The Islamic definition of Iman/belief believing in something with the presence of proof/ evidance. Unlike the Christian definition which is based on absence of proof. So in islam we dont have faith but rather belief / conviction. Iman also means to trust, so believing and trusting
In islam “iman” by definition is deeper and complex in the arabic form that it can be hard to explain in English where concepts and terms are limited in explanation. Iman/ belief or faith as the westerners call it, is a mixture of belief or factual truth, spiritual confidence, conviction in principles, as well as the pillars holding the religion, iman also comes from giving recognition to a certain truth. A knowledge of the heart, a voicing with the tongue and activity with the limbs. Iman in Arabic also means to trust, so trusting what you believe. So trust, belief, conviction, application, knowledge are a combination which make up iman. Since iman can mean both trust or belief. … so simply saying faith in islam is just not enough to describe iman/ ( belief).
Narrated Ibn ‘Umar:
Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said: Islam is based on (the following) five (principles):
1. To testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah and Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ).
2. To offer the (compulsory congregational) prayers dutifully and perfectly.
3. To pay Zakat (i.e. obligatory charity) .
4. To perform Hajj. (i.e. Pilgrimage to Mecca)
5. To observe fast during the month of Ramadan.
Sahih Al bukhari
regarding the deeds of belief
Narrated Abu Huraira:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Faith (Belief) consists of more than sixty branches (i.e. parts). And Haya (This term “Haya” covers a large number of concepts which are to be taken together; amongst them are self respect, modesty, bashfulness, and scruple, etc.) is a part of faith/ belief .” (Sahih Al Bukhari)
A Muslim is the one who avoids harming Muslims with his tongue and hands
Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “A Muslim is the one who avoids harming Muslims with his tongue and hands. And a Muhajir (emigrant) is the one who gives up (abandons) all what Allah has forbidden.” (Sahih Al Bukhari)
Whose Islam is the best (Who is the best Muslim)?
Narrated Abu Musa:
Some people asked Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ), “Whose Islam is the best? i.e. (Who is a very good Muslim)?” He replied, “One who avoids harming the Muslims with his tongue and hands.”
To feed others is part of Islam
Narrated ‘Abdullah bin ‘Amr:
A man asked the Prophet (ﷺ) , “What sort of deeds or (what qualities of) Islam are good?” The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, ‘To feed (the poor) and greet those whom you know and those whom you do not Know (See Hadith No. 27) ( Sahih Al Bukhari)
To love the messenger is part of faith/ belief
Narrated Abu Huraira:
“Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “By Him in Whose Hands my life is, none of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father and his children.” (Sahih Al Bukhari)
Sweetness (delight) of faith/belief
Narrated Anas:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Whoever possesses the following three qualities will have the sweetness (delight) of faith:
1. The one to whom Allah and His Apostle becomes dearer than anything else.
2. Who loves a person and he loves him only for Allah’s sake.
3. Who hates to revert to Atheism (disbelief) as he hates to be thrown into the fire.”
To flee (run away) from Al-Fitn (afflictions and trials), is a part of religion
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:
Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “A time will soon come when the best property of a Muslim will be sheep which he will take on the top of mountains and the places of rainfall (valleys) so as to flee with his religion from afflictions.”
The grades in superiority of the believers will be according to their good deeds
Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri:
The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “When the people of Paradise will enter Paradise and the people of Hell will go to Hell, Allah will order those who have had faith equal to the weight of a grain of mustard seed to be taken out from Hell. So they will be taken out but (by then) they will be blackened (charred). Then they will be put in the river of Haya’ (rain) or Hayat (life) (the Narrator is in doubt as to which is the right term), and they will revive like a grain that grows near the bank of a flood channel. Don’t you see that it comes out yellow and twisted” (Sahih Al Bukhari)
The root of the word IMAAN is A-M-N, which primarily means “believe, trust, secure, safety, confine in”. The word IMAAN has the following meanings:
-Belief trust secure or Conviction
-Becoming true to the trust with respect to which Allah has confided in one, by a firm believing with the heart, not by profession of belief with the tongue only, without the assent of the heart
-The manifestation of humility or submission, and the accepting of the Divine Law and the firm belief thereof with the heart
-Faith
-Trust
-Confidence
-Acknowledgement
-Submission
What is IMAAN about?
IMAAN is about having a firm believing with the heart in 5 Realities [2:177]:
1. Allah
2. The Hereafter
3. Malaika
4. The Divine Guidance
5. The Prophets
The one who believes in the above five realities is muumin/beliver and the one who denies or rejects them is not muumin/non beliver [4:136].
The most important point is that IMAAN in the above should be with the concept given in Quran. IMAAN on the concept of Allah, the hereafter, Malaika, the Divine Guidance and the Prophets, is not the correct IMAAN.
Another reality that is mentioned in context of IMAAN is AL-GHAIB {Unseen} [2:3]. There are different types of UNSEEN described in Quran. The following are some examples:
Allah is UNSEEN [21:49, 35:18, 36:11, 50:33, 67:12]
Life after death is UNSEEN [27:65-66]
Everlasting paradise in the hereafter is UNSEEN[19:61]
AL-SAA’AT [the day of judgment] is UNSEEN [16:77, 32:5-6, 34:3, 72:25-26]
The WAHI [revelation], before it is revealed, is UNSEEN [3:44, 11:49, 81:24]
Something/Someone that is not in front of our eyes [i.e. absent] is UNSEEN [12:52]
The events of the past , of which we do not have knowledge, may be UNSEEN [18:25-26]
IMAAN in the Unseen is the IMAAN in Allah, the Hereafter and the Unseen consequences of our actions which has not yet manifested
The important Explanation in IMAAN
And do not follow (blindly) any information of which you have no (direct) knowledge. (Using your faculties of perception and conception, you must verify it for yourself. (In the Court of your Lord,) you will be held accountable for your hearing, sight, and the faculty of reasoning.” [17:36]
The Believers (Mu’minin) according to the Qur’an, are:
[25:73] “Those who, when the revelations of their Rabb (Nourisher and Sustainer) are presented to them, do not fall thereat deaf and blind.”
[8:22] “The worst of beasts in the sight of Allah are the deaf and dumb who do not use their intellect to understand.”
[7:179] “There are many among Jinns and human beings, who lead such a life as makes it obvious that they are meant for Hell. They have hearts wherewith they understand not, they have eyes wherewith they see not, and they have ears wherewith they hear not; they are like cattle-nay, are worse; they are the heedless.”
Just SAYING that “I am a believer” does not make one a believer
“And there are some people who say: We believe in Allah and the last day; and they are not at all believers.” [2:8]
IMAAN is not just “uttering something with the tongue”; it is a strong conviction from the bottom of the heart [5:41, 49:14]
IMAAN is not “saying” something but “doing” something [2:8, 61:2-3]
There are real tests to see whether we are true believers or not [29:2-3]
True believers are those:
-Who bow down or submit themselves with obedience to Allah and follow His Commands [5:55, 32:15, 2:121]
-Who work deeds of righteousness [17:9, 18:2]
-Who strive with their wealth and lives in the cause of Allah [8:74, 49:15]
-Who give themselves and their wealth in the cause of Allah [9:111]
-Who establish As-Salat [8:2-4, 5:55]
-Who set up the system of ZAKAAT [5:55] and spend their wealth (for the welfare of humanity) [8:2-4]
TAWH33D ORIGIN OF RELIGIONS 