AL IMAAN

The best deed is the deed that is started in the name of Allah and remembering and
glorifying the name of Allah, in every night and every day, you should renew your
Imaan. The Prophet (saw) said:

"… There will be fitan after fitan coming after you night After night, a person may go
to bed a Muslim, and wake up a kaafir, and a man may wake a muslim, and go to
bed a kaafir."

We must be very careful, as it is possible for us to become Kafir without even to

know. Allah (swt) said:

"Most of Mankind will not believe, however eagerly you call them." [EMQ Yusuf: 103]

and He (swt) said:

"Remember Ibrahim said: "O my Lord! make this city one of peace and security: and
preserve me and my sons from worshipping idols. [EMQ Ibrahim: 35]

So if the Prophet of Tawheed, Ibrahim (as) was worried from falling into shirk without
to know, and worried for his children who were prophets as well - from committing
shirk without to know, for greater reason we should fear from committing kufr and
shirk ourselves.

Allah (swt) is testing us with our lives and our clothes, with our fitrah of procreation,
and the fitrah of survival. One of the tests is the Shaytan. Allah (swt) tested iblees in
the past, Allah (swt) said: "Iblees was from the angels…" and Allah tested him, and
Iblees failed to obey him, and he became kaafir. Allah (swt) ordered him to prostrate
to Adam, and he refused out of arrogance, and Allah (swt) condemned him. Because
of this, Iblees looked to Adam as the cause of his failure.

After that, Allah (swt) tested Adam (as), He put him in Jannah, and gave him
everything in the garden, forbidding only one tree from him. For Adam (as) this was
a temporary garden that will be increased for him if he obeys Allah. But because he
was not eternal, Shaytan played on this temptation to corrupt Adam (as), he
tempted Adam with promises of eternal life, and Adam (as) ate from the tree. Allah
(swt) sent down all of them, Adam his wife and the Shaytan to the earth.
We need solid Imaan to face the test of Allah (swt), like the sahabah of the Prophet
Muhammad (saw). If we look to Ibrahim (as), even he was someone who feared from
Shirk, Allah (swt) says:

"Remember Ibrahim said: "O my Lord! make this city one of peace and security: and
preserve me and my sons from worshipping idols. [Ibrahim: 35]

If Ibrahim (as) was concerned from the shirk, for greater reason, we should be
concerned ourselves, and Allah (swt) said:

"Most of the believers are mushrikeen."

And we should take lesson from the hadith of the messenger Muhammad (saw), that

"The shaytan will prevent 999 out of 1000 from jannah."

The Shaytan wants to prevent us from entering jannah i.e. he wants to make us
kaafir. If he makes us only fasiq, we will not be prevented from jannah forever, we
will be punished and eventually we will go to jannah, this is not enough for the
shaytan - he aims only to make us kafir.

This Imaan we seek has three pillars, it is Sayings - Qawol, Actions - 'Amal and
Intention - Niyyah.

IMAAN IS NIYYAH

How do we judge if someone is kaafir? Can we judge someone's heart, to see if he is

kaafir? Is that possible? If we look to the example of someone who comes and says
Assalamu 'Alaikum to us, we would undoubtedly say that he is Muslim. Do we need
to check his heart? No, we know his Islam from his sayings and his actions. We do
not need to check his heart, so why if someone's sayings and actions are kufr,
should we need to check his heart? Rather when we see someone who is clearly in
kufr and Shirk, or we see people competing with Allah (swt), i.e. that they are
Taghout, there is no need for us to check his heart, we must make Takfeer on him -
that is the Haq of Allah (swt).
Imaan is sayings and actions and niyyah. Allah (swt) said:

"They come to you and testify that you are the messenger of Allah, and Allah
testifies that you are the messenger, but Allah testifies that they are liars. They
declare Imaan but they conceal kufr. Thus they obstruct (men) from the Path of
Allah. truly evil are their deeds. That is because they believed, then they rejected
Faith: So a seal was set on their hearts: therefore they understand not." [EMQ
Munafiqun: 1-3]

Allah (swt) said:

"The hypocrites are in the bottom of the hellfire, you will find no helper for them."
[EMQ 4:145]

Because what they say is not what they believe. So the Imaan is in the heart,
despite the sayings and actions of the hypocrites portraying Islam, what is in their
hearts is kufr, hence Imaan is in the Heart.

Allah (swt) said about the hypocrites:

"They try to deceive Allah and the believers, but they deceive none but themselves
but they do not know." [EMQ 2: 9]

And further evidence for that is the most famous hadith that the Prophet (saw) said:

"Every action is based on the niyyah."

And the hadith of ibn Abbas that:

"The niyyah is settled in the heart."

There is no need to go to any metaphorical meaning without evidence, there is no

need to 'interpret' the 'heart' here to mean the 'mind', rather we take the 'heart'
here, to literally mean the heart.

