The Book of Faith-06a

The reciter: 'Ubayd Allah ibn Sa'id and 'Abd ibn Hamid narrated to us, saying: Abu 'Amir al-'Uqdi narrated to us, Sulayman ibn Bilal narrated to us, from 'Abd Allah ibn Dinar, from Abu Salih, from Abu Hurayrah, from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), who said: .

The Shaykh : These hadiths explain the branches of faith. "Shu'ab" is the plural of "shu'bah," which means a piece of something or a side of something. Faith has seventy-odd branches. The intended meaning here is faith in the general sense, not faith in the specific sense, which is the affirmation of the heart. In the broader sense, faith is divided into seventy-odd branches, some of which are speech, some are action, and some are abstention. Speech includes speech of the tongue and speech of the heart. Action includes action of the limbs and action of the heart. Thus, it comprises categories and types, and in this way it encompasses the entire religion. The saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), , in the following hadith with the following wording, indicates that speech of the tongue is part of faith. His saying, , indicates that action of the limbs is part of faith; it is the lowest of the branches, so it is among the branches of faith. Modesty is a trait that overtakes a person when something is present that causes him to feel shy. In reality, modesty is an emotional response of the heart, which also indicates that actions of the heart are part of faith. This is the position of the people of the Sunnah and the community: that faith is speech and action—speech of the heart and tongue, and action of the heart, tongue, and limbs. His saying, , but this is not absolute. If you wish, say: it is not absolute, because modesty in religion is an exception. Indeed, the modesty that prevents a person from doing what he should do in the religion of Allah is not part of faith. If you wish, say: the modesty in religion is not the modesty intended in the hadith at all; meaning, it was not included in the first place so that we would have to exclude it. Because modesty in matters related to religion is, in reality, cowardice. I give an example of this: a person wants to ask about an issue he is shy to mention, but it relates to his religion, so he does not ask. He says: "I am shy." We say: this modesty is not the praiseworthy modesty that is a branch of faith; rather, this is considered cowardice and timidity. For this reason, Umm Salim said to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): , to the point that Umm Salimah (may Allah be pleased with her) covered her face out of modesty. So this—meaning modesty in seeking the truth—is not the praiseworthy modesty that is a branch of faith, but rather timidity and cowardice. Ask about everything that concerns you from the matters of your religion and your worldly affairs, and there is no harm in that for you.