Faith means to believe without any suspicion. The belief is that: To have faith in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, in being resurrected after death and is having good or bad destiny.
Ibn Masood (R.A.) said " Yaqin is perfect faith and Ibn-Umar (R.A.) said " A Person cannot attain taqwa (piety) unless and until he removes all suspicious from his heart".
Noted scholar of Hadith Imam Bukhari in his Sahih Bukhari has explained ‘Belief’. He writes,‘Belief is both saying and acting’.
Umar bin Abdul Aziz who was a noted scholar as well a Khalifa of this ummah wrote, ‘Belief includes Faraid, laws and boundaries (between Haram and Halaal) and Sunna. He who follows all of them, has complete belief and whoever does not follow them completely, his belief is incomplete.
Imam Bukhari also states, ‘Your invocation (Duaa) is also your faith.
The main code for a Muslim’s success is ‘Belief’. Allah the almighty states in Quran, ‘Successful indeed are the believers’. (Al-Qur’ an 23:1)
The Holy Prophet (p.b.u.h.) 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").
QUALITIES OF A BELIEVER
The prophet (S.A.W.) 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".
Thus, to love the Prophet (S.A.W.) is a part of faith.
Some people asked the Prophet (S.A.W.) " Whose Islam is the best"? He replied, ‘one who avoids harming the muslims with his tongue and hands".(Collected by Bukhari)
It is collected in Bukhari, three qualities of faith.
To treat others as one likes to be treated by others.
To greet everyone.
To spend in Allah’s cause, inspite of poverty.
Some people asked the Prophet (S.A.W.) " What is the best deed"? He replied ‘To believe in Allah and his Prophet".
The questioner then asked,"What is the next?" He replied,"To participate in Jihad in Allah’s cause". The questioner again asked, ‘What is the next?’ He replied"To perform Haj, Mabrur". (Al-Bukhari)
A believer fears that his good deeds may be annulled without his knowledge. Ibn Abi Mulaika was a wellknown Tabeen. He has noted,"I met thirty companions of the Prophet (S.A.W.) and each of them was afraid of becoming a hypocrita (munafiq) and none of them said that his belief was as strong as the angel ‘Jibraeel or Meechaeel".
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 Anfai) (8:2)
There are many qualities of Believers described in Quran and Hadith.
Belief Increases and Decreases :
Allah revealed the following verses concerning the increasing and decreasing of belief. Let us consider a few verses from Quaran.
- That they may add to their faith. (48:4)
- And the Believer may increase in faith (74:31)
- Which of you has faith increased by it" As for those who believed, it has increased their faith. (9:124)
- It only added to their faith and to their submissiveness (to Allah) (33:22)
A wellknown Scholar Ibn Taymiyyah concludes that a sinner does not become a disbeliever (kafir) unless he commits sin. The Prophet (S.A.W.) said,"when an adulterator is indulged in illegal sex, he is not a believer at the time of doing it, and when a drinker drinks, or a robber robs", we say that he is a man of deficient faith and not a complete disbeliever.
