloth around his
head and lay down to sleep, for there was nothing that could
physically be done, and all that remained was either fear or
tranquillity. The other passengers of the ship clamoured
with cries of fear and prayers, and woke him up and said, 'Do
you not see the peril we are in?' (You can well see how this
turbulent situation resembled the panic and dire straits the
world is experiencing today.) 'That's not peril', he said. 'And
what is peril, then?', they asked. He answered: 'to have need
for human beings.' He then said: 'O God, You have shown
us Your power; show us now Your clemency'; and the sea
50
became as calm as a jug of oil.38 When peace and inner stability
were preponderant in the soul of one man, this led to a
kind of stability in real life, to the point that the sea became
as calm as a jug of oil. This is something we need to seek for
our own souls, to bring the ship of our modern world back
under control.
Then comes another level higher still; the fifth level of
the soul. This is the contented soul, to which God alludes
by saying: Return to your Lord, contented (Al-Fajr, 89:28).
This contentment is higher than conventional contentment,
for it means the settling of contentment in the soul so that
it becomes content with God's actions and His planning in
this world. This contentment, whose locus is the heart, does
not oppose or contradict the actions of the body in utilising
means to change reality for the better; we are speaking here
about a contented soul, endowed with wisdom, genius and
depth, not a soul that neglects the real world or fails to deal
with it and work to improve it.
Then comes the sixth level, namely the accepted soul, to
which the very same verse alludes: Return to your Lord,
con- tented and accepted (Al-Fajr, 89:28), because of how
close it is to the contented soul. He who is content is given
contentment, and he who lives according to the meaning of
38 Jamal al-Din Abu al-Faraj al-Jawzi, Sifat al-Safwa (Cairo, Dar al- Hadith,
2000), vol. 2, p. 337.
51
contentment in God is in turn gladly welcomed by God Almighty,
and thus is accepted.
And when the contentment of the servant is combined
with the contented acceptance of the Almighty Lord, the
soul becomes ready to ascend to the highest level of human
souls, that of the perfect soul. The meaning of perfection
here is relative perfection, since absolute perfection belongs
only to God; and this perfection makes a person worthy and
able to continue onward to infinite horizons of connection
to God Almighty.
The Mind
As for the mind, it is one of the most important constituents
of man, and is what singles him out from all other creatures.
It is the core of perception, and the means by which man
measures the barrage of events that surround him against
the changes of his own soul at moments of anger, sadness,
joy, love or hate; for the mind comes to weigh things according
to knowledge, whether it be religious knowledge or
empirical knowledge. Both of these come back to the mind,
which in turn is equipped to receive them; a person benefits
from them according to the power of his mind, once he has
cleansed it from the distractions of his soul's caprices and
desires.
52
The Heart
It is the seat of choice in man, which is affected by the states
of the spirit, the levels of the soul and the opinion of the
mind, and makes the decision based on these. It is also the
thing at which the Lord looks, as the noble hadith says: 'God
looks not at your bodies or your forms; but He looks to your hearts
and your deeds.'39 Spiritual ascent causes the heart to rise and
live in a state of certainty, in its three levels as described by
the experts in this art, namely knowledge of certainty, vision
of certainty and truth of certainty, which is the highest level
to which a man can rise, after which there is no end to the
ascent of his heart's stability. In this way, the heart ascends
through the nine stations of certainty, which are: repentance,
renunciation, patience, gratitude, fear, contentment, hope,
reliance, and love, according to how they are enumerated in
Qut al-Qulub.40
The Body
It is the clay‐hewn container of the spirit, soul, mind and
39 Agreed upon [by Bukhari and Muslim], on the authority of our master
Abu Hurayra (God be pleased with him).
40 Abu Talib al-Makki, Qut al-Qulub fi Mu`amalat al-Mahbub wa Wasf
Tariq al-Murid ila Maqam al-Tawhid, ed. Dr. `Asim Ibrahim al-Kayali
(Beirut, Dar al-Kutub al-Ilmiyya, 1426 AH), Chapter 32: 'An Explanation
of the Stations of Certainty and the States of the Certain'; vol. 1, p. 302f.
