The correct belief and protection of it

MURATS44

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The correct belief and protection of it
Question: Upon which thing is it conditional to achieve salvation in the Hereafter?
ANSWER
Some people suppose that every person having belief in the existence of Allah will go to Paradise, but this is a complete fallacy. The îmân [belief, faith] of a person who does not believe in one of the six tenets of belief in the Âmantu is not valid. For this reason, what matters is not to have belief but to have a correct belief. To achieve salvation in the Hereafter is conditional upon having a correct belief, not upon the amplitude of acts of worship. Those with the tiniest correct belief in their heart will enter Paradise in the end, even if they have a few or no acts of worship performed with ikhlâs. It is stated in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(He who has a mote of îmân in his heart will not remain in Hell.) [Bukhârî, Muslim]Getting on a vehicle, all people are traveling on a way destined for the Hereafter. While traveling, what is important is not to get on a vehicle but to get on a right vehicle. People who get on a wrong one will head for the place where it is en route, not where they want. For example, those who board a plane to Paris with the intention of going to the Kâ’ba cannot arrive at the Kâ’ba no matter how pure intentions they may have.

Allahu ta’âlâ has promised that He will grant the right path, that is, real Islam, to those who have been prompted by simple curiosity over it and who are in search of the truth [Sûrat-ul-‘Ankabût 69, Sûrat-ush-Shûra 13]. Allah never breaks His promise. [Sûrat-u Âl-i ‘Imrân 9].

This means to say that people following the aberrant ways do not ask for the truth, let alone have little curiosity. Allahu ta’âlâ has guaranteed the sustenance for His creatures. However, He is not the Guarantor of the îmân [belief]. Before rectifying one’s credal state according to the Islam’s true credal tenets termed “Ahl as-Sunnat belief,” performing acts of worship will be of no avail. We can conceive of the true belief (the belief of Ahl as sunnat) as the number 1. Acts of worship performed with sincerity are like number 0 placed on the right of number 1. When placed one 0, it is 10. If placed two zeroes, then it is 100. The more zeroes we place on the right of it, the more valuable it will become. However, when we remove the number 1, the result is 0. By the same token, acts of worship performed with insincerity, that is, for ostentation, are worthless like zeroes placed on the left of 1. After people have corrected their i’tiqâd [belief] in accordance with the true credal tenets of Ahl as-Sunnat, to increase their acts of worship is up to their perseverance, sincerity, and knowledge. They can indulge themselves to their hearts’ content. But if they do not have correct belief, namely, Ahl as-Sunnat belief, their acts of worship are worthless like zeroes on the left.

According to the Mu’tazila and such rationalistic groups, worships are part of îmân. They assert that a person who does not perform the fards or who commits sins becomes a disbeliever. In other words, they establish such a link between îmân and acts of worship: îmân x acts of worship. In this multiplication, they say, if one of them is zero, then the result is zero. That is to say, îmân without acts of worship or acts of worship without îmân are not valid. However, according to the Ahl as-Sunnat belief, îmân without acts of worship is valid, but acts of worship without îmân are not valid. According to the Ahl as-Sunnat belief, it can be defined as: acts of worship x ikhlâs. Without doing the deed itself, if one thinks of sincerely, “If I had money, I would help that poor person,” one will earn thawâb due to one’s sincere intention, even if one does not do that deed. More ikhlâs in one’s heart will bring in more thawâb when it is multiplied by one’s acts of worship. For example, if our ikhlâs is symbolized by the number 1, and if we give a loaf of bread to 1,000 poor people each, the result is 1x1,000 = 1,000 (thawâb). Since the ikhlâs of the Ashâb-i kirâm [the blessed Companions of our Prophet] is so strong, for example, suppose it is one million, if one of them gives a loaf of bread to a poor person, he earns one million thawâb.

