Living Faith
Al-Risala (English), April 1991, p. 4
By Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
Maulana Wahiduddin Khan is named as the default author of the periodical; a piece that carries another writer’s byline is credited to that writer.
Living Faith
1991 4 April 4 Living Faith (404) One way to see a lion is to look at a stuffed one in a museum. The other way is to see it alive, roaming in the jungle. The one in the museum is just a skin, stuffed and propped up to make it look as if it is standing. Outwardly, it has the appearance of a lion, but it is a lion in form only. People look at such a ‘lion’ only for instruction, or for recreation. No one feels frightened of it. No one feels the need to run away from it.
But the lion of the jungle is a very different matter. It is a living thing, a symbol of strength. And when it stalks its prey, the whole jungle becomes alarmed. When it roars, the animals are terror-stricken and rush to take refuge up in the trees. When a human being sees a live lion in the jungle, he trembles from head to toe. He begins to lose control of himself. He is not as he was before seeing the lion.
This is an example which helps us to understand God. Belief in God also has two forms. One is faith through imitation, i.e. just following in the footsteps of one’s forefathers, while the other is a living faith in God, i.e. a faith discovered, or acquired, on one’s own.
A faith through imitation is bound to be a lifeless faith. Such a faith falls short of stirring up one’s soul. It does not have the force of a current running through one’s veins. It does not create any movement within. This dead faith requires a man only to believe in God without fearing Him.
However, a living faith in God is an entirely different matter. A living faith in God means seeing God as having limitless powers. One who finds such a God does not remain the same person as he was before having had this experience. After the realization of God, his whole existence is completely shaken up. His soul is terror-stricken; his fear is intense. All other problems are completely overshadowed. He is now concerned with one thing alone, and that is God.
A live belief in God and fear of God are inseparable. The moment these become separate, true faith ceases to exist. It is then a dead, not a live faith. And a dead faith is of no value either to man or to God.