Umar ibn Khattab narrated the Prophet (saw) said:

"Every action is on the niyyah, and every man will get what he intended, whosoever
makes hijrah for Allah and His Messenger, his hijrah is for Allah and his messenger.
And whosoever makes hijrah for dunya, or for a woman to get married to, his hijrah
is for whatever he intended."

That means that the action is the same as the niyyah. That if someone was to
commit kufr his intention was not imaan, it was kufr. there is talazum between the
niyyah and the actions. This does not mean that the niyyah is judged, but not the
actions - rather it clearly stipulates that there must be an action - and that action is
always in accordance to the Niyyah.

Abu Huraira narrated that the Prophet (saw) said:

"Anybody who testifies that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad (saw) is
the messenger of Allah, sincerely in his heart. Will enter jannah and will be
forbidden from the hellfire." [Bukhari]

This hadith condemns one of the sects of the mu'tazilah, called the karamiyyah.
They used to say that "imaan is only by the tongue" they used to say that the
saying is enough, and that if you say something and do not do it, then you are
munafiq. They do not accept imaan to have anything to do with the heart. They
interpret the Ahadith as being 'mind' instead of 'heart'.

IMAAN IS SAYINGS

In Saheeh Muslim, reported by ibn Umar, that Muhammad (saw) said to his uncle,

"Say laa ilaha illallah, and I will ask for you on the day of judgement," Abu Talib,
said: "just because I am afraid that my people will say that I left my deen, or that I
was afraid, I would testify with tears of happiness." And he rejected to say Laa ilaha
illallah, and Allah revealed to Muhammad (saw), "You cannot convince whoever you
like, Allah is the one who gives conviction (hidayah) to whom he wishes."

The Prophet (saw) said:

"Whosoever learns the ilm, just to challenge the ulema, or just to give fattawa for
the corrupted … or for people to say he is learned, he will enter hellfire."
The ilm and the conviction Al Hidayah is a gift for the sake of Allah (swt). Allah (swt)
said:

"This is a book without doubt, that is conviction (hidayah) for the muttaqun," [EMQ
2: 2]

We cannot doubt that reading the Qur'an will spark conviction in our hearts.
However we must seek it, we must study, we must always be open for receiving the
Ilm, and we must check and recheck the way we recheck our Imaan everyday. We
learn from this hadith that Abu Talib, was a disbeliever not because he did not
believe in Muhammad's (saw) messengership, but because he was afraid of what
the people might say. Afterwards, the sahabah went to Muhammad (saw) and asked
how Abu Talib was, Muhammad (saw) said:

"I left him on the shirk."

The people began to think that Ali would react badly because of the death of his
father, but there was no reaction from Ali at all.

Some people do not have anything to prevent the hidayah from reaching them,
except something Unislamic, like Abu Talib. And like the jews, the Jews knew of the
coming of the Prophet, and used to speak about them so much that the quraish
used to insult the jews, that they did not speak about anything else. But the jews
also had enemies from amongst the aws and khazraj, and that was a prevention
from them embracing Islam, despite believing that Muhammad (saw) was the
messenger that they were waiting for.

Muhammad (saw) said:

"I have been ordered to fight people until they TESTIFY laa ilaha illallah and then
establish the salah, and pay the zakat, then they have protected from me their life
and their property except by haq."

In another narration, the hadith mentions

"… until they SAY laa ilaha illallah and then establish the salah, and pay the zakat,
then they have protected from me their life and their property except by haq."
Clearly this stresses the importance of sayings in our Imaan, in fact he mentioned
the saying before the actions in this hadith. He (saw) mentioned first to testify
Imaan, then to pray and fast - so without a doubt it is understood from this hadith
that you cannot have Imaan without your sayings to be Imaan.

Imam Nawawi said:

"The Imaan has condition to testify the two kalimahs, with belief in both of them,
and to believe in all what the messenger (saw) brought." [Sharh Muslim V-1 P-212]

Ibn Taymiyyah said:

"The two shahadah, if he did not say them and he is capable, he is kaafir. By the
consensus of the Muslims, and the four Imams, (both) his inner and outer is kaafir."
[Fattawa V7 P219]

IMAAN IS ACTIONS

Allah (swt) says:

"Thus, have We made of you an Ummah justly balanced, that you might be
witnesses over the nations, and the Messenger a witness over yourselves; and We
appointed the Qibla to which you was used to, only to test those who followed the
Messenger from those who would turn on their heels (From the Faith). Indeed it was
(A change) momentous, except to those guided by Allah. And never would Allah
Make your IMAAN of no effect. For Allah is to all people Most surely full of kindness,
Most Merciful." [EMQ 2: 143]

Allah (swt) used here - the word Imaan to mean Salah - because the salah
completes all three components of Imaan, the niyyah, the sayings and the actions.
All the mufassireen agree that the ayah is speaking about the salah. Allah explicitly
referred to Imaan as an action - i.e. the salah.