Therefore, it is declared in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(I swear that if one gave a piece of gold as big as Mount Uhud in the name of alms one would not earn the thawâb equal to the amount that one of my Ashâb would be given for alms worth a handful of barley.) [Bukhârî]

As the îmân of the Ashâb-i kirâm is so strong and their ikhlâs is so much, they gain such amounts of thawâb. Among the Ashâb-i kirâm, some of them have superiority over the others. For example, the thawâb of a handful of dates given in the name of alms by Hadrat Abû Bakr and the thawâb earned by any other Sahâbî with the same alms are poles apart.

Again, it is declared in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(I asked about the matters over which my Ashâb would fall into disagreement with each other. My Rabb informed me, “Your Ashâb are like the celestial stars in My Sight. Some of them are more luminous than the others. He who adapts himself to any one of them is on the right path.”) [Daylamî]
Question: In order to have a correct belief, what are the requisites?
ANSWER
Some of the requisites of the correct belief are as follows:
1. To remain steadfast in your îmân: Anyone who desires to become a disbeliever three years later will become a disbeliever as soon as one says this.

2. To take a middle path between khawf [fear] and rajâ’ [hope]: That is, one must have fear of Allahu ta’âlâ’s punishment as well as hope of His mercy.

3. To have îmân before the soul reaches to the throat: When submitting the soul, upon seeing the events pertaining to the life to come, the then îmân of a disbeliever is not valid. However, at that time, the tawba [repentance] of Muslims for their sins is acceptable.

4. To have îmân before the sun rises in the west: When the sun rises in the west, the door of repentance will be closed.

5. Only Allahu ta’âlâ knows the ghayb: If Allah informs His prophets or His dear slaves, then they also know it.

6. You must avoid using or saying things which Islam dictates as signs of kufr
[disbelief]: For example, a Muslim must not wear a cross or must not say, even as a joke, “I am a disbeliever.”

7. Not to have doubts about things that are to be believed:
For example, one must not have such doubts as, “Is it fard [obligatory] to perform namâz?” or “Is it harâm [prohibited] to drink wine?”

8. You must base your belief on Islam: Your belief must be as Hadrat Muhammad (‘alaihis-salâm) stated, not as historians and philosophers stated.

9. To love for the sake of Allah
[hubb-i fillah] and to dislike for the sake of Allah [bughd-i fillah]: One’s love and hatred must be only for the sake of Allah. It is a sign of kufr [disbelief] to feel hostility towards the friends of Allah and to love and make friends with the enemies of Allah, e.g. to love Socrates but to have hatred towards Hadrat Imâm-i Ghazâlî.

10. You must rectify your belief according to (Islam’s true credal tenets termed) Ahl as-Sunnat wa’l-jamâ’at.

Some credal tenets of Ahl as-Sunnat belief are as follows:
1. Allahu ta’âlâ is not with time or with place. He does not resemble anything.

2. It must be believed that Muslims will see Allahu ta’âlâ in Paradise.

3. Muhammad (‘alaihis-salâm) is the Last Prophet. No prophet will succeed him.

4. You must not call Ahl-i qibla [a Muslim who performs namâz] a disbeliever on account of his or her sins.

5. Acts of worship are not a part of îmân. That is, it is not permissible to call a Muslim who does not perform acts of worship and who commits sins a disbeliever. If Allahu ta’âlâ wills, He tortures for a merely venial sin. Again, if He wills, He forgives grave sins.

6. A person either has îmân or not. Both together are not possible. There is not littleness or muchness in îmân. [What is little or much is îmân’s brightness and strength.]

7. It is permissible to make masah over masts.

8. You must believe in the Mi’râj [Hadrat Muhammad’s ascent to the heavens] to be both a bodily and a spiritual ascent. A person who denies the part (of the Mi’râj) up to the Aqsâ Mosque in Jerusalem becomes a renegade. However, a person who denies the events which took place after the Aqsâ Mosque will be separated from Ahl as-Sunnat; that is, one becomes a bid’at [heresy] holder.

