. J (cont.)

. " mean exactly half but it means one of two parts.) This is the opinion that al­ Nawawi favors. Commenting on this interpretation, Sultaan wrote, This particularizes and restricts the meaning of "faith". There is no strong evidence for this, especially since some of the Quranic commentators interpret "faith" in the above verse to mean constancy and steadfastness to the faith when the direction of the qiblah was changed. But some scholars say that the stronger view is to interpret faith to mean prayer in that verse due to an authentic sunnah regarding that. So this is a possible interpretation. 1 (4) Another interpretation is that faith is made up of affirmation by the heart and outward submission in deeds. These are the two parts to faith. Purity, or tahaara, implies the prayer which is the greatest outward form of submission. That is why it has been referred to as half of faith. (5) lbn Uthaimeen argues that faith is comprised of having some characteristics and being free of other characteristics. A person, for example, should be free of associating partners with Allah and sinful living. He argues that this is the purification that is referred to in this hadith. A Muslim purifies himself, thusly, from all physical or spiritual filth. This comprises one-half of faith, as stated by the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in this hadith.2 (6) Some interpret "purification" in this phrase to mean avoiding sins. This usage for "purification" may be noted in the Quran. For example, the people of Lot said about him and his family, ,,,. J i:li w୆@k::; Džur нÚ "These are indeed people who want to be pure [from sins]" (al-Araaf 82).3 Faith is made up of two aspects: performing the proper deeds and remaining away from the improper deeds. "Purification" is the remaining away from the improper deeds. Therefore, it makes up half of faith as stated by the Prophet (peace be upon him). lbn Rajah mentions this interpretation and says that it would be plausible if it were not for the other narratives that state, "Ablution is half of faith," and "Completing the ablution is half of the faith." lbn Rajah points out another problem with this interpretation. He says that many deeds, like the prayer, are also acts of purification as they wipe away sins. Hence, they must be included under purification. But then purification could no longer be 1 Sultaan, p. 1 97. 2 lbn Uthaimeen, Sharh Riyaadh, vol. 1 , p. 1 34. This is the only interpretation that ibn Uthaimin offers for this hadith. Siddiqi, vol. 1 , p. 147 seems to favor this interpretation although he also mentions the view that faith in this hadith means prayer. 3 Also see al-Mudathir 4 and al-Baqara 222. Commentary on the Forty Hadith of al-Nawawi considered half of faith in the sense they described. Therefore, ibn Rajab rejects this interpretation.1 (7) Ibn Rajah states that the correct view concerning the meaning of "purification" in this hadith is that it refers to the ritual purification by water as found, for example, in ablution. He says that this is the majority opinion and this is why Muslim, ibn Majah and others included this hadith in the chapters related to ablution. 2 Furthermore, this is consistent with the other narrations that state, "Ablution (wudu) is one-half of faith," and "Completing the ablution is one-half of faith." Although this may look conclusive, it may not necessarily be so. Al­ Haitami points out that if the linguistic meaning of wudu is understood, then it means the same as al-tuhoor or purification.3 Second, the narration, "Completing the ablution" contradicts what the others have narrated and may not be considered the strongest wording of the hadith. Given this meaning for the word, that "purification" means ablution, ibn Rajah continues by saying that there is a difference of opinion as to how this purification is to be .considered half of faith. He presents the following opinions:4 (a) One explanation is that the meaning of the word shatr in this hadith is not half but simply "part of'. Hence, purification is a part of faith. This is al­ Haitami's conclusion, and he says that it removes all of the problems in interpreting this hadith.5 lbn Rajah rejects this interpretation on two counts. First, it goes against the well-known usage of the word shatr and, second, it contradicts the narration that states, "Purification is one-half (nis/) of faith." lbn Rajah's arguments can be answered by saying that, first, although it is not the most common usage, it is a usage for the word. Second, the narration with the word nisf could easily be an example where the narrator was simply narrating the meaning and not the exact wording of the text. The narrator could have replaced the word shatr with nisf as he felt that they had the same meaning. Otherwise, the well established reports of this hadith state shatr and not nisf (b) The second interpretation ibn Rajah presents is the same as (1) above. Ibn Rajah categorically rejects this possibility.