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Workbook for Home Workshop - Increasing Faith [Part 4]
Defining Faith According to Sunnah & Scholars
Please take some time to read this interesting article I found for you on another website. Continue to pray and ask Allah for His Guidance and to increase your faith. Pray for me, too.
Faith - What Does It Mean?
Reflecting on what our faith means to us in our everyday life
The word "faith" is explained in the English dictionary as:
  1. Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing.
  2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
    Synonyms; belief, trust.
  3. Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance: keeping faith with one's supporters.
  4. Often faith, as in religious doctrines or dogma (Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, etc.)
  5. The theological virtue defined as secure belief in God and a trusting acceptance of God's will.
  6. The body of the teachings or dogma of a religion: the Muslim faith.
  7. A set of principles or beliefs.
When we are using the term in Islam, the word "iman" (faith) means to believe without any suspicion. The creed of belief for Muslims is to have total confidence and acceptance of the concept of Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, in being resurrected after death and the Qadr of Allah (predestination of Allah for both good and evil).
Ibn Masood (may Allah have Mercy on him), one of those companions of Muhammad, (peace be upon him), an expert on the Quran said:
"Yaqin is perfect faith."
Abdullah Ibn-Umar (the son of 'Umar, may Allah have Mercy on him) said,
"A Person cannot attain taqwah (piety) unless and until he removes all suspicious from his heart".
Imam Bukhari, one of the most noted of scholars in Islam on hadeeth (sayings and teachings of Muhammad, peace be upon him), in his work, Sahih Bukhari, has explained iman' (Belief). He writes,
"Belief is both saying and acting".
Imam Bukhari also states,
"Your duaa (invocation) is also your faith."
Umar bin Abdul Aziz, often referred to as the "fifth khulafah rashidun (5th rightly guided khalifah)," who was a noted scholar as well the khalifa of this ummah (nation) wrote,
Belief includes faraeed, (laws and boundaries between haram and halal) and sunnah. He who follows all of them, has complete iman (belief) and whoever does not follow them completely, his iman is incomplete."
QUALITIES OF A BELIEVER The main code for a Muslim's success is Belief'. Allah the almighty states in Quran,
"Successful indeed are the believers."
(Quran 23:1)
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
"Faith consists of more than sixty branches, and haya (self respect, modesty, bashfulness etc.) is a part of faith."
, (In other version, Faith has more than 70 branches").
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said,
"By Him, in whose hands my life is, none of you will have faith, till he loves me more than his father and children."
This means then, to love the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) is a part of faith.
Some people asked The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), "Whose Islam is the best?" He replied, "The one who avoids harming the Muslims with his tongue and hands."
(Collected by Bukhari under "Three qualities of faith."
  1. To treat others as one likes to be treated by others.
  2. To greet everyone.
  3. To spend in Allah's cause, in spite of poverty.
Some people asked The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) "What is the best deed?"
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "To believe in Allah and his Prophet."
The questioner then asked, "What is the next?"
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "To participate in Jihad in Allah's cause."
The questioner again asked, "What is the next?"
The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "To perform Hajj, mabrur (accepted pilgrimage)."
(Collected in Sahih Bukhari)
A believer fears that his good deeds may be annulled without his knowledge.
Ibn Abi Mulaika was a well known tabiyeen (companion to the companions of Muhammad, peace be upon him). He has noted,
"I met thirty companions of The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and each of them was afraid of becoming a munafiq (hypocrite) and none of them said that his belief was as strong as the angel Jibril (Gabriel) or Michael."
Hasan Basri is quoted in Bukhari,
"Only a faithful believer will dread hypocrisy and only a hypocrite will consider himself safe."
The following quality of a Believer is also mentioned in the noble Quran. The believer are only those who, when Allah is mentioned, feel a fear in their hearts and when His Ayats are recited to them, they increase their faith".(Suraah Anfal) (8:2)
  • Belief Increases and Decreases
    Allah revealed the following verses concerning the increasing and decreasing of belief. Let us consider a few verses from Quran.
    1. That they may add to their faith. (48:4)
    2. And the Believer may increase in faith (74:31)
    3. Which of you has faith increased by it" As for those who believed, it has increased their faith. (9:124)
    4. It only added to their faith and to their submissiveness (to Allah) (33:22)
    There are many qualities of al-mu'minun (believers) described in Quran and hadith.
    A well known Scholar, shaykhul Islam Ibn Taymiyyah concludes that a sinner does not become a kafir (disbeliever) unless he is in the act of committing masiyah (major sins).
    The Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "When adulterers are engaged in illegal sex, they are not believers at the time of doing it, nor when a drinker (of alcohol) is drinking nor when a thief is stealing."
    We say such a person is deficient in eeman (faith). However, we do not call him a kafr (disbeliever).
  • [End of Workbook]

    Increasing Faith by Quran and Sunnah
    Workbook for Home Workshop - Increasing Faith
    For more about "Iman" (faith) and other basics of Islam, visit our internet websites developed to explain Islam in simple English terms:

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    Please pray for us and ask Allah to guide us to do more and to do it better for His sake. We are praying while traveling around the world, for all of the believers to unite in the common cause of peace in the surrender and obedience to Allah, and for all the non-believers to be guided by Allah for what is best for them in this life and in the Next Life.

    Salam alaykum,

    Yusuf Estes - Director of Islam Always Project

    Any good is from Allah and any mistakes are from myself. Please pray for me and ask Allah to forgive me and guide me to do better.


    NOTE: Yusuf Estes is not a scholar of Islam. He does not offer fatawah (Islamic rulings) nor does he claim to be knowledgeable of scholars. He tries to present a clear and simple understanding in plain English. He does not endorse any particular mathab (school of Islamic jurisprudence) over another. Rather he seeks to bring about mutual agreement and understanding between all Muslims seeking answers based on the Quran and the prophet Muhammad's, peace be upon him, teachings.

     

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