9. Like the mu’jiza [miracles] of the prophets, karâmat [wonders] of the awliyâ [dear slaves of Allahu ta’âlâ] are also true.

10. To love and respect all of the Ashâb-i kirâm and not to speak ill of any of them.

11. It is permissible to visit graves.

12. It is permissible to ask help from a prophet or a walî who is in the grave.

13. You must believe that it is permissible to send the thawâb of the Qur’ân al-karîm that has been read and the alms that has been given to a person to the souls of the dead, that it is presented to the dead, and that it causes their torments to decrease.

14. It is true that there is questioning in the grave.

15. Torments in the grave will be inflicted on both the body and the soul.

16. In the Hereafter, there will be a bridge called Sirat.

17. It must be believed that in the Hereafter, there will be shafâ’at [intercession], questioning and settlement of accounts on every action, and Mîzân for weighing deeds and conduct.

18. Both Paradise and Hell exist now.

19. Sinful Muslims will not dwell in Hell eternally, but disbelievers will stay there eternally.

20. Both Paradise and Hell will exist eternally.

21. To believe the harbingers and precedents of Doomsday: ad-Dajjal and the Dabbat-ul-ard will appear; Hadrat al-Mahdî will come; Hadrat ‘Îsâ will descend from the sky; the sun will rise in the west and so on. (Riyâd-un-nâsikhîn, Farâid, I’tiqâdnâma)

Doubt and Fear
Question:
Is there any difference between having such doubts as, “Do I have îmân now?” or “Will my îmân continue?” and being fearful of dying without îmân at one’s last breath?
ANSWER
Yes, there is a difference. It is not permissible, an act of kufr [disbelief], to have doubts as to whether one has îmân or one’s îmân will be permanent. Mu’mins [Believers] must not be dubious about their îmân, and they must resolve that they will have îmân until they die.

As for their last breath, they must be between hope and fear. It is not a doubt, a sign of îmân, to be fearful of dying without îmân at one’s last breath.

How to protect our îmân (faith)?
Question:
Since the most valuable blessing that has been granted is îmân, what should we do to protect it?
ANSWER
You have to comply with the following in order to protect it:
1. You have to believe in the ghayb. If we saw angels, Paradise, and Hell with our eyes, it would not be îmân to say “There are Paradise and Hell” because we would see them with our eyes then. Seeing Paradise and Hell at the time of death, all disbelievers will say, “We believe in them,” but their îmân will not be valid. When Mu’mins are praised in the Qur’ân al-karîm, it is said, “They believe in the ghayb” (Sûrat-ul-Baqara 3).

2. You have to believe that only Allahu ta’âlâ knows the ghayb. Prophets, angels, or genies cannot know the ghayb. However, if Allahu ta’âlâ wills, He lets them know. Therefore, it is not permissible to deny the mu’jizat and karâmat.

3. You have to believe, that is, accept, a harâm as harâm, and a halâl as halâl. A person who calls deliberately a prohibited act permissible or a permissible act prohibited becomes a renegade.

4. You mustbe very fearful of the wrath of Allahu ta’âlâ and must not feel secure from His torment. It is declared in the Holy Qur’ân that those who are fearful of the chastisement of their Lord are not safe from it. (Sûrat-ul-Ma‘ârij 27-28)

5. Whatever the number of your sins, you must not consider that your abode will certainly be Hell. Allahu ta’âlâ declares in a sacred hadith:
(If My slave commits so many sins as to reach skies, but if he does not despair of My mercy and begs Me for forgiveness, I forgive him.) [Tirmudhî]

A Qur'anic verse says (what means):
(O My slaves who have committed a great many sins! Do not despair of Allah’s Mercy! Allah forgives all sins of His slaves. He is the One with infinite forgiveness and mercy.) [Sûrat-uz-Zumar 53]
6. You must not feel safe from the torment of Allah, but at the same time, you must not despair of His Mercy! A hadîth-i sharîf declares:
(If a Mu’min takes a middle path between khawf [fear] and rajâ’ [hope], Allahu ta’âlâ gives him what he hopes for and makes him secure from from what he fears.) [Tirmudhî]

