Exerting Efforts towards Accomplishing Sincere Righteous Actions (4/5)

3. Actions of the Limbs

As  for  the  actions  of  the  heart  like  prayer,  fasting,  hajj, sadaqah, jihaad and other acts of obedience, they are also reasons for the increase of Iman.

To exert efforts therefore, towards enacting acts of obedience, which Allah has made incumbent upon His slaves and performing acts that achieve nearness (to Allah), which Allah has recommended His servants to undertake and to accomplish these acts in a proficient and complete manner, is one of the most tremendous causes behind the strengthening and increase of Iman.

Allah says: “Successful indeed are  the  believers: those who offer their prayers with all solemnity and full submissiveness; who turn away from al-Laghw; who pay the zakah; who guard their chastity, except from their wives or those that their right hands possess, for them, they are free from blame. However, whoever seeks beyond that, then they are the transgressors; those who are faithfully true to their amanaat and covenants and those who strictly guard their prayers. These are indeed the inheritors, who shall inherit Firdaws.  They shall abide therein forever."[1]

These precious qualities, each one of them profits and develops Iman. They are also characteristics of Iman and fall under its explanation.

So, the attendance of the heart in prayer and the event of the praying person striving with his self to call to mind and heart what he is saying and doing, such as recitation, remembrance, supplication, standing, sitting, bowing and prostration, are reasons for the increase and development of Iman.

Allah named prayer 'Iman' when He said: “...and Allah would never cause your Iman[2] to be lost...” [3]

Furthermore, concerning the statement of Allah: “...and establish the prayer. Verily, the prayer prevents from all obscenities and evil deeds. And the remembrance of Allah is greater...”[4]

Prayer is the greatest obstructer of every obscene and evil deed that negates Iman. In addition, prayer also embodies the remembrance of Allah, which nourishes and develops Iman because of His saying: “...And the remembrance of Allah is greater...”

Likewise, zakah also nurtures and increases Iman, (both) the obligatory type of zakah and its recommended type, as the Prophet has said, “… and sadaqah is proof.” i.e., a proof for the Iman of its giver. Hence, it is evidence of Iman and it nourishes and develops it.

Further, to avert from al-Laghw, which is any speech or action that is void of good. Instead they (i.e., the believers) speak and do well, and abandon evil in both speech and action. This is without doubt, from Iman and Iman increases and profits from it.

This is why whenever the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, and those after them sensed heedlessness or their Iman was in disarray, they would say to each other, ‘Sit with us so that we may have Iman for an hour’. So they would remember Allah and remember his religious and worldly favors causing their Iman to renew itself.

Again, abstaining from forbidden and indecent acts, especially, the obscenity of fornication, this is definitely a great sign for Iman. The believer, because of the fear he has concerning his standing in front of his Lord, he:

“...restrained himself from impure evil desires and lusts.”[5]

… in response to the necessity of Iman and to nourish what he already possesses of Iman.

In addition, observing trusts and contracts and preserving them is from the signs of Iman and related in a hadeeth: “… and there is no Iman for the one who is not trustworthy.”[6]

If you would like to know of the Iman and religion of a slave, then inspect his condition: does he fulfill all of his trusts and contracts, the verbal and financial or trusts concerning rights? Does he observe the rights, covenants and oaths, the ones between himself and Allah or those between himself and his fellow servants? If the answer is in the positive then he is a person of religion and Iman. If however that is not the case, his religion and Iman will be deficient in accordance to the level of his infringement of these obligations.

Allah ended these aayaat with the issue of safeguarding the prayers with respect to their limits, rights and times. This is because preservation of this, is of similar standing to the water that flows around the garden of Iman. So it irrigates it, nurtures it and produces its crop upon every occasion.

The tree of Iman is in need of constant irrigation at all times; this irrigation is the maintenance of acts of obedience and worship of the day and night. It also demands the obliteration of anything that harms it, such as alien and harmful rocks and growths; this is in reference to the abstention from unlawful matters in both speech and action. Whenever these undertakings are accomplished, this garden will witness its geese and it will produce its assorted crop.

In light of this clarification, the strong effect of righteous actions on the increase of Iman has become clear to us. It is also clear that the performance and increase of these acts are a tremendous cause for the increase of Iman.

Shaykh al-Islam says:  “The perfection of Iman is in enacting the commands of Allah and His Messenger and refraining from the prohibitions of Allah and His Messenger. Consequently, if one does not perform certain commandments and replaces them by embarking on certain prohibitions; this will result in a proportional decrease of Iman.”

Thus, prayer is Iman, hajj is Iman, sadaqah is Iman, jihaad is Iman and all the actions that Allah has ordered His slaves with are Iman. If the servant does these acts his Iman will increase and the performance of these actions will be a cause for the increase of his Iman, on the condition of sincerity and adherence.

Shaykh Muhammad al-'Uthaymeen, may Allah preserve him, states: “The increase of Iman has causes, some of these are: performing acts of obedience because Iman increases in proportion to the fineness, type and abundance of the action. Thus the finer the action the greater will be the increase of Iman; the fine aspect of the action is determined by the degree of sincerity and adherence. As for the type of action, the obligatory type  is  better than the recommended and  some forms  of  worship  are  more  emphasized  and  virtuous  than others; the more virtuous the act of obedience is the greater will be the resultant increase in Iman. As for the abundance of the action, then Iman increases as a result of it because action is from Iman, so it is not surprising that Iman increases because of an increase of the action.”[7]

(Continued)