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Chapter
02:
Iman and Islam (Hadith -- The
Traditions):
(Note:
The superscript-numbers [e.g., intention2]
that
appear in the text [in
pink]
refer to the numbers of the explanatory footnotes that
appear at the end of each Hadith
[Tradition].)
1
Abu Hurairah reported that The Prophet, peace and blessings
of Allah be on him, said:
"Religion is easy, and no one
exerts himself too much in religion but it overpowers
him; so act aright and keep to the mean and be of good
cheer and ask for (Divine) help at morning and at evening
and during a part of the night."1
(B. 2 : 29.)
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1
This hadith shows what the Islamic conception of
religion is. Religion does not consist in
performing too many devotional exercises; these are
in fact discouraged as they ultimately overpower
the man who indulges in them. Religion is the name
of acting aright and keeping to the mean course;
this would keep a man in good heart. The truly
religious man will smile in the face of everyone,
as did the Holy Prophet. What generally considered
to be Divine worship is really the seeking of
Divine help for acting aright and keeping to the
mean. Thus is every Muslim taught to pray daily and
hourly : "Guide us on the right path : the path of
those to whom Thou hast been gracious" (1 : 5,
6).
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2
`A'ishah reported that,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, entered
upon her and with her was woman. He asked, "Who is this?"
(`A'ishah) said, She is such and such a one; and began to
speak (highly) of her prayers. He said:
"Enough; only that is binding
on you which you are able to do; by Allah, Allah does not
get tired but you get tired, and the devotions dearest to
Him are those in which the devotee
perseveres.2
(B. 2 : 31.)
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2
`A'ishah admired the devotional exercises of a
certain woman but the Holy Prophet warned her of
excess of these because, he said, people indulge in
these and then get tired of them. The chief aim of
religion is, as made clear in the concluding words,
to bring about perseverance in the character of a
man, He is, therefore, told to adopt that course in
religious devotion in which he can keep
constant.
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3
`Abd Allah ibn `Amr reported,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said to me, "O `Abd Allah! Am I not told that thou
fastest in the day time and standest up in devotion during
the night?" I said, Yes, O Messenger of Allah. He
said:
"Do not do so; keep fast and
break it and stand up in devotion (in the night) and have
sleep, for thy body has a right over thee, and thine eye
has a right over thee, and thy wife has a right over
thee, and the person who pays thee a visit has a right
over thee."3
(B. 30 : 55.)
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3
There are many versions of this hadith and in all
of them it is made clear by the Holy Prophet that a
man has several duties to perform and he must keep
all of them in mind in devoting himself to
religious exercise. No religious exercise, whether
it is keeping the fast or standing up in prayer,
will do him good if he neglects his worldly duties.
In fact, religious devotion is meant to make a man
fitter for the performance of his duties which he
owes to others. In the development of the
spiritual, the physical side and worldly duties are
not to be neglected.
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4
Nu`man ibn Bashir said,
I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah
be on him, say:
"What is lawful is manifest
and what is unlawful is manifest and between these two
are doubtful things which many people do not know. So
whoever guards himself against the doubtful things, he
keeps his religion and his honour unsullied, and whoever
falls into doubtful things is like the herdsman who
grazes his cattle on the borders of a reserve--he is
likely to enter it. Know that every king has a reserve
(and) know that the reserve of Allah in His land is what
He has forbidden. Know that in the body there is a bit of
flesh; when it is sound the whole body is sound, and when
it is corrupt the whole body is corrupt. Know, it is the
heart."4
(B. 2 : 38.)
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4
The man who is imbued with a truly religious spirit
avoids not only what is manifestly unlawful but
even the doubtful things which might lead him into
the unlawful. The concluding portion of the hadith
shows that religion does not consist in the
devotional exercises which a man may perform but in
the presence in him a right mentality--the
mentality to act aright and avoid the wrong. A
sound mind is of the essence of religion, as the
Holy Qur'an says: "Except him who comes to Allah
with a sound mind." (26 : 89).