7. It is the essence of iman tolove someone for the sakeof Allah (hubb-i fillah) and to dislike someone for the sake of Allah (bughd-i fillah). It is said in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(The basis of îmân is to love Muslims and to have a dislike for the enemies of Allah.) [Imam-i Ahmad]

Allahu ta’âlâ said to Hadrat ‘Îsâ:
(Even if you do acts of worship that equal those done by all creatures on the earth and in heavens, it will be of no value unless you love My friends and unless you feel hostility towards My enemies.) [Kimya-i Sa’âdat]
In order for the îmân to be valid and for us to protect it, some of the necessary conditions are as follows:Allahu ta’âlâ is the Wâjib al-wujûd (the Necessary Existence), the Real Ma’bûd (the One Worshipped), and the Creator of all things. It must be believed for certain that Allahu ta’âlâ alone has created everything in both this world and the next without material, time or similarity, and out of nonexistence.

Allahu ta’âlâ is not with time or with place. (It is an act of kufr [disbelief] to say, like the people called Najdîs and Salafîs, Allah is up on the Arsh or in Heaven.)

In the next world, Allahu ta’âlâ will be seen in Paradise.

It is fard to put your tawakkul (trust) in Allahu ta’âlâ.

It is not permissible to perform qiyâs in those religious fields that have been communicated through consensus and that are indispensably believed. To do wrong ijtihâd or qiyâs in those religious fields is an act of kufr. However, a person who does wrong ijtihâd in those religious fields that have not been communicated through consensus and that are not indispensably believed does not become a disbeliever, but the relevant person becomes a bid’ah (heresy) holder.

Îmân does not increase or decrease. That is, it does not increase or decrease with respect to tenets of belief that are to be believed, but its brightness and strength increase or decrease with respect to yaqîn and confirmation. All Muslims are equal in îmân and tawhîd, but they differ from one another in their acts of worship.

You must not have a doubt as to your own îmân. You must not say, “Do I have îmân?” Instead, you should say, “Alhamdulillah, I am a Muslim.”

You must base your belief on Islam. Your belief must be in accordance with what our Prophet communicated.

You must have îmân before your soul reaches to your throat. The then îmân of a disbeliever is not valid.

You must have îmân before the sun rises in the west. When it rises in the west, the door of repentance will be closed.

Allahu ta’âlâ, if He wills, tortures for a merely venial sin, and if He wills, He forgives grave sins. If one commits any sin and has died without repentance but as a Muslim, Allahu ta’âlâ, if He wills, will torture that person in Hell, or if He wills, He forgives and does not punish at all.

Angels are not Allahu ta’âlâ’s partners, nor are they His daughters, as disbelievers suppose. They do not commit sins. They are neither male nor female.

You must not have doubts about a religious rule declared in the Qur’ân al-karîm or in our other religious books. For example, you must not have a doubt like, “I am not sure whether it is fard to cover oneself.”

No matter through which means (lawful or unlawful) one obtains, it is still one’s rizq (sustenance). Everyone eats his or her own rizq. No one can eat the rizq which is allotted to someone else.

One who says something which Islam dictates as a sign of disbelief becomes a disbeliever even though one does not accept its meaning. [That is, statements which are made to amaze others or to make others laugh still result in disbelief. For example, if one says, as a joke, “I am a prophet,” one becomes a disbeliever.]

If a drunk says something which is a sign of disbelief, you must not call that person a disbeliever.

The universe has been created out of nonexistence. [Philosophers do not accept this fact, and they become disbelievers because of saying, “This is the way it has been and this is the way it goes.”]

You must not call Ahl-i qibla, that is, people who perform namâz, disbelievers due to their sins. [However, if a tenet of belief of a person who is named Ahl-i qibla is the opposite of a definite source whose meaning is clear, then this belief is kufr. This one is a disbeliever, even though one performs namâz and carries out other acts of worship.]

