Praise be to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon His Messenger after whom there is no prophet.
In its second edition, AlRaya magazine published a message by the Islamic Center in Geneva, including many inquiries starting with faith as many people are suffering from doubts and worries. Is it true? A reply came from brother Dr. Sa`id Ramadan, who said after praising Allah: "It is wellknown that Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) directed all humankind inherently to believe in Him as Lord, God and Controller of their affairs to be feared, beseeched for help, and become endeared to through various acts of worship. He said:
So set you (O Muhammad ﺻﻠﻰ ﺍﷲ ﻋﻠﻴﻪ ﻭﺳﻠﻢ) your face towards the religion (of pure Islâmic Monotheism) Hanîf (worship none but Allâh Alone). Allâh's Fitrah (i.e. Allâh's Islâmic Monotheism) with which He has created mankind.
Allah states: I have created my servants naturally inclined to the Truth, but devils deceived them, led them astray from their faith, and commanded them to associate partners with Me for which I sent down no evidence.
True faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, the Last Day and divine decree in prosperity and adversity. This was the Prophet's reply to Jibril's (Gabriel) question about Iman (Faith/belief), which consists of more than seventy branches (i.e. parts), the highest of which is testifying that there is no deity but Allah and the lowest rank is removing harmful objects from the road. Iman also increases through obedience and decreases due to disobedience, as clearly pointed out in Ayahs (Qur'anic verses), prophetic Hadith and the way followed by the Salaf (righteous predecessors). After this introduction and definition of Iman we say that it is subject to worries and doubts for many reasons:
1 Ignorance about prerequisites and evidence of Iman.
2 Failure to apply what you know, and this gradually leads to weakness of Iman, until it totally vanishes and is replaced with doubts. This fact is supported by actual occurrences as well as Islamic texts.
3 Being in an environment devoid of Iman, which feeds suspicion and doubt, thus leading to wavering faith and weakness in the face of temptation and deviant impulses; especially if one is of little knowledge and does not have good companions who can help remain steadfast. The Prophet (peace be upon him) stated:
Hasten to perform (good) deeds before trials which are as dark as night, where one can be a believer in the morning and a disbeliever at night, or a believer at night and a disbeliever in the morning, who barters faith for the perishable goods of this life.
This Hadith indicates that hastening to perform righteous deeds is a way of keeping one's faith steadfast; the absence of which is a factor of casting doubts and being afflicted with trials. These trails include lower desires, doubts and war. Most dangerous of all is succumbing to one's lower desires, which weak souls are most inclined to. A believer may be tricked and gradually sink into immoral acts leading to the loss of faith. The way to salvation and safety is to distance oneself from the ways that lead to such temptations, to be on guard as much as possible, and to diligently ask Allah for steadfastness in faith. One must also recite the Qur'an and meditate on its Ayahs which guide us to Allah and contain rational evidence and theoretical proofs of the existence and oneness of Allah, His sovereignty, His worth of being glorified, His Shari`ah worth of being followed, and His limits that should not be transgressed. Once Iman is deeprooted hearts can taste its beauty, become enlightened by evidence, and it becomes difficult to be uprooted or replaced with any alternative. Hiraql (Caesar) Emperor of the Romans asked Abu Sufyan, about the call of the Prophet (peace be up on him), "Do any of Muhammad's Companions apostatize after embracing Islam then being unconvinced
of Islam? Abu Sufyan answered in the negative. The Caesar then said, "This is what happens when the light of faith touches hearts." Reality attests to the statement of the Caesar. This is why the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not deny this statement. As for the practical application of this, Ibn AlQayyim in his poem, Al Nuniyyah, mentioned that he experienced some unrest and doubt because of his examination of the books of `IlmulKalam (a discipline that searches for answers to creedal issues using logic) and their doubtful matters till he met ShaykhulIslam Ibn Taymiyyah who guided him to the Ayahs and Hadith leading to knowing Allah, His glorious perfection, His Names and His complete sovereignty. This prompted him to rectify his faith and put an end to all his doubts. May peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family and Companions.