Part 93

THE CONCEPT OF IMAN AND RELATED ISSUES 385

Messenger if he should come to them. Hence, they affirm the truth of this verbal testimony and commit themselves to it. This, then, is their verbal testimony. And someone might acknowledge the Prophet in the sense that he commits himself to obeying whatever commands he received from the Prophet without actually having inward knowledge or tasdiq that he is the Messenger of Allah. However, none of the Murji’ites ever said that this sort of verbal testimony is belief. Rather, there has to be a verbal testimony of the validity of a specific declaration of truth; that is, one must acknowledge that he is the Messenger of Allah. Hence, the term iqrar, confession, implies both commitment and tasdiq, both of which are necessary. On the other hand, by “verbal testimony” one might mean mere tasdiq without a commitment to obey. The Murji’ites sometimes considered this to be belief [that is, verbal testimony in the sense of belief without a pledge to obey], while at other times they defined belief as both tasdiq and commitment together. This latter type of verbal testimony was the type spoken of by the Murji’ite scholars, who defined it as they did belief. Otherwise, if one were to say: “I obey him, though I do not believe that he is the Messenger of Allah,” or, “I believe that he is the Messenger of Allah, but | make no commitment to obey him,” he would neither be a Muslim nor a believer in their view.

Ahmad [Ibn Hanbal] added that this verbal testimony must be accompanied by assent, knowledge, and acceptance of what one knows [the last portion was recorded in another place as “acceptance of what he affirms” ]. This entails inward acceptance, which may imply both verbal testimony and works. In this case his heart’s acceptance implies that, besides his heart’s knowledge of the Prophet (pbuh) as a Messenger of Allah, he submitted to him and followed his teachings; hence he has shown acceptance and veneration of the Prophet’s (pbuh) teachings in his heart. Otherwise, mere inner knowledge that he is a Messenger of Allah is not considered Iman. Accordingly, Iman entails the knowledge of the heart as well as its works. So, by acceptance Ahmad meant that in addition to knowledge of the Prophet (pbuh), the heart accepts and desires to follow his teachings. And, according to Ahmad, he who denies the fact that deeds are part of Iman is exactly like him who denies the fact that knowledge is part of it. However, the Book, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the Islamic community affirm that Iman entails knowledge of the heart as well as its works. Whoever among the Jahmite sect argued that the heart’s obedience is part of belief is like some member of the

Karramite sect who argued that knowledge in one’s heart is part of belief. Hence, referring to Ahmad [Ibn Hanbal’s] statement this makes the most sense in light of what he said in this context.

Moreover, the difference between the heart’s knowledge and mere tasdiq in the heart, which is not accompanied by submission, is so subtle that most people of knowledge cannot perceive it. Most wise people deny this, which indicates that there is a difference between knowledge and acceptance. They said that the claims made by Ibn Kullab and al-Ash‘ari concerning this distinction were groundless. And in fact, many of al-Ash‘ari's followers acknowledged the absence of any real distinction. To support their view, they cited the example of a report given by someone who is lying. Such a person, they said, has knowledge in his heart that conflicts with this report. This they took as evidence for the existence of a distinction [between knowledge in one’s heart, and the heart’s belief]. Others objected to their view, saying that it was based on the assumption that there is a khabar, report [in one’s mind], which is not true, as well as knowledge, which is not true knowledge. And since they demonstrated this on the basis of a statement of the heart that conflicts with both one’s knowledge and one’s will, then this simply indicates different types of knowledge and will, not some other entity that stands in conflict with them.

Therefore it has been said that someone may not have a report in his mind that conflicts with what he knows, even though he may convey such a report with his tongue. However, it is not possible for one to have a report in his mind without his having knowledge of it, or one that conflicts with what he knows. And this is one of the pieces of evidence upon which people have based their belief in the inconceivability that falsehood or lies could inhere in Allah’s essence, for He is knowledgeable of all things, and it is impossible that some meaning should exist in contradiction to knowledge that exists in the mind of the knower. For a false report existing within the mind is the opposite of knowledge.

Now it may be said that if a report existing within the mind were in conflict with knowledge, then this would mean that it was possible for knowledge to exist together with its opposite, as has been stated by others in numerous places. It was the most powerful of the arguments put forth by al-Qadi Abu Bakr on the question of al-‘aql, reason, and other issues. Others who held a similar view included al-

THE CONCEPT OF IMAN AND RELATED ISSUES 387

Similarly, knowledge is necessarily associated with reason, or the ‘aql, mind. For every being capable of knowing is a being endowed with a mind, that is, with

>> Abu Muhammad, Ibn al-Labban (?-446 A.H.), was a jurist and a scholar of hadith. [Kitab alIman MZ, p. 349 and al-Zirikli, vol. 4, p. 226.]

Abu al-Walid Sulayman (?-474 A. H.), was a famous Mali hadith. [Al-Zirikii, vol. 3, p. 186.]

? Abu al-Khattab, Mahfiiz Ibn Ahmad (?-510 A. H.), was a leading Hanbali jurist. [Kitab al-Iman

jurist and a scholar of

reason. Moreover, the mind is a condition of knowledge, being neither identical with it, nor its opposite, nor one type of knowledge. Neither can knowledge exist together with any entity that contradicts reason. But this argument is used with respect to knowledge that exists alongside the inward speech, which is a report [existing within the mind]. For it [ knowledge] is neither the opposite [of the report] nor identical to it; rather, it simply contrasts with it. Therefore, knowledge may in fact exist alongside that which is the opposite of a report, be it true or false. Hence, one may see the falsehood of the argument, that it is impossible for a lie to exist within the mind of a person with knowledge.

What is meant here is that one finds it difficult to differentiate between his knowledge that the Prophet (pbuh) was truthful, and ‘his mere acceptance in his heart, without works, that this is true. Ahmad provided many pieces of evidence to prove that works are part of Iman. He said that a delegation of the people of “Abd al-Qays asked the Prophet (pbuh) about Iman. The Prophet (pbuh) answered: “Tman is testifying to the fact that there is no god but Allah, that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, the establishment of prayer, giving of zakah, fasting during Ramadan, and paying one-fifth of the spoils that falls to your lot.” Hence he [the Prophet, pbuh] considered all these to be parts of Iman. The Prophet (pbuh) also said: “Modesty is an aspect of Iman;” and “The best believer is the one with the best morals;” and “Indeed, cleanliness is part of Iman;” and “Iman has over seventy branches, the most excellent of which is the declaration that there is no god but Allah, and the humblest of which is the removal of what is injurious from the path;” and “Bring out of the Fire whoever has [in his heart] an atom’s weight of Iman.” It was also reported that the Prophet (pbuh) said, concerning the attributes of the hypocrite: “There are three traits that, if one possesses them, make hima sheer hypocrite.” Furthermore, in many verses of the Quran, Allah says that Iman may increase. Allah says: “It is He Who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers, that they may add belief to their belief . . .” (98:4); and“... In order that the People of the Book may arrive at certainty, and the believers may increase in belief . . .” (74:31); and He also says: “. .. And when they hear His Signs rehearsed, find their belief strengthened . . .” (8:2); and “Whenever there comes down a seerah [Chapter] some of them say: ‘Which of you has had his belief increased by it?’ Yes, those who believe, their belief is increased, and they do rejoice” (9:124); and “Only those are believers who have believed in Allah and His Messenger, and have never since doubted, but have striven with their