📘 ❞ The Book of Eemaan ❝ كتاب ــ أبو عبيد القاسم بن سلام

عن كتاب The Book of Eemaan:
ndeed have you asked me about faith, and the diffe
rence of the nation concerning it’s
completion and it’s increasing and decreasing, and
you mentioned that you would like to
know the position of Ahlus Sunnah with regards to t
his, and the proof of those who differ
from them on this. So indeed, may Allaah have mercy
upon you, know that this subject
was discussed by the Salaf at the beginning of this
ummah and by those that followed
them (taabi`een) and those who followed them till t
his day of ours. I have written to you a
short explanation of what I know concerning this.
Know, may Allaah have mercy upon you, that the Peop
le of Knowledge and Concern for
the religion have split into two groups over this i
ssue.
One of them says: Faith is sincerity in the heart t
o Allaah, and testimony of the tongue,
and action of the limbs.
The other says: Rather faith is in the heart and up
on the tongue, and as for actions then
they are from
taqwaa
(God-consciousness) and
birr
(piety) and are not included in faith.
And we looked into the difference of opinion of the
se two groups, and we found that the
Book and the Sunnah affirmed the truth of the group
that made Faith intention, saying
and action together, and negated the opinion of the
other group.
And the basis of this, which is our proof, is follo
wing what the Qur`aan has spoken of, for
indeed Allaah has said in the unequivocal verse of
His Book,
"So if you differ amongst yourselves on anything t
hen refer it back to Allaah and
the Messenger if you believe in Allaah and the Last
Day, that is better and more
suitable for final determination." (4:59)
We referred the matter to that which Allaah sent Hi
s Messenger (SAW) with and
revealed in His Book. So we found that He made the
commencement of faith to be the
testimony that none has the right to be worshipped
except for Allaah and that Muhammad
is His Messenger (SAW). And the Prophet (SAW) remai
ned in Mecca after his
Prophethood for ten years or ten odd years calling
to this testification only, and at that
time nothing else was prescribed to be part of fait
h, so the one who responded to this call
was a believer and it was not necessary to call him
anything else but a believer, and
zakaah
or fasting or the other regulations of the religio
n were not obligatory upon him.
The scholars have explained this by saying that thi
s leniency at that time was a Mercy
and Kindness from Allaah to His Servants, because t
hey had just come out of the
Jaahiliyyah
and it’s harshness and had He charged them with al
l of the obligations then
their hearts would have become averse to the revela
tion and their bodies would have felt
burdened. So He made the faith that was obligatory
upon them at that time affirmation
with the tongues only, and this is what made them t
o be believers during the whole of the
Meccan period and ten odd months in Madeenah after
the
Hijrah
.

written by Imam Abu Ubaid alQaasim bin Sallaam alBaghdaadee, and the Tahqeeq of Imam Muhammad Nasir udDeen alAlbaani.