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5
Abu Hurairah said,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, was one
day sitting outside among the people when a man came to him
and asked, What is faith (Iman)? He said:
"Faith is that thou believe
in Allah and His angels and in meeting with Him and (in)
His messengers and that thou believe in being raised to
life (after death)."
He asked, What is Islam? (The Prophet)
said:
"Islam is that thou shalt
worship Allah and not associate aught with Him and (that)
thou keep up prayer and pay the zakat as ordained and
fast in Ramadzan."
He asked, What is ihsan (goodness)?
(The Prophet) said:
"That thou worship Allah as
if thou seest Him; for if thou see Him not, surely He
sees thee."5
(B. 2 : 36.)
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5
At the end of this hadith it is added that the Holy
Prophet said that it was Gabriel who had come to
reach people their religion. The hadith is related
with slight variations by `Umar, but Bukhari does
not accept it. In `Umar's version, describing iman
(faith) the Holy Prophet is reported to have said
instead of "in meeting with Him," "that thou
believe in qadar, in the good of it and the evil of
it." The belief in qadar is evidently a doctrine of
later growth and it is perhaps on account of this
flaw that Bukhari does not accept the version
attributed to `Umar. Another variation in `Umar's
version is that in describing what Islam is, the
pilgrimage to Makkah is also spoken of; this is
evidently an omission in Abu Hurairah's version.
And further, instead of "that thou shalt worship
Allah and not associate aught with Him" in Abu
Hurairah's version, we have in `Umar's , "That thou
bear witness that there is no god but Allah and
that Muhammad is the Messenger of
Allah."
This hadith makes a
distinction between Iman (faith) and Islam, showing
that the former relates to matters of conviction
and the latter to matters of practice. The third
term ihsan is not a technical term and indicates
the state of sincerity in one's conviction or
practice--to feel oneself in Divine presence. Iman
and Islam are often used interchangeably but, as
distinguished from each other, iman means a belief
in Allah, the angels the messengers (which includes
the Books or the messages). liqa'-Allah (which
means meeting with Allah), and in a life after
death; while Islam means the worshipping (`Ibadah)
of Allah, keeping up prayer, fasting in the month
of Ramadzan, paying zakat (a fixed portion of one's
savings) and the pilgrimage to Makkah.
The man who accepts these
principles is a Muslim, and a member of the Muslim
brotherhood.
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6
Ibn `Umar said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"Islam is built on five
(things), the bearing of witness that there is no god but
Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah and
keeping up of prayer and the payment of zakat and the
pilgrimage and fasting in Ramadzan."6
(B. 2 : 1.)
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6
This hadith corroborates the definition of Islam as
given in the previous one. In fact, the first
requisite of Islam--the bearing of witness that
there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the
Messenger of Allah--includes all the other four,
because they are a part of the teachings of the
Holy Prophet. They are mentioned along with the
basic principle on account of their
importance.
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7
Abu Hurairah said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"Iman (Faith) has over
seventy, or over sixty, branches; the most excellent of
these is the saying, There is no god but Allah, and the
lowest of them is the removal from the way of that which
is harmful; and modesty (haya') is a branch of
faith."7
(M. 1 : 58.)
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7
The word seventy is used in Arabic as a perfect
number and signifies a large number. This hadith
shows that Iman (Faith) carries a much wider
significance than that which may generally be
attached to it. It is not limited to certain
matters relating to belief, to the conviction that
certain principles are true, but extends to the
carrying out of those principles into action; nor
is it limited to certain religious acts or
devotions but covers all good qualities and actions
that benefit humanity.
Iman is represented as a big
tree with branches extending in all directions. The
confession of Divine Unity which is the basic
principle of Islam is the highest branch of this
tree, while even the removal from the way of what
may cause harm to a passer-by is a branch of the
tree of faith. The making of roads for the
convenience of the public is therefore an act of
faith. Thus all acts which aim at doing good to
humanity are branches of the tree of faith. Thus
all acts which aim at doing good to humanity are
branches of the tree of faith, and faith thus
signifies the proper development of all human
faculties. Haya' translated here as modesty, is
specially mentioned because it originally signifies
that quality which makes one shun all evil things
(R).
