Ads by Muslim Ad Network

The Faith Revival – Faith is Refuge

Welcome to the Faith Revival, where everyday in this month I’m going to take you through a saying, a verse, a tip on how we can revive our faith, renew our faith, maintain it and keep it strong well beyond this month.

So I’m going to need you to do from the very beginning is to commit to watching all 30 videos and the reason being is that a lot of times when we talk about faith and how to settle faith in the heart and how to maintain our faith.

We talked about an almost random fashion but the truth is that there is a methodology that is laid out for us from divine revelation and from those that practice that divine revelation and in a way that we can continue to emulate until the end of times.

So when we talk about Iman (faith), what does faith mean?

From the technical perspective, we know about to believe in God, to believe in angels, to believe in messengers, to believe in the scriptures, to believe in the Day of Judgment, to believe in the Divine Decree… but it goes beyond just that belief.

Ads by Muslim Ad Network

Ahl as-Sunnah also speak about it as a belief that encompasses all of your limbs. So it’s testifying with your tongue (to say that I believe in Allah and I believe in His messengers and I believe in all the implications of that statement of belief). But it also has to settle in the heart. It’s conviction in the heart as some of the scholars said:

“It’s not simply to acknowledge faith externally with tongue but it’s also to have this conviction, this settlement in the heart and then it has to extend to the limbs. So it has to be actions with the limbs, it increases when a person does good and it decreases when a person does evil.”

However, in the linguistic meaning of iman (faith), there is something very powerful. The word Iman comes from the word ‘amn’ which means safety, tranquility, to be assured that nothing will come to you of harm, to have no fear.

And we find this in many different verses in the Quran where Abraham (peace be upon him) establishes the sanctuary:

O Allah make this a place of safety and security.

Allah says that on the Day of Judgment, the believers would assume a safe place of tranquility. So Iman brings safety. It also means to safeguard trust.

Allah is also Al-Mu’min in that Allah safeguards His believers. He safeguards those that place trust in Him and Allah does for them as He promises.

So Iman comes from this safety. If you think about what that means in the comprehensive sense, safety of the heart from all the diseases that could corrupt it. The safety of the eyes and the safety of the limbs, safety of our deeds from all of the misdeeds that could corrupt those deeds, all those things that could take us away from Allah.

Safety from this world from illusion, safety in the hereafter from the punishment of God, safety from despair. If a person has Iman, they have hope so they don’t fall into despair; they have safety from any type of despair that would take them away from Allah and caused them to forget their purpose in life.

Safety from the devil, safety from the corruption of the soul, safety from the corruption of evil friends.

Of course that’s faith provides all those benefits for us to fully realize it in all of those different things.

Now, the tip that I want you to take and I’m going to give you at least one of these in every video. There is a very powerful explanation from a scholar by the name of Imam Al-Muzani. He said that since Iman means safety and security so you safeguard yourself with belief in this world and the hereafter and all of the comprehensive meanings of safety, you need to look to where your insecurity is in your creator.

So for example, if you feel constantly afraid of people harming you, you need to renew your faith, you need to recognize that that’s where you have a lack of Iman in Allah the Protector.

If you are always afraid of poverty, then that’s where you need to renew your faith in Allah Ar-Razaq and that’s where you recognize that insecurity and you constantly try to establish your belief in the Sustainer Allah.

So wherever you feel that insecurity coming from, that’s where you know you have a weakness and a vulnerability in your faith and that’s where you need to settle it so that your faith can be comprehensive and encompass all your limbs, all of your thoughts, all of your beliefs.

We ask Allah to grant us a faith that is fulfilling, that protects us from our deeds, that protects us from the corruption of ourselves, that protects us from any type of harm in this world or in the next.

We ask Allah to allow us to establish our faith in Him and to realize all of the benefits of having that faith. Ameen.

Visit Yaqeen Institute.

 

About Omar Suleiman
Imam Omar Suleiman is the President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and a professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University. He’s also the resident scholar of the Valley Ranch Islamic Center and Co-Chair of Faith Forward Dallas at Thanks-Giving Square, a multi-faith alliance for peace and justice.