|
Pillars of Imân (Faith)
Ash-Shaikh Zaid Muhammad Al-Madkhalee
(حفظه
اللّه)
Q: How many pillars of Imân are there, what is
the meaning of every pillar, what are their proofs and what are their fruits
(benefits)?
A: The pillars of Imân are six: they are to believe in Allâh, in His angels,
in His books, in His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in the divine decree
it’s good and bad from Allâh be He blessed and High.
As
for the meaning of Imân in Allâh the Mighty and Majestic then it is the belief
in His presence, explicit affirmation in His lordship (Ar-Rubûbiyyah), apparent and hidden recognition of His
Godhood (Al-Ulûhiyyah), faith upon the true
understanding in His beautiful names and lofty attributes (Al-Asma’ was-Sifât), and observing that in a practical workable
manner in this life just as Allah wants and His messenger r legislated.
Allâh, be He blessed and High said:
ذَلِكُمُ اللّهُ رَبُّكُمْ لا إِلَـهَ
إِلاَّ هُوَ خَالِقُ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ فَاعْبُدُوهُ وَهُوَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ وَكِيلٌ
Such is Allâh, your
Lord! Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), the
Creator of all things. So worship Him (Alone), and He is the Wakîl (Trustee,
Disposer of affairs, Guardian, etc.) over all things.
And He said glory to Him:
وَإِلَـهُكُمْ إِلَهٌ وَاحِدٌ لاَّ
إِلَهَ إِلاَّ هُوَ الرَّحْمَنُ الرَّحِيمُ
And your Ilâh (God) is
One Ilâh (God - Allâh), Lâ ilâha illa Huwa (there is none who has the right to
be worshipped but He), the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
And He, be He Blessed and
High said:
لَيْسَ كَمِثْلِهِ شَيْءٌ وَهُوَ
السَّمِيعُ البَصِيرُ
There is nothing like
unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.
And from the fruits of Imân
in Allah are; freeing the self from the servitude of other then Allah and making
it pure (sincere) and its actions for its creator glorified is He, as such
(obtaining) the happiness of this life and the hereafter.
As
for the meaning of Imân in the angels then it is the belief in their presence,
that they are from the great creations of Allah, that he fashioned them upon
His obedience thusly there is no way for them to violate his order, and that he
has entrusted to them important jobs which are not established except by them, and
from them; who is sent down with the revelation, who manages the rain and
vegetation, who safeguards the children of Adam from evil and disliked things,
and other than that from that which we know and which we know not.
وَمَا يَعْلَمُ جُنُودَ رَبِّكَ إِلَّا
هُوَ
And none can know the
hosts of your Lord but He.
بَلْ عِبَادٌ مُّكْرَمُونَ. لَا
يَسْبِقُونَهُ بِالْقَوْلِ وَهُم بِأَمْرِهِ يَعْمَلُونَ
…are but honored
slaves. They speak not until He has spoken, and they act on His Command.
And faith in this pillar
has lofty benefits from them are:
1- Knowledge of the
greatness of The Creator glory be to Him, His strength, and powerful reign as
He created this creation which its number of people is innumerable.
2- The servants gratitude
to his Lord for what He has entrusted him with from general and specific
fostering, care, and maturing for indeed He has made serviceable for him (man)
what is in the heaven and what is in the earth and among that are the angels;
their variety of important jobs and great rank.
3- Love of the angles as
they are the most sincere (faithful) of creation for the believing worshippers
of Allah as He said The Most High:
الَّذِينَ يَحْمِلُونَ الْعَرْشَ وَمَنْ
حَوْلَهُ يُسَبِّحُونَ بِحَمْدِ رَبِّهِمْ وَيُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ وَيَسْتَغْفِرُونَ
لِلَّذِينَ آمَنُوا رَبَّنَا وَسِعْتَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ رَّحْمَةً وَعِلْمًا فَاغْفِرْ
لِلَّذِينَ تَابُوا وَاتَّبَعُوا سَبِيلَكَ وَقِهِمْ عَذَابَ الْجَحِيمِ. رَبَّنَا
وَأَدْخِلْهُمْ جَنَّاتِ عَدْنٍ الَّتِي وَعَدتَّهُم وَمَن صَلَحَ مِنْ آبَائِهِمْ
وَأَزْوَاجِهِمْ وَذُرِّيَّاتِهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ. وَقِهِمُ
السَّيِّئَاتِ وَمَن تَقِ السَّيِّئَاتِ يَوْمَئِذٍ فَقَدْ رَحِمْتَهُ وَذَلِكَ
هُوَ الْفَوْزُ الْعَظِيمُ.
