Similarly, the texts
of the Sharee'ah makes a distinction between Islaam and al-Emaan.
The apparent
meaning of these texts indicate that a person can be a Muslim but not necessarily
someone who has Emaan. What this means is that a person could be a believer without attaining a completeness
of al-Emaan. So Emaan may be negated (نفي الايمان المطلق) but that doesn't mean there is a total negation of any presence of it (مطلق الايمان) .
Other scholars have
also interpreted these texts to mean that the words al-Islaam and al-Emaan when
combined in the same context carry the same definition. However, if they are
used separately or in separate contexts, then they differ in meaning. For example, in the Hadeeth famously known as the Hadeeth of Jibreel [Peace be upon
him], where he approached the Prophet [Peace and Blessings of Allaah be upon
him] and asked him to define al-Islaam and al-Emaan, the Prophet in response
described al-Islaam as to what is
apparent from the deeds of a Muslim and al-Emaan referring to the the inner
beliefs.
He said,
"al-Islaam is to worship Allaah without equating Him to anything else (i.e.
Shirk), to pray the five obligatory prayers, pay the Zakaat and to fast in
Ramadhaan." But when explaining al-Emaan he described them to be five
principles[1]
of belief, "To believe in Allaah, the Angels, to believe in meeting Him
(i.e. the Last Day) and to believe in the Resurrection."
This latter
explanation from the scholars entails that if the word al-Emaan is mentioned
alone, without the word Islaam in the same context, then they both refer to the
same thing. This appears in the Hadeeth of ‘Abd al-Qays [May Allaah be Pleased
with him] where the Prophet said, “Do you know what Emaan in Allaah Alone is?
It is to bear witness that there is no god but Allaah, that Muhammad is the
Messenger of Allaah, to establish the prayer, to pay the Zakaah, to fast in
Ramadhaan and to pay (to Islaamic treasury) a fifth in war booty.[2]”
To summarise, defining the word al-Emaan has
three possible implications, similar to other words in the Sharee’ah such as
as-Salaah and al-Hajj. Al-Emaan may be defined as the apparent display of the belief
in a person through their righteous actions. This definition would include the 'hypocrites'
(i.e. the Munaafiqoon) and 'those who do deeds to show off' (i.e. Riyaa), within
the term.
Allaah, the Most High, Said:
“And when they
stand up for As-Salat (the prayer), they stand with laziness
and to be seen of men, and they do not remember Allah but little.” [an-Nisaa 4:142]
This Aayah shows us that the word as-Salaah can
possibly refer to a part of the well known act of worship or it may refer to
the prayer as a whole, its pillars, its obligations or the recommended acts
within it. Likewise the word al-Hajj, one word can refer to many different
aspects of the well-known act of worship. It may refer to the whole act of
worship, or it may refer to an acceptable ritual which may be mixed with deficiencies (such as if a person does something incorrectly during the Hajj
but the act of worship not nullified). This applies principle even to everyday objects
like the word ‘tree’. A ‘Tree’ could refer to the whole tree or a part of a
tree, such as if a person clipped some branches and named those branches a tree[3].
[3]
TN: this linguistic point is extremely important
as the people of deviation don’t believe that al-Emaan can be divided in to
apparent and hidden, or actions, words and statements. They often claim either
you have it or you don’t.
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