Lesson 16: Īmān is Both Statements and Actions Flashcards
Evidence of Iman being both statements and actions in the Quran
- > وَمَآ أَمْوَٰلُكُمْ وَلَآ أَوْلَـٰدُكُم بِٱلَّتِى تُقَرِّبُكُمْ عِندَنَا زُلْفَىٰٓ إِلَّا مَنْ ءَامَنَ وَعَمِلَ صَـٰلِحًۭا فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ لَهُمْ جَزَآءُ ٱلضِّعْفِ بِمَا عَمِلُوا۟ وَهُمْ فِى ٱلْغُرُفَـٰتِ ءَامِنُونَAnd it is not your wealth, nor your children that bring you nearer to Us (i.e. please Allâh), but only he who believes (in the Islâmic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds (will please Us); as for such, there will be twofold reward for what they did, and they will reside in the high dwellings (Paradise) in peace and security.-Saba ayah 37
- If you noticed Allah mentions Iman and good deeds, and when he mentions it again, he only mentions the actions they did. And this is because the words, بِمَا عَمِلُوا۟ encompasses Iman with the heart, and the righteous actions done by the limbs. Iman and good deeds that have been mentioned here can be summarized/categorized as actions. So those who have Iman and good deeds will go to Jannah because of their actions (actions cover Iman and good deeds, and both are a part of Iman)
- This ayah was revealed about the changing of the Qibla
- The scholars of Tafsir, when it came to the word, “إِيمَـٰنَكُمْ ۚ” said it was “صَلَاتَكُمْ” Allah will not cause your prayers to be lost.
- All the things Allah describes here are actions.
- He never mentioned what they believed in their hearts, as such there must be a connection, as what you beleve in your heart is expressed by your actions.
- نَّمَا ٱلْمُؤْمِنُونَ ٱلَّذِينَ إِذَا ذُكِرَ ٱللَّهُ وَجِلَتْ قُلُوبُهُمْ وَإِذَا تُلِيَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ ءَايَـٰتُهُۥ زَادَتْهُمْ إِيمَـٰنًۭا وَعَلَىٰ رَبِّهِمْ يَتَوَكَّلُونَ
- We have 5 actions here, and this leads to them being:
Evidence of Iman being both statements and actions in the Sunnah
‘Abdullah Ibn ‘Abbas Ibn AbdulMuttalib (68 AH:
> حَدَّثَنَا عَمْرُو بْنُ عَلِيٍّ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو عَاصِمٍ، حَدَّثَنَا قُرَّةُ بْنُ خَالِدٍ، حَدَّثَنَا أَبُو جَمْرَةَ الضُّبَعِيُّ، قُلْتُ لاِبْنِ عَبَّاسٍ فَقَالَ قَدِمَ وَفْدُ عَبْدِ الْقَيْسِ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالُوا إِنَّ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ مِنْ مُضَرَ، وَإِنَّا لاَ نَصِلُ إِلَيْكَ إِلاَّ فِي أَشْهُرٍ حُرُمٍ، فَمُرْنَا بِجُمَلٍ مِنَ الأَمْرِ، إِنْ عَمِلْنَا بِهِ دَخَلْنَا الْجَنَّةَ، وَنَدْعُو إِلَيْهَا مَنْ وَرَاءَنَا. قَالَ “ آمُرُكُمْ بِأَرْبَعٍ وَأَنْهَاكُمْ عَنْ أَرْبَعٍ، آمُرُكُمْ بِالإِيمَانِ بِاللَّهِ، وَهَلْ تَدْرُونَ مَا الإِيمَانُ بِاللَّهِ شَهَادَةُ أَنْ لاَ إِلَهَ إِلاَّ اللَّهُ، وَإِقَامُ الصَّلاَةِ، وَإِيتَاءُ الزَّكَاةِ، وَتُعْطُوا مِنَ الْمَغْنَمِ الْخُمُسَ، وَأَنْهَاكُمْ عَنْ أَرْبَعٍ لاَ تَشْرَبُوا فِي الدُّبَّاءِ، وَالنَّقِيرِ، وَالظُّرُوفِ الْمُزَفَّتَةِ، وَالْحَنْتَمَةِThe delegates of `Abdul Qais came to Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) and said, “The pagans of the tribe of Mudar intervene between you and us therefore we cannot come to you except in the