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Faith: Does It Increase and Decrease?

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Those who declare Islam without observing the good deeds and refraining from misdeeds are with weak iman.

Iman (faith) has been linguistically defined as believing and confidence. Termly, it is defined as the expression of the tongue, the conviction of the heart and the work of the organs, and it increases and decreases. The expression of the tongue refers to the Shahadah (Declaration of Faith; no one is worthy of worship except Allah, and Muhammad is Allah’s Messenger).

The conviction of the heart is to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Prophets, the Last Day and the Divine Decree. The work of the organs means the observance of good deeds and the abstention from misdeeds. This is the position of Ahl As-Sunnah Wal-Jama`ah (the followers of Sunnah and Muslim community) regarding the concept of iman.

Ibn Taymiyyah mentioned in his book Al-Fatwa that Imam Ash-Shafi`i said, “There has been an ijma` (unanimous agreement) among the companions of the Prophet, their followers and our scholars that iman is a declaration, work and conviction and that none of the three suffices for the others.”(Ibn Taymiyyah, Majmu` Al-Fatawa)

Ahl As-Sunnah view that iman can be increased or decreased. It increases by doing good deeds, acts of worship and contemplating on the Qur’an, rulings of Islam, hadiths and the creation of Allah, and decreases by misdeeds, following evil desires and Satan and negligence of reciting the Qur’an.

Narrated Abu Hurairah: “The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, “Iman consists of more than sixty branches, and modesty is a branch of faith.” (Al-Bukhari)

This meaningful and highly expressive hadith is one of the greatest hadiths of Islam. It deals with the concept of iman and highlights one of its parts, namely modesty.

The Prophet shows us that the term of iman is not restricted to beliefs but it includes actions as well. He informs us that iman consists of more than sixty parts and it includes sayings and deeds, as mentioned in other narrations of the hadith.

Yet, someone may say, “The Prophet was asked ‘what is iman?’ in the well-known hadith of Jibreel (Angel Gabriel) and he restricted the meaning of iman to belief.” Sheikh Ibn `Uthaimin clarifies this by saying, “Iman in the sense of belief is based on six principles, which are mentioned in the hadith of Jibril (peace be upon him), when he questioned the Prophet, who said: “iman means to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, the Last Day, and the Divine Decree, both good and bad.” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)

Yet, the broad meaning of iman includes good deeds of various kinds and it has seventy-odd branches. In this context, Allah called prayer iman in His saying:

And never would Allah have caused you to lose your iman. Indeed Allah is, to the people, Kind and Merciful. (Al-Baqarah 2:143)

The scholars of Tafsir (Qur’an Exegesis) said: “iman” here means prayer, because the companions used to pray towards Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa before they were commanded to face the Ka`bah in their prayers.” (3)

The hadith at hand proves the stance of Ahl Al-Sunnah, that is iman is not only restricted to beliefs but it includes deeds. In the hadith, the Prophet mentions that modesty, which is the work of organs, is a branch or part of faith.

Also, there is another narration of the hadith that the Prophet said, “Iman has sixty odd or seventy odd branches. The uppermost of all these is the Testimony of Faith “La ilaha illallah” (there is no true god except Allah) while the least of them is the removal of the harmful objects from the road. And modesty is a branch of Iman.” (Muslim)

Thus, it considered the Declaration of Faith and the work of organs, represented in the removal of harmful objects from the road and modesty, as branches and parts of iman.

Actually, this is an extremely important principle that should be understood and taken into consideration. There are those who claim that pronouncing the Testimony of Faith is enough to be a believer deserving the Mercy of Allah and His Paradise. This hadith refutes these false claims, because a Muslim has to work hard to get closer to Allah by means of acts of worship.

A Muslim with perfect faith is the one who declares Islam by the tongue, believes in Allah, His Messenger and what they told and commanded, and performs the good deeds and refrains from misdeeds. Those who declare Islam without observing the good deeds and refraining from misdeeds are with weak iman and are treading the ways of Satan and hell-fire.

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Divine Unity New Muslims

God Is Al-Mu’min: What Does It Mean?

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Allah to Whom be ascribed all perfection and majesty knows his self, his name and everything he has got

No king would allow anyone from his pasture to be named after him although he is human, he eats, drinks, and sleeps as we do. He has a body, he gets thirsty, hungry, mad, sick and he dies.