Those (angels) who bear
the Throne (of Allâh) and those around it glorify the praises of their Lord,
and believe in Him, and ask forgiveness for those who believe (in the Oneness
of Allâh) (saying): "Our Lord! You comprehend all things in mercy and
knowledge, so forgive those who repent and follow Your Way, and save them from
the torment of the blazing Fire! "Our Lord! And make them enter the 'Adn (Eden) Paradise (everlasting Gardens) which you have promised
them, and to the righteous among their fathers, their wives, and their
offspring! Verily, You are the All-Mighty, the All-Wise. "And
save them from (the punishment, because of what they did of) the sins, and
whomsoever You save from (the punishment, because of what they did of) the sins
(i.e. excuse them) that Day, him verily, You have taken into mercy." And
that is the supreme success.
As
for the meaning of Imân in the books then it is a decisive belief that they are
sent from Allâh, he spoke them, sent them down to His messengers as revelation
and the people of faith believed in them via their messengers truthfully and
honestly, and that Allâh ordered all of the Muhammadian nation to declare its
faith hidden and apparently with what He sent to his previous prophets as He
said glory be to Him:
قُولُواْ آمَنَّا بِاللّهِ وَمَا
أُنزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَمَا أُنزِلَ إِلَى إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَإِسْمَاعِيلَ وَإِسْحَاقَ
وَيَعْقُوبَ وَالأسْبَاطِ وَمَا أُوتِيَ مُوسَى وَعِيسَى وَمَا أُوتِيَ
النَّبِيُّونَ مِن رَّبِّهِمْ لاَ نُفَرِّقُ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّنْهُمْ وَنَحْنُ
لَهُ مُسْلِمُونَ
Say (O Muslims),
"We believe in Allâh and that which has been sent down to us and that
which has been sent down to Ibrâhim (Abraham), Ismâ'il (Ishmael), Ishâque
(Isaac), Ya'qûb (Jacob), and to Al-Asbât [the twelve sons of Ya'qûb (Jacob)],
and that which has been given to Mûsa (Moses) and 'Iesa (Jesus), and that which
has been given to the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between
any of them, and to Him we have submitted (in Islâm)."
As
for the meaning of iman in the messengers then it is the belief, which contains
no doubt, that Allâh has send messengers as preachers and warners so that
mankind does not have an excuse over Allâh after the messengers, the first of
them being Noah u and the last of them Muhammad r. So
whoever is guided by them and answers their call then indeed they have been
guided and whoever denies their message and lies on it then indeed they have
gone astray and deviated from what is right. The Most High said:
وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ بِاللّهِ
وَرُسُلِهِ وَلَمْ يُفَرِّقُواْ بَيْنَ أَحَدٍ مِّنْهُمْ أُوْلَـئِكَ سَوْفَ
يُؤْتِيهِمْ أُجُورَهُمْ وَكَانَ اللّهُ غَفُورًا رَّحِيمًا
And those
who believe in Allâh and His Messengers and make no distinction between any of
them (Messengers), We shall give them their rewards, and Allâh is Ever OftForgiving,
Most Merciful.
Imân in the messengers
has many great benefits and lofty fruits from them:
1- Absolute knowledge of
the mercy of Allâh the Mighty and Merciful who did not assign the creation to
their intellects rather He sent to them messengers and sent down to them books.
2- Holding their messages
as a great blessing which Allâh bestowed upon his servants in every age and
place.
3- The love of those
noble messengers, the people of counsel, honesty, trustworthiness, and
sincerity.
As
for the meaning of the iman in the last day then it is the belief based on
knowledge derived from the book of Allâh and the Sunnah of his messenger
Muhammad r that Allâh will resurrect the creation after
their death then join them together for a day, which there is no doubt their in
and will recompense both (parties) for their deeds:
فَمَنيَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ
خَيْرًا يَرَهُ وَمَن يَعْمَلْ مِثْقَالَ ذَرَّةٍ شَرًّا يَرَهُ
And whosoever does evil
equal to the weight of an atom (or a small ant), shall see it.
