It is said that faith increases with the strengthening and multiplication of belief, and with the goodness and multiplication of speech and action. What does this mean, and how does faith increase with the multiplication of belief?

The questioner : It is said that faith increases with the strengthening and multiplication of belief, and with the goodness and multiplication of speech and action. What does this mean, and how does faith increase with the multiplication of belief?

The Shaykh : Yes, in the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy. One of the principles of the people of the Sunnah and the community, may Allah make us and you among them, is that faith increases and decreases. They have evidence for this: auditory evidence and sensory evidence. Among the sensory evidence is the saying of Allah the Exalted: , which encompasses the guidance of knowledge and the guidance of faith. And among it is the saying of Allah the Exalted: . And among it is the saying of Allah the Exalted: . All these verses are in which text? In the Qur'an, in the speech of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), which is the truest and clearest of speech. So the increase in it is clear. Now, what is the evidence for the decrease? The evidence is from the Sunnah and from the Qur'an as well. From the Sunnah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding women: . He describes the woman as deficient in religion and mentions the reason, saying: . And we also say that the evidence for the decrease is from the Qur'an as well, because increase is not conceivable except in contrast to decrease. If something is in excess of something, it necessarily follows that the second thing is deficient in it, without doubt. So if it is said: "But as for those who believed, it increased their faith," it necessarily follows that before that, they were less than what they became after the revelation of the verse. It is clear, my brothers. As for the sensory indication of the increase of faith, this is also apparent, because we believe that actions are part of faith. So, who is greater in faith: the one who prays four rak'ahs or the one who prays two rak'ahs? This is so that it may reach you.
The student: The one who prays four.

The Shaykh : And who prays four? Where is the prayer of four? We are talking about faith. Now, who knows? Yes, my brother?
The student: The one who prays four is greater.

The Shaykh : The one who prays four is greater in faith than the one who prays two. This is a sensory matter, there is no dispute. So certainty also feels the increase. If a man tells you that so-and-so arrived in Makkah today, and he is trustworthy, do you have faith in that or not? Now, another trustworthy man comes and tells you the same news. Does your certainty increase or not? It increases, without doubt. This is a known thing. A third man comes, and the certainty increases. The more the reports multiply, the more the certainty increases. So the people of the Sunnah and the community hold that faith increases and decreases, and their evidence for this is auditory and sensory.
Now, here the questioner says that faith increases with the strength of belief and with its multiplication, and it also increases with the multiplication of action. Yes, now, it increases with the strength of belief, that is clear. Allah the Exalted said about Ibrahim: . When Ibrahim witnessed Allah bringing the dead to life, did his certainty increase or not? So his faith increased. His faith also increased with the multiplication of belief. If someone told you about matters of the unseen with a report, and then told you with another report, you now have an increase in faith regarding something new. For example, if he told you about the Books but did not tell you about the angels, you have faith in what? In the Books only. So faith increased with the multiplication of belief. At first, you believe in one thing, and now you believe in two things. For this reason, it is said: . Why did it increase their faith? By the multiplication of belief that occurred with this new verse, the one revealed recently. And also by acting in accordance with this verse, faith increased. So faith increases, without doubt, with the multiplication of belief. What is meant by our saying "with the multiplication of belief" is with the multiplication of what a person believes, meaning his beliefs. The more the beliefs multiply, the more faith increases. For this reason, we find that as Allah opens up knowledge for a person, his faith in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) increases. As Allah opens up knowledge for him, his faith in Allah (Mighty and Majestic) increases. And as for his saying "the multiplication of action," this is also apparent. The multiplication of speech in action is clear.
If we say that actions are part of faith, it necessarily follows that faith increases with the multiplication of actions. And if we say that words are part of faith, it necessarily follows that faith increases with the multiplication of words. And words are part of faith, and actions are part of faith. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And this is an action, which indicates that actions and words are all branches of faith.