There is no difference between him and any of his followers; nevertheless, his pride and dignity refuse to let anyone to be named after him. But, Allah, the Great and Almighty called us, after we had known Him and obeyed his order, “believers”, (mu’mineen). It is the plural form of the word “believer”, (mu’min), that is by Allah’s saying:

He is Allah, than Whom there is no other god, the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One, Peace, the Keeper of Faith, the Guardian, the Majestic, the Compeller, the Superb. Glorified be Allah from all that they ascribe as partner (unto Him). (Al-Hashr 59:23)

But this name needs a moment of thinking, Allah (the Great and Almighty) is a believer, believer in what? We believe in Allah, his messenger, the Day of Judgment, but what does Allah (the Great and Almighty) believe in?

Provider of Safety

It was said “believer” (al-mu’min) is an agentive derived from the verb “to become safe”. The verb “to become safe” has two meanings; the first one is ‘believing’.

When the imam reads Surat Al-Fatihah (the 1st chapter of the Qur’an) and when he finishes, all the people in the mosque say “Amen” (Ameen), which means God, we believe what this imam said and we are with him, so the verb “to become safe” (amina) means believe on the one hand, and there is a verse which emphasizes this, Allah (the Great and Almighty) said:

They said: “O our father! We went racing with one another, and left Yusuf (Joseph) by our belongings and a wolf devoured him, but you will never believe us even when we speak the truth”. (Yusuf 12:17)

On the other hand it means ‘being safe’, Allah the Great and Almighty said:

(He) Who has fed them against hunger, and has made them safe from fear. (Quraish 106:4)

Allah’s name “the believer” (Al-Mu’min) is taken from believing or being safe! How do you understand this name with the first meaning?

The truth is that man may or may not understand his self. If he didn’t know his self and got involved in something beyond his level, he would have a great loss. We would say: ”If you had known what you have had, you wouldn’t have got involved”. He who does something beyond his level doesn’t know the essence of what he has or what his capabilities are. That person doesn’t know his self.

On the other side there is another who knows his self quite well, all his deeds are compatible with what he has. That example clarified some facts to you, the first meaning of “the believer” that Allah to Whom be ascribed all perfection and majesty knows his self, his name and everything he has got, that is the first meaning.

Believing

The second meaning: Allah the Great and Almighty believes His messengers. He sent Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a messenger, He believed him; that is He made people believe him through a miracle.

He sent Moses as a prophet and believed him; that is He made people believe him through a miracle. He sent Jesus as a messenger and gave him a miracle to make people believe him, so the second meaning is “believing”.

This means that Allah keeps His promises by His deeds, keeping Allah’s promises is a confirmation of His promises. He promised you the good life. If you have the good life, it means that He kept His promise. Keeping the promise is evidence to the truthfulness of His prophets.

That is He gives them the proofs that make people believe them. He gives the believers proofs. Dear brother, you read the Qur’an, what makes you cling to it and be attached to it? Because all the events you are living are confirmation of this Qur’an. If you buy and sell honestly, you will have great comfort and Allah will provide you with good income and draw people to you. If you are honest, Allah will lift your name among people.

So if you apply what you are asked to do, all the events come to confirm this promise or show you that this promise is true. It is one of the meanings of “the believer” that is; making His prophets as believers supported by miracles makes His Qur’an believable, that is if you believe in it and make good deeds, you will be granted a good life. What made you believe His words; this good life or the wretched life?

If you are rightly guided by Allah the Great and Almighty in all your aspects of life, you will see that all the events confirm what came in the Glorious Qur’an.

Therefore, Allah the Great and Almighty is a “believer”, that is He made his servants as believers, since all Allah’s deeds are confirmation of His promises and threats, Allah To Whom all be ascribed all perfection and majesty said:

Truly, Allah defends those who believe. Verily, Allah likes not any treacherous ingrate to Allah (those who disobey Allah but obey Satan). (Al-Hajj 22:38)

You must have felt in many incidents where Allah inspires someone you don’t know to defend you, when Allah (the Great and Almighty) says:

He (Allah) said: “Get you down (from Paradise to the earth, both of you, together, some of you are enemies to some others. Then if there comes to you guidance from Me then whoever follows My guidance he shall neither go astray, nor shall be distressed. (Ta-Ha 20:123)

You feel you are rightly guided, and have right vision, clear insight and your interpretation of events is right because you followed Allah’s order. Eventually, the events came as confirmation to what Allah said.

