THE SPIRIT OF FAITH

The Arabic word for belief is iman. It literally means ‘to know’, ‘to believe’, ‘to put one’s trust in something or someone’. Iman means putting one’s trust in, or having complete faith in God, His Prophet and His message. In this world all things fall into two separate categories: those that grow and those that do not. For example, a stone does not grow. It remains in the same state. On the contrary, a tree keeps on growing. The Quran likens the faith and the faithful to the tree (14: 24). That is, unlike the stone, their faith does not remain static, but goes on increasing, never coming to a standstill. At various places in the Quran, it is said that faith is something which continues to grow: ‘The true believers are those (…..) whose faith grow stronger as they listen to His revelation’. (8: 2) ‘As for those who follow the right path, God will increase their guidance….’. (47: 17) ‘As they (the believers) listen, their humility increases.’ (17: 109) ‘God will increase the guidance to those that have followed the right path.’ (19: 76) Say: Lord, increase my knowledge. (20: 114) Those who have had the wealth of true faith bestowed on them will find their faith increasing in the manner mentioned in the Quran. On the contrary, those who have not been lifted up to the heights of true faith will find that their ‘faith’ is something static and does not grow. One of the Companions of the Prophet Ibn Rawaha said to another Companion: “Lets come together to increase faith in God for a while”. These words enraged his Companion and he asked, “Aren’t we believers already?” Ibn Rawaha replied, “Yes, that is true. We are believers. But when we remember God, our faith increases.” To the one Companion, faith meant the recitation of the monotheistic creed. There is no god but the One God, after which he felt that his faith was complete. But so far as Abdullah ibn Rawaha was concerned, he had discovered God the limitless, God with all His forms of perfection. For the former, the recitation of the creed (kalimah) was all that mattered, but, to the latter, kalimah recitation was only the beginning. The concept of God that came to his mind was a treasure house of limitless perfection. This being so, he felt that his remembrance of God should also be endless. He lived in God Consciousness. In other words,