The Response to Those Who Say That Faith Is in the Heart Only
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
May Allah reward you, Your Excellency the Shaykh. The questioner says that he advises some people regarding the issue of shaving the beard or shortening the garments, and some other obligations. He says they will respond to him by saying that faith is in the heart, and that righteousness and good are in the heart. He asks: What is the best way to respond to people like these, and how to convince them? I ask for your guidance, may Allah reward you.
Answer:
Faith is not in the heart only. Faith, according to the people of the Sunnah and the community, is speech with the tongue, belief in the heart, and action with the limbs. The three things are necessary.
And action with the limbs means action according to the Sunnah. That is, from the action with the limbs is action according to the Sunnah, such as leaving off isbal (letting a garment hang below the ankles) and growing the beard. This is from the action with the limbs. And his saying that faith is in the heart is the saying of the Murji'ah (a sect that excluded deeds from faith).
As for the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that "Faith is here," and he pointed to his chest (peace and blessings be upon him) three times, it does not mean that faith is confined to the heart only, and that a person can do whatever sins and violations he wishes and say that faith is in the heart. No, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) meant that whoever has faith in his heart, he obeys the commands of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and whoever has hypocrisy in his heart, he violates the commands of Allah. So deeds are the signs of the presence of faith, or the deficiency of faith, or the absence of faith. Yes.
May Allah reward you, Your Excellency the Shaykh. The questioner says that he advises some people regarding the issue of shaving the beard or shortening the garments, and some other obligations. He says they will respond to him by saying that faith is in the heart, and that righteousness and good are in the heart. He asks: What is the best way to respond to people like these, and how to convince them? I ask for your guidance, may Allah reward you.
Answer:
Faith is not in the heart only. Faith, according to the people of the Sunnah and the community, is speech with the tongue, belief in the heart, and action with the limbs. The three things are necessary.
And action with the limbs means action according to the Sunnah. That is, from the action with the limbs is action according to the Sunnah, such as leaving off isbal (letting a garment hang below the ankles) and growing the beard. This is from the action with the limbs. And his saying that faith is in the heart is the saying of the Murji'ah (a sect that excluded deeds from faith).
As for the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) that "Faith is here," and he pointed to his chest (peace and blessings be upon him) three times, it does not mean that faith is confined to the heart only, and that a person can do whatever sins and violations he wishes and say that faith is in the heart. No, the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) meant that whoever has faith in his heart, he obeys the commands of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and whoever has hypocrisy in his heart, he violates the commands of Allah. So deeds are the signs of the presence of faith, or the deficiency of faith, or the absence of faith. Yes.
Source
حقيقة الإيمان — alfawzan.live
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.