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      ___/   oo    ___|     |___|     ___|              ___/          o

      In   the   name  of   ALLAH,   the    Beneficent,   the    Merciful



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             I N F O R M A T I O N    &   N E W S    N E T W O R K

                        MUSLIMS @ ASUACAD.BITnet
______________________________________________________________________________
                             IINN ARCHIVE

 File Name: emaan                            Lasted Updated: August 01, 1994
 Archive Location: ftp.caltech.edu, login:anonymous, dir: /pub/calmsa
______________________________________________________________________________



Today my talk is about Emaan or Faith. To me it is a complex topic.
For it takes a lifetime to understand and follow Faith. However,
I am going to quote some Quranic verses and some Ahadith in this
respect. This is not the complete picture of the topic, however,
it does give us some idea as to what it is.

Allah has put all what we should do to save ourselves in the following
chapter `Time'.








	By [the token of] time [through the ages]. Verily man
	is in loss. Except such as have faith, and do righteous
	deeds and [join together] in the mutual teaching of truth,
	and of patience and constancy.
					[103:1-3]

He does not require something fancy or something out of this world
from us. He has already put what is good and what is evil in our
hearts. All we have to do is to know ourselves; as to what is in
us and as to where we stand in comparison with Allah.









	By the soul, and the proportions and order given to it.
	And its enlightenment as to its wrong and its right.
	Truly he succeeds that purifies it.  And he fails
	that corrupts it.
					[91:7-10]

Allah is certainly not bias towards a group of people. The
availability of the things in life is directly proportional to
its abundance on earth. For instance, sunshine, air, water, land
and many other gifts of God which are very necessary are very
much available, for no or little cost.  A persons destiny
is the most important thing in life. He does not restrict it
to Muslims only. It is in everybody's heart. It is available
to everybody. Everybody and anybody can go to heaven, provided
that he or she knows him or herself, and then acts upon what is
right and abstains from what is wrong.


















	Those who believe [in the Quran], and those who follow
	the Jewish [scriptures], and the Christians and the
	Sabians, any who believe in Allah and the Last Day,
	and work righteousness, shall have their reward with
	their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they
	grieve.
					[2:62]

This is what Allah asks us for:











	And they have been commanded no more than this: to
	worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being
	true (in faith); to establish regular prayer; and
	to practice regular charity; and that is the religion
	right and straight.
					[98:5]

The following Hadith is interesting as it describes three different
states of faith.

	Narrated Abu Huraira: "One day while the Prophet, peace
	be upon him, was sitting in the company of some people,
	[The angel] Gabriel came [in human form] and asked `What
	is faith?'.  Allah's Apostle, peace be upon him, replied,
	`Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, (the) meeting
	with Him, His Apostles, and to believe in Resurrection.'
	Then he further asked, `What is Islam?'. Allah's Apostle,
	peace be upon him, replied, `To worship Allah alone and
	none else, to offer prayers perfectly, to pay the
	compulsory charity (Zakat) and to observe fasts during
	the month of Ramadan.' Then he further asked, `What is
	Ihsan (perfection)?'. Allah's Apostle, peace be upon him,
	replied, `To worship Allah, as if you see Him, and if
	you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you must
	consider that He is looking at you.' Then he further asked,
	`When will the Hour [of Doomsday] be established?'. Allah's
	Apostle, peace be upon him, replied, `The answerer has
	no better knowledge than the questioner. ... '"

Notice here that the least required is the faith, then Islam is a
step up and Ihsan is the best. The following Hadith points the
five pillars of Islam.


	Narrated Ibn Umar: "Allah's Apostle, peace be upon
	him, said: Islam is based on [the following] five
	[principles]:
	1. To testify that none has the right to be worshipped
	   but Allah and Mohammed is Allah's Apostle.
	2. To offer the Salat (prayer).
	3. To pay Zakat (obligatory charity).
	4. To perform Hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah).
	5. To observe fast during the month of Ramadan.

However, these are the basis of Islam. Allah says that there is more
to it:





















	It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces towards
	East or West; But it is righteousness to believe in
	Allah and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book,
	and the Messengers; to spend of your substance out of
	love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy,
	for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the
	ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and
	practice regular charity, to fullfil the contracts which
	ye have made; and to be firm and patient, in pain
	and adversity.
						[2:177]

It is very important to perform a deed with the right intentions. It
is important to perform a deed, mere intention is not good enough,
but mere deed without the right intention is also not good enough.

	Narrated Umar: "Allah's Apostle, peace be upon him, said,
	`The rewards of deeds depend upon the intention and
	every person will get the reward according to what he
	has intended. ... '"

Following Ahadith explain the good things in Islam. One might expect
it to be some ritual. However, our Prophet, peace be upon him, explains
that it is our behavior to others influenced by the love of Allah.

	Narrated Abu Musa, "Some people asked Allah's Apostle,
	`Whose Islam is the best?' He replied, `One who
	avoids harming the Muslims with his tongue and hands.'"

	Narrated Abdullah bin Umar: "A man asked the Prophet,
	peace be upon him, `Whose Islam is good?'. The Prophet
	replied, `One who feeds others and greets those whom
	he knows and those whom he does not know.'"

	Narrated Anas: "The Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
	`None of you will have faith till he loves me more than
	his father, his children and all mankind.'"

	Narrated Anas: "The Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
	`None of you will have faith till he wishes for his
	brother what he likes for himself.'"

	Narrated Anas: "The Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
	`Whoever possesses the following three qualities will
	have the sweetness of faith:
	 1. The one to whom Allah and His Apostle becomes dearer
	    than anything else.
	 2. Who loves a person and he loves him only for Allah's
	    sake.
	 3. Who hates to revert to Atheism (disbelief) as he hates
	    to be thrown into the fire.'"

