Hadeeth Two (الحديث الثاني) : Explanation continued - part 4 - final part

Islaam, Imaan and Ihsaan

Islam relates to doing things with the external body parts - "a'amaal jawaarih". It concerns the actions of the physical body. Our mouth is the organ which bear witnesses and testifies our belief in order for us to be called Muslims. It is externally and verbally proclaiming the shahadah (an laa ilaaha illallah).

External actions can be divided into two categories:

  1. Badnee- physical, like salah and siyaam. These are physical acts that require actions from our body parts.
  2. Malee - monetary like zakah. This has an acspect of physical and montery acts. Likewise hajj also.

All these things are included under the category of Islaam, malee and badnee acts. In a hadeeth it has also come that the Messenger of Allah صلي الله عليه وسلم said:

المسلم من سلم المسلمون من لسانه و يده

A complete Muslim is he whose mouth and tongue other Muslims are saved from.

This category of Islam even includes saying salaam to one another regardless of if you know a person or not.

Imaan relates to the internal actions, "a'amaal baatiyaan", even 'aqeedah. Islam is the most inclusive religion. As our 'aqeedah informs us to bring faith on not just Musa عليه السلام, or Easa عليه السلام, or Muhammad. However, it tells us to bring imaan on all the Prophets.

Under the category of Imaan falls qadr. We must believe in fate good or bad. This is a fundamental part of our 'aqeedah which comprises of two levels. The first that Allah has all knowledge of what an individual will do in his life from the good and the bad, whether he will be an inhabitant of the heaven of the hellfire. The second being that with the above being true we must strive to work hard in this world as we as not aware of what lies within our fate.

The question may arise that is there any difference between Islaam and Iman. There have been lengthy discussions on this amongst the 'ulema. There is this analysis that when Islaam and Iman are referred to an once and togethor, they are regarding different things. Imaan will mean tasawwuf and Islaam would refer to fiqh. However, if Islaam is mentioned alone or Iman is mentioned alone it will include both things.

The last thing here is Ihsaan. Ihsaan is from the word husn meaning excellency. Our whole deen is based on Ihsaan. It is a very important element and quality for one to be a muhsin. he Christians and Jews would say only they will enter Paradise, but where was their proof? Even some Muslims now think they will definately enter paradise. However, Allah warns us not to be like the Jews and Christians. As Muslims we must realise that to enter Jannah you have to work hard to get into it. A muhsin is one who has Islam and submits his whole self to Allah and is the doer of good internally and externally.

One must be good and undertake excellency with whatever take ho or she does. Even to the extent of when one slaughters an animal there should be excellency. One should not kill one animal in front of another and many other things. With talaq (divorce) also, come "tasreeh bil ihsaan", that if you want to maintain your relationship with your spouse maintain it properly. However, after much effort and compromise if you are not able to uphold the relationship then you may divorce as a final resort. But when divorce is given it should be done with ihsaan, in a good manner, not in a way that two individuals are now enemies. Being a muhsin and doer of good applies even more when relating to the rights of the servants of Allah. Bearing this in mind we should aim to become muhsin in all parts of life, not just on the masjid or in front of certain people.

Ihsaan is also to worship Allah is such a way as though you see him or vice versa that he sees you. Putting this and the above together is true excellency. Those who are excellent and ahsan, are the doers of good they will have husnaa good and the pleasure of seeing Allah Most High in the akhirah. Thinking that we will have the (ma'iyyat) nearness of Allah in the hereafter should be enough to make us want to become a muhsin and doer of good throughout our life.

In the second part of the explanation of this hadeeth it was stated that the sahabah found it very strange that this man who posed the question did not have any apparent signs of being a traveller nor was he a local. The reason why this incident occurred was to catch the attention of all those present on the gathering at that time. If something is normal people tend not to pay so much attention to it, whereas when somethings seems odd and strange people are more likely to pay attention. This man was Jibra'eel عليه السلام who had come to pose these questions so the sahabas could listen and learn the matters relating to deen which they themselves may have wanted to ask but for some reason or another had not.

Alhamdulillah the second hadeeth has now been completed. Next post shall be hadeeth three.

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