53
heart, and asks for various things; some are needs, and others
are responses to the caprice of the soul. Needs fall into
the legal categories of obligatory or recommended (such as
eating for necessity or to give the body growth and preservation;
vaccines or medicines to protect the body or cure its
ails; or marriage for necessity or for the benefit of preserving
the human species and increasing it). As for the caprices of
the soul, they might fall into the category of recommended,
permitted, reprehensible or forbidden.
This perspective might amount to a subtle difference, but
it also shows that there is a big difference between the perspective
of faith‐based civilisation and that of other civilisations
when it comes to life and man's role in life. Modern
civilisation sees man's connection with the universe from
the viewpoint of his being the master of the world, having
the right to use it however he pleases; even the discourse of
the environmentalists is predicated on the aim of preserving
mankind and the future of the children who live on the
planet, with the exception of certain civil liberties organisations
which take a humanistic outlook and speak about lofty
concepts.
The perspective of faith‐based civilisation concerning
man's connection to the life he lives, however, is higher than
that, for it sees man as God's vicegerent on earth. This perspective
means that when man listens to what God says to
him, utilising the understanding of his mind, he rises with
his spirit to a state of harmony with existence and all that
54
is within it.
If man understands how to correct his aims in life by ridding
his heart of heedlessness, correcting his concept of faith
and connecting himself to God Almighty – that is, if all of
our affairs, motions, words, states, and even the impulses
of our hearts, as far as we are able, are characterised by an
understanding of what it means to offer worshipful service
to God in every part of them – if that is achieved, then our
relationships with all creation will be rectified, and we will
have true mastery, thriving and vicegerency. This is because
man has a purpose in existence, namely to worship; and he
has a task, namely to thrive; and he has a way to achieve
the purpose and the task, namely self‐purification. These are
three essential matters of earthly existence. We find the purpose
of worship in God's words: And I created not the jinn
and mankind save that they should worship Me (Al-Dhariyat,
51:56); and the task of thriving in his words:
You have no god other than He. It is He who produced
you from the earth, and has given you to
thrive thereon; so ask forgiveness of Him, then repent to
Him; surely my Lord is nigh, and answers prayer (Hud,
11:61);
and the way of purification in his words: Prosperous is
he who purifies it, and a failure is he who stunts it (Al-Shams,
91:9–10).
55
God Almighty has made us responsible for thriving on
the earth upon which we live a stage of our lives, a thriving
wherein we benefit from the earth and look after it. The
Prophet (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
told us that
A prostitute of the Israelites saw a dog pacing about a well,
about to die of thirst. She removed her sock and drew
some water in it, and gave it to him – and on account of
that, God forgave her.41
He (God bless him and his family and grant him peace)
also told us that
A man who never did any good at all, except to move a
thorn from the road – either it was on a tree, so he cut it
off and threw it away, or it was lying on the ground, so
he removed it – so God thanked him for it, and admitted
him into Paradise.42
Each of them were aware of the responsibility of having
mercy on the earth and all that is upon it; and this was a
means of their entering Paradise.
41 Narrated by Imam Muslim in his Sahih, Kitab al-Adab, Bab Fadl Saqi
al-Baha'im al-Muhtarama, 4/1761, no. 2245.
42 Narrated by Abu Dawud in his Sunan, Kitab al-Adab, Bab fi Imatat
al-Adha `an al-Tariq, 4/532, no. 5247.
56
We need to re‐examine how to link the moral of thriving
with the moral of purification, and with the ascent to the
meaning of faith and worshipful service of God Almighty;
for upon this will be based a whole way of life and civilizational
conduct. This way of life does not require us – as some
people imagine – to withdraw from real life, nor to dive into
its vicissitudes; rather, it is a matter of understanding faithbased
interaction with the constituents and events of reality,
so that we can arrive to a refined and humane civilisation.
I ask God Almighty to grant us success in attaining
this, by His grace, and to help us to spread
it; only He can grant it, and
He is well able to do so.
Praise be to God,
Lord of the
worlds.
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