The Gathering with Whom One Loves and What Increases Faith

Question:
Honorable Shaykh, how do we reconcile the fact that some people know only a little of faith, to the extent that they are like servants in faith, with the hadith that the believer will be gathered with whom he loves? For example, if a person loves a scholar, the hadith says the believer will be gathered with whom he loves, even if he does not know the scholar’s deeds or that he will be with him in Paradise. He does not know his deeds, or he prostrates to his faith.

Answer:
He will be with him in Paradise, even if he does not reach his level, but he will be with him in Paradise. He will be gathered with whom he loves on the Day of Resurrection. The people of Paradise differ in their dwellings according to their deeds and faith. They say that faith increases in two ways. The first is obedience, which we have mentioned. The second is knowledge. The more a person knows of the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger, the more his faith increases. Knowledge increases faith. The more a person learns and understands the religion of Allah, the more his faith increases. There is no doubt that the ignorant person’s faith is weaker than the scholar’s, because the scholar knows many things, acts upon them, and believes in them, whereas the ignorant person has only a general faith; he has only a general faith.
So the scholar who acts upon his knowledge has more complete faith than the ignorant person. For this reason, Allah the Exalted says: And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This is the certainty that whatever beneficial knowledge a person learns, his faith increases with it. Yes.