Assalaam Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh Sis,
I'll try to answer this question in the view of Risale-i Nur.Iman can be described as the belief in Allah SWT in short.
Be certain of this, that the highest aim of creation and its most important result are belief in Allah (iman). The most exalted rank in humanity and its highest degree are the knowledge of Allah contained within belief in Allah. The most radiant happiness and sweetest bounty for jinn and human beings are the love of Allah contained within the knowledge of Allah. And the purest joy for the human spirit and the sheerest delight for man’s heart are the rapture of the spirit contained within the love of Allah. Indeed, all true happiness, pure joy, sweet bounties, and untroubled pleasure lie in knowledge of Allah and love of Allah; they cannot exist without them.
One who knows and loves Allah Almighty is potentially able to receive endless bounties, happiness, lights, and mysteries. While one who does not truly know and love him is afflicted spiritually and materially by endless misery, pain, and fears. Even if such an impotent and miserable person owned the whole world, it would be worth nothing for him, for it would seem to him that he was living a fruitless life among the vagrant human race in a wretched world without owner or protector. Everyone may understand just how wretched and bewildered is man among the vagrant human race in this bewildering fleeting world if he does not know his Owner, if he does not discover his Master. But if he does discover and know Him, he will seek refuge in His mercy and will rely on His power. The desolate world will turn into a place of recreation and pleasure, it will become a place of trade for the hereafter.
Now we should seek the real knowledge of Allah SWT.This is called "tawheed":
The affirmation of Divine unity (tawheed) is of two sorts. For example, if the goods of a rich man arrive in a market or a town, there are two ways in which one may know they are his. One is briefly and simply, as with ordinary people, which is: “No one apart from him is capable of owning this vast amount of goods.” But when under the supervision of a common man such as that, much of it may be stolen. Many others may claim ownership of parts of it. The second sort is this: through reading his writing on every packet, recognizing his signature on every roll, and seeing his seal on every bill, the man declares: “Everything belongs to that person.” Here, everything in effect shows the important man. Similarly, the affirmation of Divine unity is of two sorts:
One is the superficial and common affirmation of Divine unity which says: “Almighty Allah is One, He has no partner or like. This universe is His.”
The Second is the true affirmation of Divine unity which, through seeing on everything the stamp of His power, the seal of His sovereignty, and the inscriptions of His pen, is to open a window directly onto His light from everything and to confirm and believe with almost the certainty of seeing it that everything emerges from the hand of His power and that in no way has He any partner or assistant in His Godhead or in His sovereignty, and thus to attain to a sort of perpetual awareness of the Divine presence.
Therefore the better we know Allah SWT with His actions, His names and His attributes, the more we can strengten our iman.Here are some good sources to get a better knowledge of Allah SWT:
“An hour’s reflective thought is better than a year’s worship” Hadith
"We Muslims, who are students of the Qur’an, follow proof; we approach the truths of belief through reason, thought, and our hearts. " Bediuzzaman Said Nursi
ANY information on this important topic would be MUCH appreciated
yes i know its MOOOOOOST important..but i wish all muslims should feel its need.
so question how we learn it...the way Prophet PBUH teach this to suhaba RA. by the way of dawa....OMG i cant explain my heart pain......................O Allah Plz make all muslim understand and give hidayaat to all of us.
anyway if u wana see how suhaba RA learn iman, u should seek more knowledge of life of Prophet PBUH before Hijra, and effort of that time in dar-e-arqam. ALLAH SWT in surah Furqan called this effort as Juhud Kabir (aya 51-52). since we muslims had leave this Juhd Kabir, so today we are experiencing this weakness in eman.
i remember bro Aabir Sabeel has nice signature regarding this. u may see these links.
JazakAllah.
Iman is never constant and it is like a rollercoaster, up and down, up and down, therefore it is important to always be aware of where our iman status is. One way to be steadfast in our iman is to make friends and surround ourselves with people who have strong iman, and keep to a minimum contact with people whose iman is zero or even negative.
There are probably as many ways to elevate our Iman as there are people. Each person is unique and what elevates one person's may not raise or even lower the Iman of another.
My Iman seems to rise to new heights when I face trials and adversity. It is at those times I know I survive them because of Allaah(swt) and this in turn makes my belief much stronger.
The desolate world will turn into a place of recreation and pleasure, it will become a place of trade for the hereafter.
Jazakallah khair katheeran for the much valuable information you have provided. There are tons of questions in my mind and I'm glad that I've come to the right place to get answers.
Brother selsebil, I will keep this information you have given much close to my heart.
It is pointless to watch other people's houses crumbling when our own house is in need of repair and attention.
One way to be steadfast in our iman is to make friends and surround ourselves with people who have strong iman, and keep to a minimum contact with people whose iman is zero or even negative.
It sounds as if you might benefit by being with people whose iman is as strong as yours, or even stronger. Therefore it might follow that if you were with someone whose iman was weak or near zero, they may also benefit from being with someone like you, they might benefit from your strong iman. Just a thought
In the spirit of striving towards a stronger iman
Eric
You will never look into the eyes of anyone who does not matter to God.
It sounds as if you might benefit by being with people whose iman is as strong as yours, or even stronger. Therefore it might follow that if you were with someone whose iman was weak or near zero, they may also benefit from being with someone like you, they might benefit from your strong iman. Just a thought
true, but it also depends on the strength of your iman and the intention, no?
If you think that your iman is weak, then by being around only people with weak iman would certainly not helping out both yours and theirs, no?
The question asked by the sister is: What exactly is iman (faith) and how can we strengthen it?
so it makes no sense that your iman will get strengthened by being around those with weak or zero iman. Trust me, I've been there.
And if people with weak iman has intention to improve theirs, there's a way to go, right?
Okay guys, I've read the article by bro. Qatadah. But it still does not answer the question....What EXACTLY is iman?? I'm getting information on how important it is to HAVE iman but nothing on what it EXACTLY is and how we can attain it?
I know how important iman is. I just want to know how it is acquired in the first place.
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Jazakallah khair everyone for the info.
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