Symptoms of Weak Faith

We have discussed how widespread is the phenomenon of weak faith among the Muslims, and how it is behind every disaster and calamity befalling the Ummah. We have also discussed some of the symptoms of weak faith. Here are some more:

Careless Worship

A weak faith is evident in one’s laziness and carelessness in performing acts of worship. If he does them at all, they are just empty movements, devoid of any real feeling.

Allah has described the hypocrites thus (interpretation of the meaning): “… and when they stand up for prayer, they stand up with laziness…” (Surah an-Nisa’: 142)

This also includes neglecting to make the most of special occasions and times for worship. This indicates that a person has no interest in earning reward, so he may delay going for Haj although he is able to do so, or fail to go for Jihad when he has the strength to do so, or fail to attend prayers in congregation, or even Solat al-Jumu’ah.

The Messenger of Allah said: “People will keep holding back from being in the first row (of congregational prayers), until Allah throws them into the Fire.” (Reported by Abu Daud)

This kind of person does not feel any remorse or guilt if he sleeps and misses one of the obligatory prayers, or a Sunnah prayer that is strongly encouraged, or a wirid (regular du’a’ and Zikir). He deliberately omits doing anything that is Sunnah or Fard Kifayah (a duty which, if carried out by some of the people, is no longer obligatory on all, but if no-one does it, all are held accountable). So he may not attend Eid prayers (although some scholars say that they are obligatory), or offer the prayers to be said at the time of lunar and solar eclipses, or attend funerals.

He does not care about reward at all, which is the opposite of the ideal described by Allah in the Quran, “… they used to hasten on to do good deeds, and they used to call on Us with hope and fear, and used to humble themselves before Us.” (Surah al-Anbiya’:90)

Another example of laziness in performing acts of worship is the neglect of Sunnah actions which the Prophet performed regularly, and praying at night (qiyam al-layl), setting out early to go to the Masjid, and other nafil (supererogatory) prayers, such as Duha, never even occur to him, let alone the two rak’ahs of Taubat (repentance) and Istikharah.

Tightness in Chest

Also mood swings and depression, which weigh a man down and make him quick to complain about the slightest thing. He easily gets upset with the people around him, and no longer has any tolerance.

The Prophet described faith when he said, “Iman is patience and tolerance,” and he described the believer as being “one who makes friends and with whom others feel comfortable. There is no goodness in one who does not make friends and with whom others do not feel comfortable.”

Unfocused

Yet another sign of weak faith is failing to focus on Allah when remembering Him (Zikir) or making du’a, so Zikir becomes difficult for him, and when he raises his hands to make du’a, he quickly lowers them again.

Allah has described the hypocrites (interpretation of the meaning): “… and they do not remember Allah but little.” (Surah an-Nisa’:142)

Absence of Anger

Not feeling angry when the limits set by Allah are violated, because the flame of zeal has been extinguished in his heart, so he no longer takes action to stop evil, or enjoins evildoers to do good, or denounces wrongdoing. He never gets angry for the sake of Allah.

The Messenger of Allah described this heart ravaged by weakness in the sahih hadith: “The heart will be subjected to trial after trial, and there will appear a black stain on any heart that is affected, which will spread until the heart is completely black and sealed, as it were, so that it will not recognise any good deed or denounce any evil, except whatever suits its own desires.” (Reported by Muslim)

Love of good and hatred of evil have disappeared from a heart like this; all things are equal to such a person, and he has no motive to enjoin good or forbid evil. He may hear of some evil that is being done on earth, and may accept it; in this case he carries the same burden of sin as one who witnesses evil and approves of it, as the Prophet said in the sahih hadith: “If sin is committed on earth, the one who witnesses it and hates it (one time he said, ‘denounces it’) will be like one who knew nothing of it. Whoever does not witness it but approves of it will be like one who witnesses it.” (Reported by Abu Daud)