Part 40

The Opinion of Al-Baqillani On Iman and Islam

Later thinkers who supported Jahm’s view on belief included al-Qadi Abu Bakr {al-Baqillan], who said that if someone were to ask: What is Islam to you? We would reply by saying that Islam means ingiyad, compliance, and istislam, submission. Therefore, every act of obedience in which an individual submits to Allah’s way and submits to His command is Islam. As for Iman, belief, it is one of the khisal, attributes, of Islam. Every Iman is Islam, but not every Islam is Iman. If someone were then to ask: Why have you described the meaning of Islam in this way? We would reply that this description is based on Allah’s saying in the Qur’an. Allah says: “The desert Arabs say: ‘We believe.’ Say: ‘You have no faith; but you [only] say, We have submitted our wills to Allah...” (49:14). By saying this, Allah denies that these people have belief and affirms Islam to them—that is, that they had complied with His Ways and submitted to Him. We read elsewhere in the Qur’an that Allah says: “. .. And offer you peace . . .” (4:90). Everyone who has submitted to something is secure and ina state of peace, although this term is used primarily to speak of someone who has submitted to Allah and to His Prophet.

As for myself [Ibn Taymiyyah], I hold that the view mentioned above, besides being untrue and in conflict with the Qur’an and the Sunnah, is also full of contradictions. For they considered belief to be an attribute of Islam. Moreover, all acts of obedience are considered to be Islam, while the only Iman included therein is tasdiq, assent. As for the Murji’ites, although they held that belief encompasses Islam, they also held that belief is merely assent in the heart and expression of the tongue. The Jahmites, on the other hand, defined Iman as being no more than tasdiq in the heart, so that neither making the Shahadatan, vo

Confessions, nor prayers, nor giving zakah, nor any other outward gestures are considered to be part of Iman. We have already discussed what both Allah and His Messenger made clear, namely that Islam is part of Iman such that no one may be a believer unless he is also a Muslim. Iman in turn is part of Ihsan, perfection (of religion); thus no one could be a muhsin, man of Ihsan, unless he is a believer.

As for the contradictions referred to above, what I mean is this. If it is claimed that Iman is one of the attributes of Islam, then whoever has belief will have some attribute of Islam, but not Islam in its totality, which it is one’s duty to have. And in such a case, a person will be a Muslim only when he has all of the attributes of Islam. Likewise, a person can only be a believer when he possesses Iman in its totality. Hence, whoever has some belief [according to this view] will not be a believer; in fact, he will be considered to have no belief at all. And the same would apply to whether one is a complete Muslim or not. Every Iman is Islam, but not every Islam is Iman. However, if they mean by this that every instance of Iman represents the Islam which Allah commands, then this is in conflict with their statement that belief is only one attribute of Islam, but not coextensive with it. On the other hand, perhaps what they mean is that every instance of belief is also an instance or expression of Islam in the sense of a particular act of obedience to Allah is part of the Islam that is required of us. However, if this were the case, then there would be as many Islams as there are acts of obedience. The two Testimonies of the creed would, in and of themselves, be Islam; prayers alone would be Islam; zakah would be Islam; as would every dirham one gives to a needy person, every prostration, every day one fasted, every word of praise to Allah in prayer, and so on.

Furthermore, if one can only be a Muslim by doing everything that has been labeled as Islam, then al-fussaq, major sinners, must likewise not be considered Muslims, even though they are considered believers. Based on the position such people have adopted, those whom they consider to be believers with perfect Iman are not Muslims, which is even worse than the view of the Karramites. It also follows that major sinners among the People of the Qiblah are not to be considered Muslims, a position more odious than the views espoused by the Khiarijites, the Mu‘tazilites, and others. And if we look upon every act of obedience, be it a religious duty or a supererogatory act of devotion, to be Islam then anyone who neglects acts of obedience is thereby not a Muslim.

