Topic
Foundations of Faith
50 entries
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Did Ibn Taymiyyah accept the spiritual states and stations of the heart?
Ibn Taymiyyah writes that the states of the heart, defined as stations and spiritual states, are from among the fundamentals and foundations of faith and religion, for example the love of Allah and His Prophet, trust in Allah, sincerity, gratitude, patience, fear and hope in Allah. The imams, he writes, have agreed that all of these actions are incumbent upon the entire creation.
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What is the spiritual heart (Qalb), and how is it different from the physical heart?
Besides the biological heart in the chest, qalb names the spiritual heart, a subtle element which finds unison with Allah and connects the believer to Him; it is the heart of the hadith which says that if it becomes virtuous, the whole body becomes good. According to the Qur'an it represents the relationship between the human being and the Lord.
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Where does taqwa (piety) actually reside?
In the heart. The Prophet pointed to his chest and said three times, “Piety is here.” It is not our bodies or our forms that concern Allah, but our hearts and our deeds.
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What are the conditions for a deed to be accepted by Allah?
A deed must be among the actions Allah declared as good deeds, must be performed according to the method outlined by the Shariah, and must be done purely for Allah, if it is to be accepted on the Day of Judgement. The third condition deals with the inner aspect of the deed, which has to be practised, and Tasawwuf is the practice of those disciplines.
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Why does intention (niyyah) matter so much in Islam?
The first hadith of Sahih Bukhari says that the reward of the deeds depends upon the intention. Every action has an external aspect and an internal aspect: the intention with which the deed is performed, for whom it is performed and why, the motive behind that deed.
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What is the Hadith of Jibril (Gabriel)?
It is the hadith in which the angel Jibril, in the form of a man, questioned the Prophet about Iman, Islam, and ihsan, then departed, and the Prophet said he had come to teach the people their religion.
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What is Ihsan in Islam?
Ihsan, excellence, is the third of the fundamentals of which the religion of Islam is composed, and the level of ihsan is Tasawwuf. It is the core of Tasawwuf, the perfection of yaqeen and excellence in deeds, and without faith and action one cannot reach it. Shaykh ul Hadith Zakriya named it the epitome of Tasawwuf.
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What is the difference between Islam and Sufism?
Tasawwuf is a branch of knowledge within Islam, just as Fiqh, the knowledge of Hadith and Tafsir are, with its roots within the bounds of the Qur'an and Hadith. The basic foundation of Islam is held in its beliefs, alongside a system of morality and the worship that constitutes the basics of all other systems; the human's direct relationship with his Creator, the breath and life of religion, is cultivated through Tasawwuf. Of the three fundamentals named in the hadith of Jibril, Islam is the Shariah and its ancillary disciplines, and the level of ihsan is Tasawwuf.
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What are Islam, Iman, and Ihsan, and where does Sufism fit?
The religion of Islam is composed of three fundamentals: Islam, external compliance with what Allah asks of us; Iman, the belief in the unseen that the Prophets have informed us of; and ihsan, to worship Allah as though one sees Him. The level of Iman is the Aqida, Islam is the Shariah and its ancillary disciplines, and the level of ihsan is Tasawwuf. All three are named in the Prophet's answers when Jibril questioned him.
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Do good deeds count if a person has no faith?
In the hereafter, no, faith is the foundation that gives deeds their worth. But once a person accepts Islam, even the good he did beforehand is credited to him.