Iman and Character Allah says in the Quran: And I created not jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (alone). [al-Dhariyat, 56] Say, Verily, my prayer, my sacrifice, my living, and my dying are for Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. [al-Anaam, 162] O believers! Enter perfectly and completely into Islam. [al-Baqara, 208] When one thinks about these three verses, he will easily conclude that all of this life is ruled by our religion of Islam. To put it differently, there is a relationship between our belief in La Illaha Illa-llah and every action that we make in this world. If we have the correct and true concept of There is no God by Allah, this belief will have a complete effect on us. It will change us into that person that reflects the belief in this shahadah. In fact, that is the goal that we must aspire to. Unfortunately, many times we forget that vital fact. Muhammad Qutb once wrote that during a doctoral thesis defense in the Department of Aqeedah (Islamic Beliefs), a student was stressing the relationship between character and behavior (akhlaq) and aqeedah, faith and iman. One of the committee members, who, according to Muhammad Qutb, was very famous and supposed to be very knowledgeable, said, What is the relationship between character and aqeedah (beliefs)? Aqeedah as we learned it in our studies deals with the concept of God, prophethood, and what has been transmitted. As for character and behavior, it is an independent subject. If you think about what this college professor said you will understand why so many Muslims are having manners and behavior that are completely inconsistent with their belief in Islam. One reason for this, Allah knows best, is that they completely do not understand the relationship between their behavior and their claim to belief in La illaha illa-Allah. They simply think that this shahadah is something that they say with their tongues; it involves fasting and praying and that is about it. But if we look to some of the hadeeth of the Prophet, sallalahu allayhe wa salam, we can see the true relationship between character and iman. We can see the importance of proper behavior in Islam. (To be continued In Sha Allah)
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 05:57:59 +0000
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