And the one who lies
(disbelieves) regarding this day or something from what will be in it from the
bridge, the scale, the pond, the paradise and hellfire, the reckoning according
to actions, and other than that from that which is know from the legislation
necessarily, then indeed he has gone astray from the straight path as the
validity of its occurrence has been substantiated by the book, the Sunnah, and
the consensus of the Muslims (the scholars).
And Imân in this pillar
has many benefits from them:
1) Enthusiasm for doing
good deeds and persistence with earning rewards from statements, actions, and
beliefs and what is the reason for that enthusiasm except that the one
performing such actions hopes their reward which has been promised with in the
Noble Qur'an and the true pure Sunnah.
2) Refrainment from
disobedience, its statements and actions those hidden and apparent as
commitment of them is a cause for the punishment of Allâh which has been
promised for the sinners whom go beyond His boundaries, neglect His
obligations, and turn away from that which the messengers came with which
contains their rectification and success if them were to believe in it and be
upright upon it.
As for the meaning of Imân in the divine decree then it
is the decisive belief that all of the creation; the lofty and lowly, in total
and in part, its speaking and silent, its moving and stationary have been
decreed by Allâh and informed of before existence and they will occur in their
times and restricted places upon their specified characteristics according to
what He has ordained for them in eternity.
The proofs for this great pillar are many in the book and the Sunnah
none is displeased with them except the disbeliever and none interpret them
with other than their true interpretation except the ignorant or the heedless:
خَلَقَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ فَقَدَّرَهُ
تَقْدِيرًا
and has measured it exactly according to its due
measurements.
And it has been firmly
reported in Sahih Muslim
on the authority of `Abdullâh ibn `Amr ibn Al-`Aas y he said, “I heard the messenger of Allâh r say, ‘Verily Allâh has written the quantity of
the created beings before He created the heavens and the earth by 50,000
years’”
and there are many other proofs.
From these explicit texts it becomes clear to
the true believer in his faith that every action of the creation, chosen and
not chosen, does not exceed (is limited to) the will of Allâh be He blessed the
Most High, rather everything that happens in the heavens and earth from bringing
to life and putting to death, health and sickness, poverty and wealth, long
life and short, sending down the fixed time, its term, its place, its reason,
unhappiness, happiness, hope, adversity, hardship, ease, disbelief, belief,
good, and bad, all of that is by the eternal decree of Allâh which was written
by the pen, which was created by Allâh and He ordered to write the decrees of
everything until the hour is established, thusly there is no affair from the
affairs nor event from the events except that the pen has run by it (recorded
it) in that hour until the last hour is established just like what has past you
recently. And it is not necessary from
that that the servants rely upon what has been written and leave acting
(performing deeds) hence that is weakness and deviation from the guidelines of
the Noble Qur'an and advice of the truthful trustworthy messenger r, thusly diligence and hard work are inevitable in
earning good deeds and leaving evil deeds for that is a reason for the pleasure
of the Lord of the earth and the heavens, a substantial cause for entering the
gardens, and ascension of its high beautiful levels.
And it has come in a
Hadeeth narrated by Ahmad
and other than him on the authority of `Umar ibn Al-Khattâb
t that he said to the prophet r, “Do you see what we are doing a newly invented
affair or beginning or what has become void?
He said r in what has become void O ibn Al-Khattâb and all
of it is made easy; as for the one who was from the people of happiness then he
works for happiness and as for the one who was from the people of misery then
he works for misery”
and in a narration `Umar said, “now we will strive hard O messenger of Allâh”.
From the fruits of Imân in the divine decree the good and
bad, the sweet and bitter are as follows:
1) Reliance on Allâh,
entrustment of all affairs to Him as He is the giver of life, reliever of
needs, reliever of anguish, and dealer (ruler) of all His creation with what He
likes and how He likes.
2) Weariness and caution
from falling into the disease of astonishment when the person acquires his
religious or worldly desire, and so that he feels that obtainment of every
loved thing and the repelling of every disliked thing is indeed a divine
decreed blessing from a wise authority thusly praising Allâh for it.
Excerpt taken from:
الأجوبة السديدة على الأسئلة الرشيدة
Translated by: Eesa John Starling
January 22, 2006
|