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Source: nabulsi.com

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Divine Unity New Muslims

Beautiful Names of Allah: Al-Mu’min (The Believer)

Allah (the Great and Almighty) is a believer, believer in what? We believe in Allah, His Messenger, the Day of Judgment, but what does Allah the Great and Almighty believe in?

believer

“The Believer” makes His prophets as believers supported by miracles, makes His Qur’an believable.

It was said “believer” (al-mu’min) is an agentive derived from the verb ‘to become safe’, (amina, ya’manu, amnan, and amaanan). The verb “to become safe” has two meanings; the first one is believing.

When the imam reads Surat Al-Fatihah and when he finishes, all the people in the mosque say ‘Amen’ (ameen), which means God, we believe what this imam said and we are with him, so the verb ‘to become safe’ (amina) means to believe on the one hand, and there is a verse which emphasizes this, Allah said:

They said: “O our father! We went racing with one another, and left Yusuf (Joseph) by our belongings and a wolf devoured him, but you will never believe us even when we speak the truth. (Yusuf 12:17)

On the other hand, it means ‘being safe’, Allah the Great and Almighty said:

(He) Who has fed them against hunger, and has made them safe from fear. (Quraish 106:4)

Allah’s name “the Believer” (Al-Mu’min), is it taken from believing or being safe? How do you understand this name with the first meaning?

The Believer …The Knowledgeable

The truth is that man may or may not understand his self. If he didn’t know his self and got involved in something beyond his level, he would have a great loss. We would say: ”If you had known what you have had, you wouldn’t have got involved”. He who does something beyond his level doesn’t know the essence of what he has or what his capabilities are. That person doesn’t know his self.

On the other side, there is someone who knows his self quite well, all his deeds are compatible with what he has. That example clarified some facts to you, the first meaning of “the believer” that Allah, to Whom be ascribed all perfection and majesty, knows his self, his name and everything he has got, that is the first meaning.

Believing

The second meaning: Allah, the Great and Almighty, believes His messengers. He sent Muhammad (peace be upon him) as a messenger, He believed him; that is He made people believe him through a miracle. He sent Moses as a prophet and believed him; that is He made people believe him through a miracle. He sent Jesus as a messenger and gave him a miracle to make people believe him, so the second meaning is “believing”.

This means that Allah keeps His promises by His deeds, keeping Allah’s promises is a confirmation of His promises. He promised you the good life. If you have the good life, it means that He kept His promise. Keeping the promise is an evidence to the truthfulness of His prophets. That is He gives them the proofs that make people believe them. He gives the believers proofs.

Dear brother, you read the Qur’an, what makes you cling to it and be attached to it? Because all the events you are living are confirmation of this Qur’an. If you buy and sell honestly, you will have great comfort and Allah will provide you with good income and draw people to you. If you are honest, Allah will lift your name among people.

So if you apply what you are asked to do, all the events come to confirm this promise or show you that this promise is true.

It is one of the meanings of “the believer” that is; making His prophets as believers supported by miracles makes His Qur’an believable, that is if you believe in it and make good deeds, you will be granted a good life. What made you believe His words? This good life or the wretched life?

If you are rightly guided by Allah (the Great and Almighty) in all your aspects of life, you will see that all the events confirm what came in the Qur’an. Therefore, Allah is a “believer”, that is He made his servants as believers, since all Allah’s deeds are confirmation of His promises and threats, Allah, to whom all be ascribed all perfection and majesty, said:

Truly, Allah defends those who believe. Verily, Allah likes not any treacherous ingrate to Allah; those who disobey Allah but obey Satan. (Al-Hajj 22:38)

You must have felt in many incidents where Allah inspires someone you don’t know to defend you, when Allah the Great and Almighty says:

He (Allah) said: “Get you down (from Paradise to the earth, both of you, together, some of you are enemies to some others. Then if there comes to you guidance from Me then whoever follows My guidance he shall neither go astray, nor shall be distressed”. (Ta-Ha 20:123)

Security

The third meaning is that he provides security. Simply, we mention the eye. If you drive your vehicle at daytime, you will feel safe because the vision is distant, but at night you are dazzled with lights and you feel worried.

Driving at night is associated with worry and surprises since the light in the vehicle does not reveal everything and it is limited. The longer the sight, the more security there is. Then He gave you the eye in order to see your way, gave you the ear in order to discover movements during the night.

