Faith

Faith

1986 3 March 17-18 Faith (734) Some people from Najran, a district between Yaman and Najd, inhabited by a Christian tribe, came to see the Prophet. They heard him read a passage of the Quran. It immediately dawned on them that the religion he taught was the true one. They fell down, weeping, in prostration before the Lord. “When they listen to that which was revealed to the Apostle,” the Quran says, “you will see their eyes fill with tears as they recognize its truth. They say: ‘Lord, we believe, count us among the witnesses’” (5:83).

“Recognition of truth”; that is how faith has been defined in this verse. When one recognizes something, one reacts to it according to its nature. God is the greatest of all beings. Recognition of such an All-powerful Being sparks off feelings of humility and submission in a person. These people from Najran recognized God in the words of the Quran. They saw there all the glory of the Lord. Their reaction: tears flowed down their cheeks and their bodies fell down prostrate in an act of spontaneous submission.

Now let’s have a look at tradition related by Imam Muslim on the authority of Uthman ibn Affan: “Whoever dies knowing that there is no god save Allah shall enter paradise.”

Traditionally faith is referred to as “knowing”. Knowing indicates awareness. Faith, then, is a matter of knowing – making a conscious discovery.

In fact, the modern word discovery is an apt one for describing the phenomenon of faith. To believe in God is to discover Him. It is for God, who is not visible in the normal sense of the term, to appear before one’s eyes. Faith is to become deeply aware of God; it is for the veil of the Unseen to be drawn apart, and for one to have an inward sight of God despite his outward invisibility.

Faith is for God’s slave to establish a connection with his Lord. We can see a material example of this in the connection between a bulb and a generator. When a bulb is connected to a generator it bursts into brilliant light. It becomes something that it had not been previously; its darkness turns into light. So it is when a person makes connection with God: his being becomes full of God; he assumes divine characteristics which completely alter his state.

This was what faith meant for the Companions of the Prophet. For them belief was to emerge from one life and to become totally immersed in another; it was to discover light after being submerged in darkness. Look at what Hudhaifah once said to the Prophet: “We were in ignorance, Apostle of God, and the Lord sent us this wealth of good. “ His words show what a complete transformation the act of faith involved for the Companions.

Faith acquired in this manner differs entirely from conventional, inherited faith, for such faith is transferred automatically from one generation to the next. It does not move a person, or inspire him to take decisions for himself. All it does is attach a person to long-established traditions and norms. Spontaneously – acquired faith, on the other hand, never fails to move and inspire one. Those who subscribe to an inherited faith need to have everything spelt out for them; they do not acquire vision of their own. Such is not the case with faith which comes as a discovery. Faith of this nature is a live creed which endows one with the vision to judge each matter according to its merits.

Faith born of blind adherence to the way of one’s ancestors can only be a stagnant form of faith. Its effect is very different from that of faith which comes from personal realization. The latter transforms one’s thoughts and actions. How different also the two hosts of faithful, one subscribing to an inherited faith and the other to a faith which they believe in from the depths of their hearts, one that is backed up by the force of personal conviction. Such faith produces people who can move mountains on the landscape of history, who are possessed of great vision and farsightedness. That is because they really believe in what they are working for; it is the spontaneous outpouring of their discovery of God. Their faith is a divine phenomenon, while the faith of those who imitate their ancestors takes the form of national culture and tradition.