THE OPINION OF AL-BAGQILLANI ON IMAN AND ISLAM 167

But this is inconsistent with the argument they have advanced based on Allah’s words to the Bedouin Arabs: “*... You believe not but you only say we submit...” (49:14), thereby affirming that they were Muslims while denying that they had Iman. But to exclude major sinners from being Muslims, if they do in fact thus exclude them, is a more heinous offense than excluding them from Iman. By so doing they fall into an error worse than that for which they have condemned the Mu‘tazilites. For according to the Qur’an and the Sunnah, to deny that someone is a believer is more momentous than to deny that he is a Muslim, since Iman in both the Book and the Sunnah is greater. Perhaps they would say that everyone who performs some act of obedience will be called a Muslim. If so, however, then anyone who engaged in some act of obedience, yet did not confess the Muslim creed, would still be a Muslim, as would anyone who believed in his heart yet did not voice his belief with his tongue, since Iman as they understand it is Islam, so that whoever has belief also has Islam. Likewise, someone may be a believer even if he simply utters the two testimonies without engaging in any good works whatsoever.

Based on the Qur’anic verse that reads: “The desert Arabs say: ‘We believe.’ Say: “You believe not but you only say we submit. . .”” (49:14). They noted that Allah denied that these people had belief while affirming that they were Muslims. However, one might see this verse as evidence against their views rather than in favor of them. For when Allah affirms their being Muslims, yet without having belief, this indicates that Iman is not, in fact, part of Islam. For if it were, then these people could not have been Muslims without belief. They might argue that what they actually meant to say was that Allah affirmed that they had “‘a kind of Islam,” since in their view, every act of obedience called for by Islam is a kind of Islam. However, in this case we would reiterate the objection we raised above to the effect that if this were the case, then every day one fasts, every dirham one gives in alms, and so on is likewise to be considered Islam.

They said that every believer is a Muslim, but that not every Muslim is a believer. Moreover, it is claimed that this position is based on the use of the terms Muslim and “believer” in an absolute sense, whereas when they are spoken of in more specific terms, belief is viewed as one attribute or aspect of Islam and religion, but not Islam or religion in their entirety. For Islam is submission to Allah by undertaking all acts of obedience that He commands. Belief is the weightiest attribute of Islam, while Islam comprises all acts of obedience through which one

is lead toward Allah, including Iman, tasdiq, religious duties, and supererogatory acts of devotion. However, none of the various acts of obedience will be efficacious in bringing one closer to Allah unless it is preceded by belief. As some have observed: the word al-din, religion, is derived from the word al-tadayyun, indebtedness, piety or religiousness, which is close in meaning to Islam.

To this I would reply: If they truly hold this position, then their claim that every believer is a Muslim but that not every Muslim is a believer is in conflict with this. For the Muslim is one who is obedient to Allah, but no obedience is efficacious without belief. Hence, it is impossible for anyone to have performed even the most minor act of obedience pertaining to Islam except as a believer. Every Muslim must be a believer whether what one means by Islam is the performance of all required acts of obedience, or the performance of simply one of them, for in neither case would these acts have any effect if they were done without belief. Also, this verse [mentioned above], is evidence against their position rather than in favor of it.

With regard to the claim that every believer is a Muslim, if by “belief” what they mean is the tasdiq of the heart alone, then even the man who neither makes the two testimonies of the creed nor does any of the works that have been commanded is still a Muslim. However, this is known with certainty to be false with regard to the religion of Islam. In fact, even most Jews and Christians know that no one is a Muslim unless he utters the two testimonies of faith or ma yaqumu maqamuhuma, what could stand for their equivalent.' They held that every believer is a Muslim, including someone who has neither uttered the two testimonies nor performed any of the other five pillars of Islam, since such an individual [in their view] is obedient inwardly; however, this is not the Muslim recognized in the Book and the Sunnah, nor that recognized by either the earlier or the later authorities on Islam. Moreover, in support of their claims they cited the above verse in which they note that Allah affirmed that they were Muslims without their having belief. Whoever did not know the reality of the situation

' The two Testimonies must be spoken aloud by a person as a Testimony of his sincerity about entering into the realm of Islam. Normally Muslims, in the practice of their religion, utter the two Confessions on a regular basis during prayer and on other occasions. "Equivalent" here refers to the case of those who are either deaf or dumb or have other afflictions preventing them from saying the two confessions aloud. Therefore, a substitute will be accepted from them if it is offered with good intention