	Narrated Abu Huraira: "Allah's Apostle, peace be upon him,
	said, `A believer who accompanies the funeral procession
	of a Muslim out of sincere faith and hoping to attain
	Allah's reward and remains with it till the funeral
	prayer is over, he will return with a reward of two
	Qirats. Each Qirat is like the size of the [Mount of]
	Uhud. He who offers the funeral prayer only and returns
	before the burial, will return with the reward of one
	Qirat only.'"

It is very important to remember not to get carried away by performing
too much. Only as much is required as you can do it easily.

	Narrated Abu Huraira: "The Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
	`Religion is very easy and whoever overburdens himself
	in his religion will not be able to continue in that way.
	So you should not be extremists, but try to be near
	perfection and receive the good tidings that you will
	be rewarded; and gain strength by worshipping in the
	mornings, after-noons and during the last hours of the
	nights.'"

Here is a reward for those who join the people of faith.

	Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: "Allah's Apostle said,
	`If a person embraces Islam sincerely, then Allah
	shall forgive all his past sins, and after that
	starts the settlement of accounts: the reward of his
	good deeds will be ten times to seven hundred times
	for each good deed and an evil deed will be recorded
	as it is unless Allah forgives it.'"

Even a tiny little bit of faith is good enough to help one out of Hell.
Allah is just looking for excuses to have mercy on us.

	Narrated Anas: "The Prophet said, ` ... And whoever said,
	None has the right to be worshipped but Allah and has
	in his heart good [faith] equal to the weight of an atom
	will be taken out of Hell.'"








Here is a sign of faith.










	Yet there are men who take [for worship] others besides
	Allah, as equal [with Allah]: They love them as they
	should love Allah, but those of faith are overflowing
	in their love for Allah. If only the unrighteous could
	see, behold they would see the punishment: that to
	Allah belongs all power, and Allah will strongly
	enforce the punishment.
					[2:165]

Paying attention to Allah, praying to Him only for him, is a sign of
faith.

	Narrated Abu Huraira: "Allah's Apostle, peace be upon him,
	said, `Whoever establishes the prayers during the nights of
	Ramadan faithfully out of sincere faith and hoping to attain
	Allah's rewards, all his past sins will be forgiven.'"

Risking his life, his family and his wealth only for the sake of Allah,
the Almighty, is a sign of love for Allah and faith in Him.

	Narrated Abu Huraira: "The Prophet, peace be upon him, said,
	`The person who participates in [Holy battles] in Allah's
	cause and nothing compels him to do so except belief in Allah
	and His Apostles, will be recompensed by Allah ....'"

Faith is a very broad term. Anything good done for the sole sake of
happiness of Allah, could be counted as an action of having faith in
Him.

	Narrated Abu Huraira, "The Prophet, peace be upon him,
	said: `Faith consists of more than sixty branches
	and Haya is a part of faith.'" (The term Haya covers
	a large number of concepts which are to be taken
	together; amongst them are self respect, modesty,
	bashfulness, scruple etc.)

Now I am going to quote items which tell us what is not faith. So that
we identify those and keep away from them. One might again be surprised
at those actions. They pertain more to ones behavior to others, which
reflects lack of love and belief in Allah.

	Narrated Abdullah: "The Prophet, peace upon him, said,
	`Abusing a Muslim in Fusuq (an evil doing) and killing
	him is Kufr (disbelief).'"

	Narrated Abdullah bin Umar: "The Prophet, peace be upon him,
	said, `Whoever has the following four [characteristics] will
	be a pure hypocrite and whoever has one of the following four
	characteristics will have one characteristic of hypocrisy
	unless and until he gives up.
	1. Whenever he is entrusted, he betrays.
	2. Whenever he speaks, he tells a lie.
	3. Whenever he makes a covenant, he proves treacherous.
	4. Whenever he quarrels, he behaves in a very imprudent,
	   evil and insulting manner.

A hypocrite here, is a person who declares that he or she is a believer,
however, his or her actions do not support it.

But for those you have faith and do good deeds in life, is great news.














	Those who have faith and do righteous deeds they
	are the best of creatures. Their reward is with
	Allah: Gardens of Eternity, beneath which rivers
	flow; they will dwell therein forever; Allah well
	pleased with them, and they with Him. All this for
	such as fear their Lord and Cherisher.
					[98:8]







	Such will be the gardens of which ye are made heirs for
	your [good] deeds [in life].
					[43:72]

Let me end my talk with the following verses of Quran. They mention the
belief of men of faith, and their attitude towards the commandments
of Allah. Following which is a prayer taught to them by Allah.






























	The Messenger believeth in what hath been revealed to
	him from his Lord, as do the men of faith; each one
	[of them] believeth in Allah, His angels, His books,
	and His messengers; `We make no distinction [they say]
	between one and another of His messengers.' and they
	say: `We hear, and we obey; [we seek] Thy forgiveness,
	our Lord, and to Thee is the end of all journeys.'.

	On no soul doth Allah place a burden greater than it can
	bear; it gets every good that it earns; and it suffers
	every ill that it earns; [Pray:] `Our Lord! condemn us
	not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! lay
	not on us a burden like that which Thou didst lay on
	those before us; our Lord! lay not on us a burden
	greater than we have strength to bear; blot out our
	sins, and grant us forgiveness; have mercy on us; Thou
	art our Protector; help us against those who stand
	against faith.'
					[2:285-286]

Amen.

[All translations of Qur`an are by Abdallah Yusuf Ali and
 all Ahadith are from Bukhari. Sometimes more than one Hadith
 is condensed into one, if by the same primary narrator and
 concerns the same subject, to save time and space.]