Iman and Deeds

What is Iman?

In the famous hadith of Jibril (as) also know as umm al-Sunnah, Jibril came in the appearance of a man and asked questions to Rasulullah (may Peace and Blessing of Allah be upon him) asking him to explain some fundamental principles of Islam. The first thing he asked was for Rasulullah to inform him about Islam, and Rasulullah replied by listing the five pillars. The next thing Jibril ask was for Rasulullah to inform him about Iman.

Rasulullah replied that Iman is to believe in Allah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, The Last Day, and Qadr – the good and the evil of it.

The third thing Jibril asked was about Ihsan and Rasulullah responded that Ihsan is that you worship Allah as if you see Him and even though you don’t, you know He sees you.
(Jibril also asks about the Hour, but I will not cover that aspect here.

Rasulullah answered the questions simply and succinctly so that the people listening would remember those important points. The topic of Iman is quite vast and many volumes of work by later scholars have been written about it and where it is in a believer.

Ahlu-Sunnah wal-Jamaah say that the seat of iman is in the heart, tongue and physical actions. Iman increases and decreases and that our deeds form a part of iman – some deeds are essential and without doing them we fall outside Islam and other deeds are recommended or voluntary.

Ibn Uthaimeen (ra) wrote that iman is affirmation that requires acceptance and submission. A person could believe in something but not accept or submit to it, such as many of the Jews in the time of Rasulullah who knew he was the truth but refused to submit. Also we have the example of Abu Talib, the uncle of Rasulullah who despite all his deeds for Islam and the mission of Rasulullah, died on kufr, and so his deeds will not help in the Hereafter.

Ibn Taymiyya (ra) quoted Sahl ibn Abdullah al-Tustari, who was an early ascetic who said that iman is statement, action, intention and following the Sunnah. He then explained this by saying, “if iman was statement without action then it is disbelief. If it is statement and action without proper intention, then it is hypocrisy. If it is statement, action and intention without following the Sunnah, then it is heresy (bida’ah).

I found this to be an interesting analysis of iman and our actions. For our action to be perfect we need to cover each of the areas of statement – to actually be Muslims, to act upon what we are commanded to do with the intention solely for Allah (swt), and be doing permissible acts according to the Sunnah of the Prophet.

Ask yourself what are you doing and why? What is your intention? How will it benefit you Islamically? How will it be pleasing to Allah? How conscious are you of Allah in your everyday actions? How will it look in your CV on Yaum al-Qiyama? Is what you are doing something that is within the Sunnah?

We need to remind ourselves to really think carefully about what we are doing, and make it count in the long term - in this life and more importantly, the Hereafter.