Explanation of the hadith of Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him): (Which deeds are the best? He said: Faith in Allah and jihad in His path . . . ).

The Shaykh: The thirteenth chapter after the hundredth. He said: "The chapter on helping a man his brother." He narrated with his chain of narration from Abu Dharr from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and it is an authentic hadith: It was said: Which deeds are the best? He said: . It was said: Then which slaves are the best? He said: . He said: What do you think if I am not able to do some of the work? He said: Then help a worker or do the work for a clumsy person. He said: What do you think if I am weak? He said: . This hadith gathers many characteristics of goodness, the most important of which is faith in Allah (Mighty and Majestic). But here is a subtle point among the subtleties of the Shari'ah that the great scholars have long overlooked, and as a result of this negligence, there has been great disagreement among them. That is, we find the Messenger (peace be upon him) being asked in this hadith, "Which deeds are the best?" and he answered, "Faith in Allah and jihad in His path," making faith a deed. And here is the point: what is known among people is that faith is only belief, whereas we find the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in this hadith giving an answer to the one who asked him, "Which deeds are the best?" and in other hadiths, "Which deeds are the best?" He answers first with his saying: So this means that faith in Allah is a deed. Is faith in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) a deed or a belief? This is the point that we must pause over for a while to clarify, because it is hidden from many scholars, let alone others. Faith in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) is a deed, as the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said in this hadith and others, but it is among the deeds of the heart. As for jihad in the path of Allah and other things mentioned in other hadiths, those are among the deeds of the limbs. So faith is among the deeds of the heart. This is the legal reality that we must be aware of: that the heart has deeds, and that faith, whose abode is the heart, is also among the deeds of the heart. From here, it is easy for the Muslim to understand the Salafi creed, which states and affirms that faith increases and decreases. This creed is derived from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). In the Book of Allah, there is more than one verse that explicitly states that faith increases: , so what increased them was only faith. This is a text that faith increases, as He also said: ; so faith accepts increase, and everything that accepts increase also, conversely, accepts decrease. From here comes the Salafi creed that faith increases and decreases. The evidence for its increase is righteous deeds, and the evidence for its decrease is evil deeds.