You must not deny the knowledge of tasawwuf. (Awârif-ul-ma’ârif)

It is true to visit graves. It is permissible to ask help (tawassul) from prophets and the pious who are dead. (Irshâd-ut-tâlibîn, At-Tawassul-u bin Nabî wa bis-Sâlihîn)

After prophets, the highest and the best of all human beings that have come and that will come is Hadrat Abû Bakr. After him, the highest of all human beings are the other three caliphs in successive order.

All the Blessed Companions will go to Paradise. (Sûrat-ul-Hadîd 10)

It is stated in the Qur’ân al-karîm that Allahu ta’âlâ is pleased with the Blessed Companions. It would be a distrust of Qur’ân al-karîm to speak ill of any of them. (Tathîr-ul-janân)

Good and evil, advantage and harm coming upon human beings are all by Allahu ta’âlâ’s will.

Qadar means Allahu ta’âlâ’s knowing with His Eternal Knowledge and willing all deeds of human beings and other creatures that they will do. Qadâ means the [instance] creation of anything just compatibly with qadar. Both are termed qadâ and qadar.

Allahu ta’âlâ guides whomever He wills to the right way as a favor to that slave of His. Similarly, He guides whomever He wills to aberration in accordance with His Justice, for all deeds of human beings are created by Allahu ta’âlâ. Yet He has bestowed partial will upon His slaves and has thus held them responsible for what they have done.

The time of death of a person who is killed or who has committed suicide is the moment when that person has died. A death does not take place before the appointed hour for it comes.

The salât of funeral for a Muslim who has committed suicide is performed. (Durr-ul-mukhtâr)

After death, all people will be resurrected.

Questioning, the return of the soul to the body, and torment for disbelievers and sinful Muslims are all true and will take place in the grave.

The torment in the grave will be inflicted on both the body and the soul. One who disbelieves it becomes a bid’ah holder. [But one who says “I do not believe in the torment of the grave, whether it is written in ahadith or not. Mind and experiments do not confirm it” becomes a disbeliever.]

All Believers enter Paradise by the grace of Allah because no one can deserve it thanks to their acts of worship.

On the Day of Resurrection, all people will give accounts of their deeds, and their deeds will be weighed on the Balance.

It must be believed that there will be shafâ’at (intercession) in the Hereafter. Prophets, scholars, pious Muslims will intercede for the forgiveness of the sins of Muslims. Likewise, the shafâ’at of our Prophet is for those who have committed grave sins. People who have committed numberless sins, too, will benefit from the shafâ’at little or much. All sinners, except those who are forgiven and who benefit from the shafâ’at, will be penalized for their sins. It is declared in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(Each prophet has an accepted du’â. I have saved my du’â for the Hereafter to make intercession for my Ummah.)
[Bukhârî]

You must not deny the shafâ’at. For it is stated in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(A person who does not believe in my shafâ’at will not benefit from it.) (Shir’a)

Sinful Muslims will not stay in Hell eternally, but disbelievers will stay in Hell eternally. (Sûrat-ul-Baqara 81)

There will be a brdge called Sirat. (Nuhbat-ul-laâlî)

[When mentioning the Sirat Bridge, we should not suppose that it is like bridges we know. We say “the bridge of examination.” However, an examination is in no way similar to a bridge. Likewise, the Sirat Bridge is not like worldly bridges or the bridge of examination.]

You have to believe in the harbingers and precedents of Doomsday.

It is stated in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(The end of the world will not come until these signs appear: the sun will rise in the west; three places will sink into the earth; ‘Îsâ will descend from the sky; the sky will be covered with smoke; Dâbbat al-ard, ad-Dajjal, Ya’jûj [Gog] and Ma’jûj [Magog] will appear; a fire will break out in Aden.) [Muslim]

It is also a tenet of Ahl as-Sunnat belief to believe that Hadrat Mahdî will appear.

