Chapter: The Increase and Decrease of Faith, and the Saying of Allah the Exalted: “And We increased them in guidance.”

The Reciter: In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. And all praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and all his Companions.
Al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Chapter on the increase and decrease of faith: and the saying of Allah the Exalted:

And We increased them in guidance

وزدناهم هدى

.

and those who have believed will increase in faith

ويزداد الذين ءآمنوا إيمانا

[Al-Muddaththir 74:31]

And He said:

This day I have perfected for you your religion

اليوم أكملت لكم دينكم

[Al-Ma'idah 5:3]

. So if one leaves off something of perfection, he is deficient."

The Shaykh : This chapter is very important and is based on fundamental principles: Does faith increase and decrease, or does it not?
People have differed on this: some said that it increases and decreases, and that people differ in its perfection; some said it does not increase or decrease; and some said we say it increases but we do not say it decreases. The correct view is that it is said to increase and decrease, as that was reported from the Salaf regarding the issue of decrease, and indeed the Sunnah came with this.
This is because people differed on faith: some said that faith is merely belief and affirmation, and this does not vary, so people are equal in it. This is the doctrine of the extreme Murji'ah, the extremists in the doctrine of deferring judgment. They say that faith is merely belief and affirmation, and this does not vary. There is no doubt that this view is not correct from two angles:
The first angle: that it is not merely affirmation and belief.
And the second angle: ...
First: their claim that faith is merely belief is not correct, because the texts are clear that deeds are part of faith.
And second: their claim that belief does not vary is also not correct, because the affirmation of the heart varies. The report of one person does not equal the report of two in terms of tranquility regarding it. That is, if a person informs you of a report and you feel at ease with this person and trust his words, then if another informs you, do you not increase in your trust?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And a third?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : You increase. For this reason, the scholars divided certainty into three categories: knowledge of certainty, the eye of certainty, and the truth of certainty, as indicated by the Qur'an. And Allah the Exalted said in the Qur'an: And He said regarding those who are dying: .
An example is given for this: a man says to you, “In this carton there are apples,” and he is trustworthy. So in your heart, you believe that what is in this carton is apples.
So if you open it and see them, that is the eye of certainty. If you eat from them, that is the truth of certainty. So the strongest degree of certainty is the truth, the truth of certainty. This indicates that certainty, let alone faith, varies. So how much more so faith?
Then, in the story of Ibrahim, , it indicates that what is in the heart of affirmation varies; it can be tranquility or less than that. So their claim is false by actual reality and by the revealed law.
There are others who say that it does not increase or decrease; either it exists in its entirety or it is absent in its entirety. They consider deeds to be part of faith, but they are a condition for its validity, like the Khawarij and the Mu'tazilah, who say that faith either exists in its entirety or is absent in its entirety. For this reason, they ruled that the doer of a major sin is outside of faith. But the Mu'tazilah say he is outside of faith, but we do not say he is a disbeliever; rather, he is in a position between two positions. The Khawarij say he is outside of faith and is a disbeliever, and there is no position between two positions, because Allah says: And He says: . There is no doubt that the Khawarij are closer to analogical reasoning than the Mu'tazilah, considering that there is no position between two positions, for this is an invented innovation.
The correct view is that of the people of the Sunnah and the community: that faith increases and decreases, and the indication of this is by the law and by sense.
As for the law, Al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him) cited as evidence the saying of Allah the Exalted: , “We increased them in guidance.” But there may be an objection to citing this verse as evidence, because the meaning of guidance here is knowledge. Because the original meaning of guidance is knowledge. And, as if the author, Al-Bukhari (may Allah have mercy on him), is saying that a necessary consequence of guidance, a necessary consequence of the increase of guidance, is that faith increases, because the more a person increases in knowledge of Allah, His signs, and His attributes, the more his faith increases.
He said: This is explicit. , .
Yes, the beginning of the verse: So in this is the affirmation of the increase of faith.
And he said: He explained this by his saying (may Allah have mercy on him): “So if one leaves out something of the perfection, he is deficient.” And he spoke the truth (may Allah have mercy on him). This is a unique form of reasoning: if today it was perfected for you, then before that it was not perfect, so it was deficient.
And it indicates this that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding women: And he made the deficiency in her religion due to her leaving off prayer and fasting during the days of menstruation. This is a deficiency in perfection, and not a deficiency in what is obligatory, because it is not obligatory for a woman to fast or pray during menstruation. Rather, if she prayed and fasted, that would be forbidden by consensus. Yes.