The circumstances of this ayah is regarding when the Muslims used pray towards
Jerusalem, and after that Allah (swt) changed the Qiblah and the people began to
doubt. They thought that they would lose all that they had prayed before. Allah
(swt) informed us that we will never lose any reward for any deed we do for the
sake of Allah (swt), even ijtihad in takfeer, if made incorrectly but sincerely - the
reward of it will not be lost.

Abu Hanifah used to say that Imaan increases and can weaken. Imam Maalik
believed that Imaan always increases but may weaken. Whereas Imam Shafi'I and
Imam Ahmed believed that Iman Increases and decreases, but they all agreed that
Imaan is negated from kufr sayings and actions. Imam Shafi'I wrote a book about
apostasy and listed over 200 negations of Imaan. These negations all fall within the
ten that was compiled by Sheikh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab.

Imam Maalik said:

"The saying that Salat is not Imaan is the saying of the murji'ah."

Because the murji'ah separate the Shari'ah from the Aqeedah. This is something
done also by the usulis, in usul ul fiqh - the shari'ah and the aqeedah is separated,
but as long as it is understood and done only as classification then that is ok, but we
must understand that the shari'ah is not separate from the Aqeedah. They asked
Muhammad (saw),

"O rasulullah, which action is better?" he (saw) said: "to believe in Allah and his
Messenger."

He linked Imaan and actions in this hadith, they asked him about actions, and he
spoke about Imaan in Allah as the best action. Furthermore he (saw) also said:

"The action is the best from Al Imaan."

He referred to Imaan as an action explicitly in this hadith abd this hadeeth is agreed
upon and is saheeh. Furthermore, the Prophet (saw) said:

"The Imaan is Al Sam (between 3 and 9) and 70 branches, the best of it is to say
"laa ilaha illallah" and the lowest is to clean any corruption from the road, and the
haya' is from the Imaan." [Muslim]

He said here that to testify to the kalima (i.e. a saying) is a branch of Imaan, and
that cleaning the road (i.e. an action) is also branch of Imaan.
A delegation of Abdu Qais came to Muhammad (saw) and he (saw) said to them,

"I order you to believe that 'laa ilaaha illallah', do you know what laa ilaha illallah
means?" they said, "Allah and his messenger knows best." He (saw) said: "to testify
that there is no god but Allah, to pray and to fast in ramadhan, and to pay the
zakat, and to give the fifth …"

In describing Imaan here, Muhammad (saw) described to them the sayings and
actions, about testifying, fasting, praying, paying zakat etc. Furthermore the Prophet
(saw) said,

"He is not a mu'min, the one whom his neighbour is not secure from his bad
actions."

He linked the actions to the validity of his Imaan. He (saw) also said:

"By Allah, he is not a believer, he is not a believer, he is not a believer - the one who
his neighbour is not secure from his bad actions."

The Prophet (saw) said:

"there is no way for one while he is drinking alcohol to be mu'min, or when he is

stealing to be mu'min, or when he is committing zina to be mu'min." [Bukhari and
Muslim]

If Imaan is not actions, or if the Imaan is separated from the actions, then a persons
actions could never have this negation of their Imaan. This is why it is agreed that

"Imaan is sayings and actions and it increases and decreases."

This understanding that Imaan is in the Heart - i.e. the Niyyah - Intention, and that
Imaan is also by the tongue - i.e. Sayings, and Imaan is by the limbs - i.e. actions, is
essential. Particularly when we are faced with people who violate the sanctity of
Allah (swt), who rule by other than what Allah (swt) revealed, who ally with kuffar to
fight agaisnt Muslims, who mock the deen of Allah (swt), who doubt and defend the
disbelief of the Jews and Christians. All these things are Kufr Akbar, the Big disbelief
and takes one out of the fold of Islam, making them Murtad (apostate), upon seeing
these kufr sayings and actions from these apostates, we must understand that they
are invalidating their Imaan.
It is not as some people who have deviated from the path of the companions of the
Messenger Muhammad (saw) try to sell to the people, that Imaan is seperate from
the actions - those who say that the Imaan is rigid in the heart and whatever you
say or do, even to pray to idols or to wear the cross will never negate the Imaan.
Rather the clear kufr of these people, particularly those who rule and judge from
other than Islam, like the leaders of all the Muslim lands, like Fahd, Mubarak,
Musharraf, etc, they are Apostates - Murtad, and they are taghout (what is
worshipped, obeyed or followed instead of Allah (swt)). to reject them, and to make
takfeer on them is the right of Allah, and it is part of our Tawheed - to ignore their
kufr is detrimental to our own Tawheed and our own Islam. Verily those who defend
these taghout rulers, and claim that they are Muslim are murji'ah and deviant from
the path of Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jama'ah.