It is declared in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(Before Doomsday, Allahu ta’âlâ will create one of my descendants, whose name and father’s name will be the same as those of mine, and who will fill the world with justice. The earth, which will have been filled with cruelty before him, will be filled with justice during his time.) [Tirmudhî, Ibn ‘Asâkir]
[All the aforementioned information has been quoted from the books Fiqh al-akbar, Amâlî, R.Nâsihîn, Maktûbât-i Rabbânî, Farâid-ul-fawâid. The sources of the excerpts from other books are written following the quotation in question.]

The importance of correct belief
Question:
What is the reason for your laying great emphasis on the importance of correct belief?
ANSWER
The reason it is so because acts of worship will be of no avail unless people correct their beliefs. The correct belief is the Ahl as-Sunnat belief. We can conceive of the true belief (the belief of Ahl as sunnat) as the number 1. Acts of worship performed with sincerity are like number 0 placed on the right of number 1. When placed one 0, it is 10. If placed two zeroes, then it is 100. The more zeroes we place on the right of it, the more valuable it will become. However, when we remove the number 1, the result is 0. By the same token, acts of worship performed with insincerity, that is, for ostentation, are worthless like zeroes placed on the left of 1. If people do not have a correct belief, namely, “Ahl as-Sunnat belief,” their acts of worship are worthless like zeroes on the left. This matter being so crucial, Hadrat Ubaydullah-i Ahrâr “quddisa sirruh” said, “If they gave me all the karâmats, yet if our creed were not correct, I would deem myself destroyed, ruined. If they piled up all the disasters and desolations upon me, yet if my creed were correct, I would never worry.”

A person with a correct belief
Question:
It is said that the Muslims who have correct belief will not go to Hell. What will their sins be then?
ANSWER
A person who avoids prohibited acts and who carries out acts of worship is a friend of Allah. Allah does not put His friend into Hell-fire. It is purported in a hadîth-i sharîf:
(I swear (by Allah) that Allah does not put His friend into Hell-fire.) [Jâmi’us saghîr]

If one does not commit an act of kufr, sufferings one has endured in this world will be atonement for one’s sins. Also, one benefits from the shafâ’at, and so one does not enter Hell at all.

Two bases of the Ahl as-Sunnat path
Question:
What is the reason that Ahl as-Sunnat belief has survived intact up until now?
ANSWER
It has remained in its original form and has come so thanks to the perseverance of Ahl as-Sunnat scholars. They strictly abided by these two things:
1. They preserved its original form and did not omit anything from it.

2.
They did not add anything to it. That is, they obeyed sunnat and opposed bid’ats.

Obeying sunnat means obeying Islam, but one must obey it as it was communicated, without making any changes. Therefore, Ahl as-Sunnat scholars did not make any removal or any addition to what came to us from the Messenger of Allah. They accepted the text verbatim, and they made commentaries, that is, explanations, to it. For this reason, the tenets of Ahl as-Sunnat belief, both pertaining to belief and practice, has remained intact up until now.

Protecting the îmân
Question:
What are the points to follow in order to protect the îmân?
ANSWER
Îmân is like a five-storey castle. It consists of copper storey, iron storey, bronze storey, silver storey, and gold storey.
1. Copper storey is âdâb.
2. Iron storey is sunnats.
3. Bronze storey is fards.
4. Silver storey is ikhlâs.
5. Gold storey is spiritual closeness to Allahu ta’âlâ.

If you do not observe âdâb, you cannot find a way to sunnats. If you do not observe sunnats, you cannot find a way to fards. If you do not observe fards, you cannot find a way to ikhlâs. If you do not have ikhlâs, you cannot find a way to attain the love of Allah.

This means to say that in order to reach the top, that is, the fifth storey, you should pass the first, second, third, and fourth storeys one by one. One cannot reach the top in a flash without passing the others.
 
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