Holy months. So please order us to do something good (Religious deeds) by which we may enter Paradise (by acting on them) and we may inform our people whom we have left behind to observe it.” The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “I order you to do four things and forbid you from four things: I order you to believe in Allah. Do you know what is meant by belief in Allah? It is to testify that none has the right to be worshipped except Allah, to offer prayers perfectly, to give Zakat, and to give Al-Khumus (one-fifth of the war booty) (in Allah’s Cause). And I forbid you four things, (i.e., Do not drink alcoholic drinks) Ad-Dubba, An- Naqir, (pitched water skins), Az-Zuruf, Al-Muzaffat and Al–Hantam (names of utensils used for the preparation of alcoholic drinks).” (See Hadith No. 50, Vol. 1)
*Hadith has several different wordings I couldn’t find the exact one the Ustadh used
- Testifying none has the right to be worshipped but Allah is an statement based action
- Praying is an action
- Giving Zakah is an action
- giving a fifth of the war booty is an action
All of these were described as Iman
> حَدَّثَنِي مُحَمَّدُ بْنُ الْمُثَنَّى، حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ أَبِي عَدِيٍّ، عَنْ شُعْبَةَ، عَنْ سُلَيْمَانَ، عَنْ ذَكْوَانَ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ، أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ “ لاَ يَزْنِي الزَّانِي حِينَ يَزْنِي وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ وَلاَ يَسْرِقُ حِينَ يَسْرِقُ وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ وَلاَ يَشْرَبُ الْخَمْرَ حِينَ يَشْرَبُهَا وَهُوَ مُؤْمِنٌ وَالتَّوْبَةُ مَعْرُوضَةٌ بَعْدُ ” .It is narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira that the messenger ﷺ said
: A fornicator who fornicates is not a believer as long as he commits fornication, and no one who steals is a believer as long as he commits theft, and no one who drinks wine is a believer as long as he drinks it, and repentance may be accepted after that.Sahih Muslim 57f
- Shows actions are a part of Iman
- If you do a haram action, it effects Iman which shows how actions are a part of Iman
A summary of what Abu ‘Amr ‘Abdurahman Ibn ‘Amr al Awza’ee (Al Awza’ee 157 AH) said about how the salaf saw Iman and action
- Al Awzaa’ee died 157 AH, the salaf didn’t distinguish between Iman and action.
- Whoever believes with their tongue- says la ilaha illa Allah
- believes and affirms it in their heart
- and their actions give truth to what they say with their tongue
Statement of Abu Abdillah Muhammed Ibn Idris ash Shafiee al Qurashi (Ash Shafiee 204 AH) on how the companions and those after them defined Iman
- > كَانَ الْإِجْمَاعُ مِنَ الصَّحَابَةِ وَالتَّابِعِينَ وَمَنْ بَعْدَهُمْ وَمَنْ أَدْرَكْنَاهُمْ يَقُولُونَ: الإِيمَانُ قَوْلٌ وَعَمَلٌ وَنِيَّةٌ وَلَا يُجْزِئُ وَاحِدٌ مِنَ الثَّلَاثَةِ إِلَّا بِالْآخَرِ“There was consensus among the Companions, the Followers, and those after them whom we met, saying: Iman is speech {what you say}, action {what you do}, and intention {what you hold in your heart}, and none of the three is sufficient without the others.
