Īmān and belief in the Qur’ān and the Sabīl library

The edition the app uses renders īmān as faith, and its verb as believe. In the verses below it is what a person believes in, and also something in the heart that can increase, which the Qur’ān names alongside prayer, spending and patience. This page follows both. It sets out what is believed in, as the Qur’ān names it and as the ḥadīth of Jibrīl lists it; then the verses that describe the believers; then the verses that speak of faith increasing. Every verse is shown with Tanzil’s Arabic and its meaning in the edition the app uses, and every narration is named by its collection and number at the end. Some verses are shown with the edition’s own notes beneath them; those are that edition’s words, not this page’s, some give the edition’s own teaching, and this page has not checked them. The page gives no ruling; for your own circumstances, ask a scholar.

What is believed in

The Qur’ān names the things believed in more than once. One verse says that the Messenger believes in what was sent down to him from his Lord, as do the believers, and that all of them believe in Allah, His angels, His Books and His messengers.

Another tells the believers to believe in Allah, His Messenger, the Book sent down to him and the Books sent down before, and says that whoever disbelieves in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers and the Last Day has gone far astray.

A third puts belief in Allah, the Last Day, the angels, the Scriptures and the prophets at the head of what righteousness is, before giving wealth, prayer, zakah, keeping pledges and patience.

The ḥadīth of Jibrīl: the six articles of faith

The six are listed together in the narration called the ḥadīth of Jibrīl. In Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb reports that a man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked him about Islām, īmān and iḥsān. Asked about īmān, the Prophet ﷺ answered that it is to believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers and the Last Day, and to believe in the decree, its good and its evil. At the end the Prophet ﷺ told ʿUmar that the man was Jibrīl, who had come to teach them their religion. Al-Bukhārī has the same occasion from Abū Hurayrah, with a shorter answer about īmān that names Allah, His angels, the meeting with Him, His messengers and the resurrection.

The library’s First Forty Days path gives the same six in its third week: “Read about the six articles of faith. Allah, the angels, the books, the messengers, the Last Day, and the decree.” The library’s Forty Ḥadīth of an-Nawawī has a card on the ḥadīth of Jibrīl; it is not quoted here, because the library’s own checking has open questions about that title, among them how the card abridges the ḥadīth.

Who the believers are

The Qur’ān also describes the believers by what they are like. At the opening of al-Baqarah they are those who believe in the unseen, establish prayer and spend from what Allah has provided.

In al-Anfāl, three verses describe the true believers: their hearts are filled with awe when Allah is mentioned, their faith increases when His verses are recited to them, they put their trust only in their Lord, they establish prayer and spend from what He has provided; and they will have high ranks with their Lord, forgiveness and honourable provision.

In al-Ḥujurāt, the believers are those who believe in Allah and His Messenger and then do not doubt, but fight with their wealth and their lives in the way of Allah; the verse calls them the truthful.

Belief and submission

The verse just before it draws a line between the two words. The Bedouins say that they have believed, and they are told to say instead that they have submitted, because faith has not yet entered their hearts; if they obey Allah and His Messenger, nothing of the reward of their deeds will be lost. The edition’s note under the verse links this distinction to the ḥadīth of Jibrīl. The page on Islām gathers the verses on submitting.

Faith that increases

Several verses speak of faith growing. One says that Allah sent down tranquillity into the hearts of the believers so that they might increase in faith along with their faith.

Another speaks of believers who were told that people had gathered against them, so they should fear them; it only increased them in faith, and they said that Allah was sufficient for them and the best Protector.

And one joins faith to guidance: no calamity befalls except by Allah’s permission, and whoever believes in Allah, He guides his heart.

References

Verses of the Qur’ān, by sūrah and verse, shown above: 2:3; 2:177; 2:285; 3:173; 4:136; 8:2–4; 48:4; 49:14–15; 64:11.

Narrations, by collection and number as sunnah.com numbers them: al-Bukhārī by the numbering of Fatḥ al-Bārī; Muslim by Muḥammad Fuʾād ʿAbd al-Bāqī’s numbers, with the letter sunnah.com adds where it divides one.

• The ḥadīth of Jibrīl, as ʿUmar reports it, with the six articles of faith: Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 8a.
• The same occasion, as Abū Hurayrah reports it: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 50.

From the Sabīl library: First Forty Days, its third week, quoted; the Forty Ḥadīth of an-Nawawī, linked, not quoted.

Where to go next

• The Qur’ān has every verse above in its sūrah, with its meanings.
• Muslim in the ḥadīth reader has the collection’s text, with the dataset’s translation.
• Islām and submission in the Qur’ān and the Sabīl library is the companion page on Islām.
• Iḥsān and doing good in the Qur’ān and the Sabīl library is the companion page on iḥsān.
• The journey of the soul follows the Last Day, the fifth article, through the verses and narrations.