KNOWLEDGE & BELIEF

Faith means ‘Knowledge and Belief’. TheArabic word Iman, which we have rendered in English as faith, literally means ‘to know’,‘to believe’ and ‘to be convinced beyond the least shadow of doubt’. Faith, thus, is firm beliefarising out of knowledge and conviction. And the man who knows and reposes unshakablebelief in the Unity of God, in His Attributes, in His Law and the Revealed Guidance, and in theDivine Code of Reward and Punishment is called Mu'min (faithful). This faith invariably leadsman to a life of obedience and submission to the Will of God. And one who lives thislife of submission is known as Muslim.It is therefore clear that without faith (Iman) no man can be a true Muslim. It is theindispensable essential; rather, the very starting point, without which no beginning can be made.The relation of Islam to Iman is the same as of a tree to its seed. As a tree cannot sproutforth without its seed, in the same way it is not possible for a man who has no belief to startwith, to become a ‘Muslim’. On the other hand, just as it can happen that, in spite of sowingthe seed, the tree may, for many reasons, not grow, or if it does grow, its development may beimpaired or retarded, in the same way, a man may have faith, but due to a number of weaknesses, he may not become a true and staunch Muslim.

  There are countless manifestations of God around us and in our ownselves, which bear witness to the fact that there is One and only One Creator and Governor ofthis Universe and it is He Who controls and directs it. These manifestations reflect the divineattributes of the Creator: His great wisdom, His all-embracing knowledge, His omnipotence,His mercy, His all-sustaining power - in short His attributes can be traced everywhere in Hisworks. But man’s intellect and capacity for knowledge have erred in observing andunderstanding them. Some men have argued that there are two gods, others have professedbelief in a trinity, and still others have succumbed to polytheism. Some have worshipped natureand others divided the Creator into the gods of rain, air, fire, life, death and so on.Similarly, men have put forward many erroneous notions about life after death; for instance, thatman is reduced to dust after death and will not rise to life again; or that man is subject to aprocess of continuous regeneration in this world and is punished or rewarded in future cyclesof life.

  Even greater difficulty arises when we come to the question of a code of living. To formulatea complete and balanced code that conforms to God’s pleasure merely using human reason isan extremely difficult task. Even if a man is equipped with the highest faculties of reason andintellect and possesses matchless wisdom and experience, the chances of his formulating thecorrect views on existence are slight. And even if, after a lifetime of reflection, he does in factsucceed he will still lack the confidence that he has really discovered the truth and adopted theright path.

  The fullest and fairest test of man’s wisdom, reason and knowledge might have been to have lefthim to his own resources without any external guidance. But this would have meant that onlythose with the determination and ability to find the path of truth would find salvation. God,therefore, spared His human creatures such a hard test. Through His Grace and BenevolenceHe raised for mankind men from among themselves to whom He imparted the true knowledgeof His attributes, revealed to them His Law and the Right Code of Living, gave them theknowledge of the meaning and purpose of life and of life after death and thus showed them theway by which man can achieve success and eternal bliss.These chosen men are the Messengers of God - His Prophets. God has communicatedknowledge and wisdom to them by means of revelation (Wahi), and the book containing theDivine Communications is called the Book of God, or the Word of God. The test of man’swisdom and intellect therefore lies in this: does he recognise God’s Messengers afterobserving their pure and pious lives and carefully studying their noble and flawlessteachings? A man of wisdom and common sense would accept instructions given bytheMessengers of truth. If he denies the Messengers of God and their teachings, his denial wouldsignify that he was devoid of the capacity to discover truth and righteousness. He would fail histest. Such a man will never be able to discover the truth about God and His Law and life afterdeath.

 Faith in the Unknown

 It is an everyday experience that when you do not know a thing, you look for somebody whodoes know. If you get ill and you cannot treat and cure yourself, you go to a doctor and followhis instructions without question. Why? Because he is properly qualified to give medicaladvice, possesses experience and has treated and cured a number of patients. Similarly, inmatters of law you accept whatever a legal expert says and act accordingly.In educational matters you trust in your teacher. When you want to go to some place and donot know the way, you ask somebody who knows it, and follow the way he points out. Inshort, the course that you adopt in your day-to-day life about matters which you do not or cannot know is that you approach someone who does know about them, accept his advice and act accordingly. You make every effort to select the proper person. But from then on you accept his advice unquestioningly. This kind of belief is called “belief in the unknown” (Imanbi’l-ghayb).

 Iman-bi'l-ghayb signifies that you get knowledge of what was not known to youfrom one whoknows. You do not know God and His real attributes. You are not aware that His angelsare directing the machinery of the whole Universe according to His orders, and that theysurround you on all sides. You have not the proper knowledge of the way of life through whichyou can seek the pleasure of your Creator. And you are in the dark about the life to come.Such knowledge is given to you by the Prophets, who have had direct contact with the DivineBeing. They are the persons whose sincerity, integrity, trustworthiness, godliness and absolutepurity stand as irrevocable witnesses to the truth of their claim to knowledge. And aboveall, the wisdom and force of their message makes you admit that they speak the truth anddeserve to be believed and followed.This conviction of yours is lman-bi’l-ghayb. Such a truth-discerning and truthacknowledgingattitude is essential for obedience to God and for acting in accordance with his pleasure.