- What’s meant by intention is what you hold in your heart (actions and beliefs of the hearts)
Statement of Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammed Ibn Isma’eel al Bukhari (Al Bukhari 256 AH) on Iman
- > لَقِيتُ أَكْثَرَ مِنْ أَلْفِ رَجُلٍ مِنَ الْعُلَمَاءِ بِالْأَمْصَارِ، فَمَا رَأَيْتُ أَحَدًا مِنْهُمْ يَخْتَلِفُ فِي أَنَّ الْإِيمَانَ قَوْلٌ وَعَمَلٌ يَزِيدُ وَيَنْقُصُ.I met more than a thousand men from the scholars of all the different cities I have not seen anyone disagree that Iman is made up of statements and actions and it increases and decreases
A way of dividing Iman: into 2
- Statements
- Actions
‘Aqeedah is the statements of your heart. Its as though it was a manifesto, and you state it within your heart.
The actions of the heart {things your heart does}: (such as intentions, trusting in Allah, hoping and relying upon Allah, fearing Allah in private etc)
The statements of the tongue {expressing your belief by a statement} (Shahadatayn)
The actions of the tongue (such as dhikr)
The actions of the limbs (charity, Hajj)
- The difference between a statement of a tongue and an action of the tongue is the statement of the tongue is a statement of belief by which you express the beliefs within your hear primary by saying the Shahadatayn. You summarize all the beliefs in your heart and make it a single statement of belief (the Shahada)
- Actions of the tongue are all the things you do with the tongue (dhikr, etc)
This is what Imam Bukhari divided it into as we saw
- Statements (of the heart and tongue)
- actions (of the heart, tongue and limbs)
Whats the difference between a statement of a tongue and an action of the tongue?
the statement of the tongue is a statement of belief by which you express the beliefs within your hear primary by saying the Shahadatayn. You summarize all the beliefs in your heart and make it a single statement of belief (the Shahada)
- Actions of the tongue are all the things you do with the tongue (dhikr, etc)
A way of dividing Iman: into 3
you will either have to break it either by:
- the parts of the body (heart, tongue and limbs)
- by statements, actions, and intentions.
- And really that is dividing it by parts of the body
- intentions are the beliefs in your hearts
- Statements is the statement of Islam on the tongue
- And actions are the things you do with your limbs
- Statement-Tongue
- Action-limbs
- Intention-heart
A way of dividing Iman: into 4
From the division into 5: we will combine actions of the tongue (some of the scholars said the tongue is simply another limb so it’d fall under it) and actions of the limbs
- Statements of Belief in the Heart [Aqeedah]
- Actions of Heart
- Statements of the tongue
- Actions of Limbs (statement of tongue and limbs together such as reading Quran, dhikr etc)
A way of dividing Iman: into 5
- ‘Aqeedah is: the statements of your heart. Its as though it was a manifesto, and you state it within your heart.
- The actions of the heart (such as intentions, trusting in Allah, hoping and relying upon Allah, fearing Allah in private etc)
- The statements of the tongue (Shahadatayn)
- The actions of the tongue (such as dhikr)
- The actions of the limbs
What do all scholars who divided Iman intend and what are the issues they agreed upon when mentioning their divisions
All of the scholars intended the same things, as such they included the same things, only difference was how they divided it.
Iman is:
- the beliefs you hold in the heart
- Acting upon those beliefs through the actions of the heart
- Professing that belief through the tongue
- Actions of the tongue and limb
When we talk about Iman as a synonym of ‘Aqeedah, it only means 1 thing. What is it?
When Iman is used as ‘Aqeedah, they are referring specifically to the statement of the beliefs of the heart (قول القلب). The beliefs you profess and hold within your heart.
So, in that sense Iman is a synonym of ‘Aqeedah, but also differs.
- Its broader than ‘Aqeedah
- Its statements, actions, and intentions, or to break down more, (beliefs, actions of the hearts, statements of the heart, profession of belief from the tongue, actions of the tongue and actions of the limbs)
- The mawdu’ of ‘Aqeedah (subject matter) only deals/focuses with one part of Iman which is the statement of the beliefs of the heart (قول القلب). What your heart believes and affirms about Allah and his messenger ﷺ. The others come secondary, attached with it.