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8
Anas said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"None of you has faith unless
I am dearer to him than his father and his son and all
mankind."8
(B. 2 : 7.)
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8
Though here only love for the Prophet is spoken of,
yet what is meant is love for Allah and His
Prophet, as h. 10 shows. Love for a person springs
from the good which he does to us or from the
benefit which we may derive from him. As the Holy
Prophet is the greatest benefactor of humanity, and
of his ummah in particular, every Muslim is
required to have greater love for him than for any
other human being. Highest love for the Holy
Prophet is made a test of faith, because the
stronger the ties which bind a man to him the
greater the strength with which he will be able to
walk in his footsteps and the larger his capacity
to do good to humanity.
Practically, the Muslim world
today has proved an entire failure under this test.
The Holy Prophet and his teachings are
misrepresented throughout the world and he is
abused as no other religious leader has been
abused; but Muslims do not stir a little finger to
remove the misrepresentations and carry the true
teachings of Islam to a world which is groping in
the dark.
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9
Anas reported on the authority of the Prophet, peace and
blessings of Allah be on him, He said:
"None of you has faith unless
he loves for his brother what he loves for
himself."9
(B. 2 : 6.)
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9
Here is another test of real faith. It is not
simply doing to others as one would like them to do
to oneself; it is much more--to love for others
what one loves for oneself. Such a state of mind
can arise only from the highest disinterestedness.
Muslims judge each other by the repetition of
certain formulae and by belief in certain
doctrines; the Holy Prophet required them to be
judged by their love for Allah and His Prophet and
by their love for humanity.
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10
Anas reported on the authority of the Prophet, peace and
blessings of Allah be on him, He said:
"There are three qualities,
in whomsoever they are met with he has tasted the
sweetness of faith--that Allah and His Messenger are
dearer to him than anything besides them, that he loves a
man and does not love him but for the sake of Allah, and
that it is loathsome to him that he may go back into
unbelief as it is loathsome to him that he may be thrown
into the fire." (B. 2 :
8.)
11
`Abd Allah ibn `Amr reported on the authority of the
Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, He
said:
"A Muslim is he from whose
tongue and hand Muslims are safe,10
and a muhajir (lit., one who flies from his home) is he
who forsakes what Allah has
forbidden."11
(B. 2 : 3.)
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10
Here is another
definition of Islam. A man is called a Muslim when
he declares his faith in Unity, but he becomes a
Muslim actually when he begins to lead his life as
a Muslim, as a man of peace from whose tongue and
hand all Muslims are safe. It is one thing to enter
Islam and quite another to live it. Such life of
peace not only raises the individual's character to
a high level; it also lays down the basis of a
perfect brotherhood. It is not meant that a Muslim
is at liberty to do harm to non-Muslims by his
tongue or his hand; Muslims are mentioned in the
hadith because it is with one's own community that
one has largely to deal. The aim is to lay the
foundations of a world-wide brotherhood in which
every one should feel himself safe, and that
brotherhood can draw others into it only if they
find themselves safe from the tongue and hand of a
Muslim. There is another version of this hadith in
which the word "people" is used instead of
"Muslims" : "A Muslim is he from whose tongue and
hand people are safe" (Ibn Haban).
11
This is how Islam introduced spiritual meaning into
physical words--Hijrah or flying from home becomes
flying from evil.
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12
`Abd Allah reported that,
The Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be on him,
said:
"To abuse a Muslim is
transgression and to fight him is
unbelief."12
(B. 2 : 35.)
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12
Here the act of abusing a Muslim (i.e., offending
him with one's tongue) is called transgression, and
the act of fighting him (or, offending him with
one's hand) is called Kufr. It is not meant that
such a man becomes a disbeliever or is outside the
pale of Islam, for in the Holy Qur'an itself two
parties of believers are spoken of as fighting with
each other (49 : 9). The act itself may amount to
kufr, but the doer of it does not thereby become a
kafir, so long as he professes faith in the
kalimah, the Unity of Allah and the messengership
of Muhammad, which is the basic principle of
Islam.
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13
Mar`ur said,
I met Abu Dharr at Rabadhah and he wore a garment and his
slave wore a (similar) garment. I questioned him about it.