Therefore, sensitive hearing is one way of security; the eye is a mean of security, smell is another mean of security, if the food smells bad, it means that it is rotten. He made the nose above the mouth to give you nutritional security.

He gave you a hand to draw back damage, a foot to move from one way to another, all these to provide you with security, and this is another meaning of “the believer”.

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Source: nabulsi.com

Dr. Al-Nabulsi is an outstanding Syrian Islamic scholar. He has written a number of Islamic books, most remarkable of which are: “Encyclopedia of the Beautiful Names of Allah”, “Encyclopedia of Scientific Miracles of the Holy Quran and Prophetic Sunna”, “Outlooks on Islam”, besides articles for some Syrian, Arab, Islamic, and Western magazines and newspapers. He also delivers a number of lessons, symposiums and interviews on Arab, Islamic radios and TVs.

 

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Divine Unity New Muslims

Beautiful Names of Allah: Al-Mu`ti (The Giver)

Al-Mu`ti in the Prophet’s Sunnah

That name Al-Mu`ti (the Giver) was not mentioned in the Noble Qur’an, but it was mentioned in the Sunnah. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:

Beautiful Names of Allah: Al-Mu`ti (The Giver)

Allah the Almighty prohibits in order to give, takes in order to give, lowers in order to raise.

“Whosoever Allah means goodness for is educated in religion, and Allah is the Giver and I am the divider, and from this nation, there will still be some people who are conspicuous for those against them until Allah’s order is manifested while they are conspicuous.” (Al-Bukhari)

Knowledge .. the Greatest Gift from Allah

The first inclination of the hadith is that the dignity of knowledge is the greatest, Allah the Almighty said:

.. and He taught you that which you knew not. And Ever Great is the Grace of Allah unto you (O Muhammad). (An-Nisaa’ 4:113)

Because Allah the Almighty created a power of perception in man. Unless man seeks knowledge, he will be degraded from his level of humanity to a level that does not suit him.

Therefore, the dignity of knowledge is the greatest to Allah the Almighty, if you want the world, you must seek knowledge, and if you want the afterlife, you must seek knowledge as well.

Are those who know equal to those who know not? (Az-Zumar 39:9)

..Allah will exalt in degree those of you who believe, and those who have been granted knowledge. (Al-Mujadalah 58:11)

Allah adopted work and knowledge in the noble Qur’an as two favorite values among His creation, for man’s heroism is that his excellence criteria are the same as those in the noble Qur’an. People in the world honor the rich and powerful people, but the noble Qur’an showed us that the rank of knowledge is the highest one.

Are those who know equal to those who know not? (Az-Zumar 39:9)

Knowledge of Allah, His Creation and His Orders

As you all know, there is knowledge of Allah, knowledge of His creation and of His orders. Knowledge of His creation and His orders needs a thorough study, a book, a teacher, a certificate, a test _ that is the thorough study, but knowledge of Allah needs mujahadah (fight).

The first indication in the hadith is:

“Whosoever Allah means goodness for, educates him in religion.”

Heroism is not to seek knowledge in your marginal time, it must be part of your life scheme. Because there are people who seek knowledge in their free time, but they have primary things that nothing can exceed.

But to the believer, seeking knowledge is a major part of his life which nothing is more important than. `Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “O son, knowledge is better than money, because knowledge guards you, and you guard money, money is decreased by spending and knowledge thrives with spending, my son! the money treasurers died while they were still alive, and scholars are alive forever, their dignitary are missing and their lessons exist in the hearts”.

Therefore, man has low needs and high needs, the high need is seeking knowledge. Unless man seeks knowledge, he will never get high to the level of his humanity. And in the noble Qur’an, man without knowledge was described as:

They are only like cattle_ nay, they are even farther astray from the Path (i.e. even worse than cattle). (Al-Furqan 25:44)

The likeliness of those who were entrusted with the (obligation of the Torah) (i.e. to obey its commandments and to practice its laws), but who subsequently failed in those (obligations), is as the likeliness of a donkey which carries huge burdens of books (but understands nothing from them). (Al-Jumu`ah 62:5)

.. So his parable is the parable of a dog: if you leave him alone, he (still) lolls his tongue out. Such is the parable of the people who reject Our Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.) (Al_A`raf 7:176)

Even more eloquent than that:

…they are as blocks of wood propped up. (Al-Munafiqun 63:4)

So seeking knowledge is what raises man to the level of his humanity, and to a level that suits him.

