IMAN: To Affirm Your Faith To Allah

Assalamu'alaikum my brothers and sisters,

Today I'm going to talk about one of the six pillars of Iman or faith ehich is faith to Allah.

Perhaps some of you might think why do I bring this up.

"Come on! Its basic stuff why bother I already know 'bout it!"

So they say,

I'm talking about this because I want for people who wishes to know Islam get what they want, which is to know, and for Muslims who lack understanding of the matter which could be said a majority of us, to understand better.

Now, Allah.

Who is He?

Where is He?

How do we know He exist?

There are answers for all these questions in the al-Quran and as-Sunnah.

First off, Allah is the one true God for the whole universe, He creates the universe and the earth and even us humans and He controls all that He controls which is everything.

Say, "He is Allah , [who is] One, Allah , the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent." (Al-Ikhlas 112:1-4)

This is a surah from the al-Quran, short, but it tells clearly about Allah.

Allah is one there is no other besides him. Allah is the refuge for His creations, the one whom human ask help from. Allah is not born nor  give birth, he exist now, before, in the future and forever without beginning and without end. And there is nothing that equals as Allah, nothing could even compare or even come close to Allah as Allah is God and He has limitless possibilities and he has no weakness as us humans have.

now to affirm your faith to Allah, you must admit with your heart and mind that Allah is as stated above is perfect, His words is the al-Quran and it too is perfect and obligatory for Muslims to follow. His rules and His wisdom is told within al-Quran and it is obligatory for us to acknowledge and perform to His rules and admit Allah's wisdom that far surpass time and space. 

Allah also has 99 magnificent names which by its meaning told of Allah limitless capabilities. 

Since I'm too lazy to write all of the names, I'm going to put a link to a site that shows all of Allah's name: http://www.ezsoftech.com/islamic/iqlas5.asp

As a Muslim one should never ever rely on other than Allah, for example;

1. You are in trouble of money and you would resort to illegal means in order to get the money. This is wrong in Islam, as a Muslim you should pray to Allah for help and never give up and while you're at it you must work hard through legal means with hope that Allah will give richness to you.
2. You are ill and you are taking medications and hope completely on the medication to cure you. In a way this is wrong, it is permissible and obligatory to search for medicines and cure when one is ill, but to rely and hope that the medicine would cure you is not permissible, as in with Allah's permission only that you will be able to cure from the illness.
3. Love, that blinds one judgment, that makes two person to do illegal means to prove their love such as sex before marriage (adultery/zina). In Islam one must completely have faith in Allah as Allah is the only helper of mankind, Allah promise with His words in al-Quran that He would help those who get married as long as they act kindly toward each other and maintain the faith in them.

These are the example of things that contradict to having faith in Allah and it is called Syirik or in english associations, 

Allah pardons all sins except Syirik as mention in the al-Quran:

Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin. (An-Nisa' 4:48)

Another matter that need to be discussed is the characteristic of Allah. There are some verses and Hadith that told the whereabouts of Allah, and it is clear as crystal and shouldn't be questioned further.


Indeed, your Lord is Allah , who created the heavens and earth in six days and then established Himself above the Throne. He covers the night with the day, [another night] chasing it rapidly; and [He created] the sun, the moon, and the stars, subjected by His command. Unquestionably, His is the creation and the command; blessed is Allah , Lord of the worlds. (Al-A'raf 7:54)


and in a Hadith it is said, 

Mu'awiya b. al-Hakam said: While I was praying with the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him), a man in the company sneezed. I said: Allah have mercy on you! The people stared at me with disapproving looks, so I said: Woe be upon me, why is it that you stare at me? They began to strike their hands on their thighs, and when I saw them urging me to observe silence (I became angry) but I said nothing. When the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) had said the prayer (and I declare that neither before him nor after him have I seen a leader who gave better instruction than he for whom I would give my father and mother as ransom). I swear that he did not scold, beat or revile me but said: Talking to persons is not fitting during the prayer, for it consists of glorifying Allah, declaring his Greatness. and recitation of the Qur'an or words to that effect. I said: Messenger of Allah. I was till recently a pagan, but Allah has brought Islam to us; among us there are men who have recourse to Kahins. He said, Do not have recourse to them. I said. There are men who take omens. That is something which they find in their breasts, but let it not turn their way (from freedom of action). I said: Among us there are men who draw lines. He said: There was a prophet who drew lines, so if they do it as they did, that is allowable. I had a maid-servant who tended goats by the side of Uhud and Jawwaniya. One day I happened to pass that way and found that a wolf had carried a goat from her flock. I am after all a man from the posterity of Adam. I felt sorry as they (human beings) feel sorry. So I slapped her. I came to the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) and felt (this act of mine) as something grievous I said: Messenger of Allah, should I not grant her freedom? He (the Holy Prophet) said: Bring her to me. So I brought her to him. He said to her: Where is Allah? She said: He is in the heaven. He said: Who am I? She said: Thou art the Messenger of Allah. He said: Grant her freedom, she is a believing woman. 

(Muslim)

Mind you, these two proof said that Allah is at the sky on a throne.

now the problem is some group of people said that Allah is everywhere and Allah has no place clearly contradicts this proof and when asked of their proof, they show nothing. These proof is indeed a Mutasyabih (abstract) yet why do you think so much that you said something about Allah whereas neither Allah nor His prophets said about it?

This is dangerous, as long as you don't have proof don't go around saying something you are uncertain about it. If bad comes to bad, you have slander (fitnah) Allah and that is a mighty huge sin. 

The sahabat, the companions when they come across some revelations which are abstract, they utter:

"We are faithful to this verse and we remain silent about it."

Kinda like 'don't ask any questions' and for a good reason as mentioned above.

It is wise when you come across some abstract verse from the al-Quran don't interpret it using your mind, for the mind is limited to physical things and that could led you sin that you are not aware of.

Another thing could be said about the hands of Allah and any verse of the sort.

And do not trust except those who follow your religion." Say, "Indeed, the [true] guidance is the guidance of Allah . [Do you fear] lest someone be given [knowledge] like you were given or that they would [thereby] argue with you before your Lord?" Say, "Indeed, [all] bounty is in the hand of Allah - He grants it to whom He wills. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Wise." (Ali Imran 3:73)

In here it is said the hand of Allah, some scholar interpret it as the authority, or power of Allah. They could be right, they could be wrong, even they themselves don't have proof and can't be certain. It could be true that Allah has hands but not the same as what we know of a thing called 'hand'. Allahu'alam.

Misinterpret could cause you a lot more than you think. 

In fact some people even compare Allah and His creations (us) when Allah's hand is mentioned.

Why?

Allah is never the same as His creations, He lives and exist eternally with no beginning and no end, and therefore can never be the same as His creations.

Allah is not the same as His creations.

it is within my opinion it is best if we follow the example of the companions when they are presented with an abstract verse. They believed and remain silent about it for they have no knowledge about it not even the prophets have seen Allah till akhirat.

So it is best,

"I am faithful to this verse and I remain silent about it"

So as to avoid Allah's wrath for misleading misinterpretation.

With that said, the conclusion of this article is:

1. To affirm your faith to Allah is the most important key to the acceptance of our prayers and deeds.
2. We should follow all that Allah has command us and stay far from things forbid to us in the al-Quran.
3. We should never conjecture about the Mutasyabih (abstract) verses in the al-Quran in fact we should believe in it and remain silent and never to discussed about it for it might lead to slander to Allah.
4. To Allah we come from and to Allah we shall return.

Insya'Allah

Hopefully this will be a lesson to both me and you

Syukran

Assalamu'alaikum