He said,
I abused a man and called him by a bad
name on account of his mother; so the Prophet, peace and
blessings of Allah be on him, said to me:
"O Abu Dharr! Didst thou call
him by a bad name on account of his mother; indeed thou
hast in thee ignorance."13
(B. 2 : 21.)
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13
I have omitted here the portion of the hadith which
speaks of according an equal treatment to slaves,
and have quoted only the words of the Holy Prophet
which show that abusing another man is an act of
ignorance which word in Muslim terminology is
equivalent to unbelief. Abu Dharr had used the
words Ibn al-sauda', or son of a Negro woman,
regarding another; and as these words were used
contemptuously, they were considered an abuse of
one Muslim by another, which was an act of
ignorance or unbelief. In fact, every evil deed is
an act of kufr according to the Holy Prophet, just
as every good deed is an act of faith. Neither does
a disbeliever become a believer if he does a good
deed nor a believer a disbeliever if he does an
evil deed. The line of demarcation between the
believer and the disbeliever, the Muslim and the
kafir is the confession that God is one and that
Muhammad is His Messenger--La ilaha illallah
Muhammad-un Rasul Allah.
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14
Abu Hurairah reported on the authority of the Prophet, peace
and blessings of Allah be on him, He said:
"The signs of the hypocrite
are three : when he speaks, he lies, and when he makes a
promise, he breaks it; and when he is charged with a
trust, he is unfaithful."14
(B. 2 : 23.)
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14
That is to say, a person
who tells lies, breaks promises and is unfaithful
to trusts has no faith in him--nothing of the
teachings of Islam, and his profession of faith is
simply hypocrisy.
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15
Anas said,
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"Whoever offers prayers as we
do and turns his face to our Qiblah and eats the animal
slaughtered by us, he is a Muslim for whom is the
covenant of Allah and the covenant of the Messenger of
Allah; so do not violate Allah's
covenant."15
(B. 8 : 28.)
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15
Here a more practical test is given. If you see a
man saying his prayers in the Islamic mode and with
his face to the Qiblah, that is a sure test that he
is a Muslim--for him is the covenant of Allah and
the covenant of His Messenger--and to call him a
kafir is violation of the covenant of Allah. The
Holy Qur'an lays down a still more practical and a
broader test : "And say not to any one who offers
you (Islamic) salutation, Thou art not a believer"
(4 : 94). When a person says to another al-salamu
`alaikum to show thereby that he is a Muslim, he
cannot be called a disbeliever or kafir. The author
of the Mawaqif says:
"The generality of the
theologians and the jurists are agreed that none of
the Ahl Qiblah (persons facing the Qiblah in their
prayers) can be called a kafir (Mf. p.
600).
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16
Anas reported on the authority of the Prophet, peace and
blessings of Allah be on him, ... He said:
"There is none who bears
witness with sincerity of heart that there is no god but
Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah but
Allah has forbidden his going to fire."
(B. 3 : 49.)
17
`Uthman said:
The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be on
him, said:
"Whoever dies while he knows
that there is no god but Allah enters
paradise."16
(M-Msh. 1.)
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16
This hadith and the one previous to it show that
when a person professes that God is one and that
Muhammad is His Messenger with a sincere heart,
i.e., trying to the best of his knowledge to follow
the Divine commandments and walk in the footsteps
of the Holy Prophet, he is saved from the fire and
shall enter paradise.
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18
"Religion is faithfulness to Allah and His Messenger and to
the leaders of Muslims and Muslims in
general."17
(B. 2 : 42.)
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17
Faithfulness to Allah consists in submitting to
Divine commandments; faithfulness to His Messenger
means following in his footsteps; faithfulness to
Muslim leaders consists in obeying their orders so
long as they do not go against Allah and His
Messenger; and faithfulness to Muslims in general
consists in doing one's utmost for their good. This
is the quintessence of the religion of
Islam.
This saying of the Holy
Prophet is quoted by Bukhari in the heading of his
chapter.
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Top
Hadith
Section
> A
Manual of Hadith
> Chapter 02: Iman and Islam (Hadith -- The Traditions)
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