The Giver, The Preventer

Always with the beautiful names of Allah, there are names that must be mentioned together such as: the name “the Harmful” and the name “The Beneficial”, we say “The Harmful the Beneficial”, “The Giver the Preventer”, “The Honoring the Degrader”, why is that? How Allah is the Giver and the Preventer? Because Allah the Almighty prohibits in order to give, takes in order to give, lowers in order to raise, humiliates in order to honor. He is the Giver. As man took charge and failed to achieve that, then comes the treatment.

The difference is very clear, between someone who appoints an employee and gives him six months under probation. The employer’s mission is to count the employee’s mistakes, but mercilessly, if they are too much, he will cancel the contract. But if that employee is his son, he will watch him, stop him at every mistake and guide him.

Because the father’s mercy requires follow up, and because Allah the Almighty is merciful with His creatures, if man makes a mistake, He will continue with him with the treatment.

I imagine if Allah does not discipline his slaves, most of them will go to hell. But some were educated by disease, others with worry or with the phantom of a catastrophe, or with a specific hardship. Allah, the Almighty, drives us to His door, and that is from the graces of Allah the Almighty, He is a Giver and a preventer, a degrader and a raiser, honoring and humiliating. It was mentioned in the quotes:

“This world is a world of twisting not evenness” (Ibn Omar reported)

The world does not get even to anyone, and that is for a great wisdom Allah wanted.

“and a house of grief not of joy”

It has sorrow, pain, separation of the loved ones, diseases that inflects the children sometimes.

“and a house of grief not of joy, whosoever knows it..”

That means: whoever knows the fact of life.

“will never be pleased for a welfare”

Because it is temporary.

“ and will never grief a hardship”

Because it is temporary. Death ends everything, it ends the power of the powerful, the wealth of the wealthy, the intelligence of the smart, the health of the healthy, therefore:

“Whoever understands it will never be pleased for a welfare, and never grief for a hardship, Allah the Almighty created the world as a house of affliction”

..for sure We are ever putting (men) to the test. (Al-Mu’mimun :30)

Therefore:

“Allah the Almighty created the world as a house of affliction, and the afterlife as a house of reward, so He made the affliction of the world a reason for the reward of the afterlife, and the reward of the afterlife as a compensation for the world’s affliction, so He takes in order to give, and afflicts in order to reward.”

The Giver, the Creator, the Guider

Our Lord is the one who gave each thing its form and nature then guided it aright:

The last point in this lesson, Allah the Almighty said:

Who then, Musa (Moses), is the Lord of you two? (Ta-Ha 20:49)

Pharaoh asked our master Musa:

Musa (Moses) said:

Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright. (Ta-Ha 20:50)

What is the meaning of the Prophet’s saying?

“Give the worker his wage before his sweat dries out” (Ibn Majah)

He did not say: give him a wage, but give him the wage that suits his effort and gives him his dignity. On the other side:

Musa (Moses) said: “Our Lord is He Who gave to each thing its form and nature, then guided it aright.” (Ta-Ha 20:50)

Allah is the Giver that He gave us the perfect form and nature.

He created man a perfect stature:

Verily, We created man in the best stature (mould). (At-Tin 95:4)

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Source: naulsi.com

Dr. Al-Nabulsi is an outstanding Syrian Islamic scholar. He has written a number of Islamic books, most remarkable of which are: “Encyclopedia of the Beautiful Names of Allah”, “Encyclopedia of Scientific Miracles of the Holy Quran and Prophetic Sunna”, “Outlooks on Islam”, besides articles for some Syrian, Arab, Islamic, and Western magazines and newspapers. He also delivers a number of lessons, symposiums and interviews on Arab, Islamic radios and TVs.

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Divine Unity New Muslims

Beautiful Names of Allah: Al-`Ali (The Highest)

Who is  Allah “Al-`Ali” (The Highest)?

The One Who is above and exceeds all others. The Most High, above whom there is nothing higher.

The One Whose rank and station are the Most High.

The One Who is above and surpasses all that has ever been, all that there now is, and all that shall ever be.

Learn more about this Name of Allah “Al-`Ali” ……

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Source: Osoul Global Center (osoulcenter.com)  

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