As children we are taught the 6 articles of Iman,
“that you believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in qadar, both in its good and in its evil aspects.” (Muslim)
What we are not taught, is the way in which we are meant to attain Iman. Yes, there is a process to Iman.
The scholars have defined Iman from the language and the Shariah texts as an irrefutable conviction that is deeply rooted in the heart. They also agree that Iman must comply with the sensed reality and be based on evidence. What does this mean?
This means that Iman is not something you are born into nor is it handed down from father to son, nor is it blind, unsubstantiated belief, nor can it be based on speculation or imitation. Rather belief in the fundamental tenets of faith must result from clear evidence. This evidence is either rational if the tenet to be proved can be sensed via the senses (e.g belief in Allah) or rational in origin, if it is inaccessible to the senses, but it comes via a source that has been intellectually confirmed (e.g belief in the angels). It is having evidence for belief that leads to conviction.
The Quran spends a great deal of time clarifying the correct path to Iman.
It tells us Iman cannot be based on guesswork,
And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger… they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. (4:157)
‘Verily, those who believe not in the Hereafter, name the angels with female names.While they have no knowledge thereof. They follow but a guess, and verily, guess is no substitute for the truth.’ (53:27-28)
It cannot be inherited from our forefathers,
And when it is said to them, “Come to what Allah has revealed and to the Messenger,” they say, “Sufficient for us is that upon which we found our fathers.” Even though their fathers knew nothing, nor were they guided? (5:104)
And We had certainly given Abraham his sound judgement before, and We were of him well-Knowing. When he said to his father and his people: “What are these images, to which you are devoted? They said:”We found our fathers worshipping them.” He said: “Indeed you and your fathers have been in manifest error.” (21:51-54)
It cannot be based on our whims and desires,
And they say: “None shall enter Paradise unless he be a Jew or a Christian.” Those are their (vain) desires. (2:111)
They are but names which ye have named, ye and your fathers, for which Allah hath revealed no warrant. They follow but a guess and that which (they) themselves desire.(53:23)
Rather Iman must be based on irrefutable evidence,
Say: I only follow what is revealed to me from my Lord; these are clear proofs from your Lord and a guidance and a mercy for a people who believe. (7:203)
These people of ours have taken for worship deities other than Him, without being able to show any convincing proof of their beliefs. Who does more wrong than he who invents a lie about God? (18:15)
Is He [not best] who begins creation and then repeats it and who provides for you from the heaven and earth? Is there a deity with Allah? Say, “Produce your proof, if you should be truthful.” (27:64)
without solid evidence, it is mere fabrication,
And they have no knowledge thereof. They follow but a guess, and lo! a guess can never take the place of the truth.(53:28)
To this end, the Quran repeatedly insists we make use of our intellect (عَقْل) to arrive at belief in Allah t’aala. From the very first word revealed to Prophet Mohammad (SAW) ‘read’ (ٱقْرَ), to countless ayaat that urge us to ‘think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth’ (3:110), to ‘look at the signs of Allah’s mercy’ (30:50), to ‘contemplate within themselves’ (30:8), the Quran awakens our mind to the signs of Allah in the created universe, so that our Iman is rooted in observation and critical thinking.
The evidence of the existence of the Creator is exhibited in every single thing around us. When we look towards ourselves and at everything else in the universe, we observe that everything is subject to limitations: everything that we perceive ultimately dies; nothing is self-sustaining; we all have limited physical qualities (shape, size, colour, height, temperature, volume etc.) that we did not ascribe to ourselves; none of us have a choice in the matter of our birth or death; we are all incapable of creating from nothingness.
Indeed the Quran repeatedly pushes us to observe how limited we and everything around us is. Thus do we expound arguments to point the way to reality for the people of understanding. (30:28),
How dare you deny the existence of God Who gave you life when you initially had no life. He will cause you to die… (2:28)
Say: Have you considered: if Allah should take away your hearing and your sight and set a seal upon your hearts, which deity other than Allah could bring them [back] to you? (6:46)
Or, Who has created the heavens and the earth, and Who sends you down rain from the sky? Yea, with it We cause to grow well-planted orchards full of beauty of delight: it is not in your power to cause the growth of the trees in them. (27:60)
Say: Have ye thought: If (all) your water were to disappear into the earth, who then could bring you gushing water? (67:30)
Say: Have you considered: if Allah should make for you the night continuous until the Day of Resurrection, what deity other than Allah could bring you light? Then will you not hear? (28:71)
Say, [O Muhammad], “Have you considered that which you invoke besides Allah? Show me what they have created of the earth; or did they have partnership in [creation of] the heavens? (46:4)
O mankind! A similitude has been coined, so listen to it (carefully): Verily! Those on whom you call besides Allah, cannot create (even) a fly, even though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly snatched away a thing from them, they would have no power to release it from the fly. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought.(22:73)
All these limitations, which have been imposed on us and over which we have no control attest to the fact that we are all created, and so there has to be an external source responsible for creating everything. This source is Allah ta’aala, who it follows must be eternal and independent, for if He was limited then He too would be created by someone and thus not the Creator. Allah ta’aala’s existence is inevitable for all things depend on Him for their existence.
The Quran is relentless in trying to awaken the human mind, pushing it to think and arrive at this conclusion,
Have they been created from nothing or are they themselves their own creators? Or did they create the heavens and the earth? … (52:35-36)
We know out of nothing comes nothing, things come to be because something or someone made them happen. We know we did not create ourselves. Nor are we capable of creating the heavens or the earth.
Again and again the Quran draws our attention to the fine-tuned universe and everything within it, urging us to reflect on its complexity, vastness and beauty, so that Iman in Allah ta’aala is arrived at through reason,
Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason. (2:164)
Do you not see that Allah causes the night to enter the day and causes the day to enter the night and has subjected the sun and the moon, each running [its course] for a specified term (31:29)
He created the heavens without any pillars that ye can see; He set on the earth mountains standing firm, lest it should shake with you; and He scattered through it beasts of all kinds. We send down rain from the sky, and produce on the earth every kind of noble creature, in pairs. (31:10)
And lo! in the cattle there is a lesson for you. We give you to drink of that which is in their bellies, from betwixt the refuse and the blood, pure milk palatable to the drinkers. (16:66)
And on the earth are signs for those who have Faith with certainty, And also in your ownselves. Will you not then see? (51:20-21)
So let man see from what he is created! He is created from a water gushing forth proceeding from between the back-bone and the ribs (86:5-7)
And of His signs is your sleep by night and day and your seeking of His bounty. Indeed in that are signs for a people who listen. (30:23)
It is sufficient to draw our attention to anything within the universe to prove the existence of Allah ta’aala.
Now it is true that belief in the Creator is innate in every man. The Prophet (SAW) said, ‘Every child is born in a state of fitrah…’(Bukhari)
But this innate awareness of the Creator is due to the religious instinct which has been created in man and is triggered when we feel weak and needy,
Say, Who rescues you from the darknesses of the land and sea [when] you call upon Him imploring [aloud] and privately, ‘If He should save us from this [crisis], we will surely be among the thankful.’ (6:63)
And when harm touches men, they cry sincerely only to their Lord (Allah), turning to Him in repentance…(30:33)
If man were to respond to this agitation of the religious instinct, without using the mind, it can lead to error and the worship of others thought to be worthy of worship, all the while acknowledging the existence of the Creator.
And when they board a ship, they supplicate Allah , sincere to Him in religion. But when He delivers them to the land, at once they associate others with Him (29:65)
For this reason, emotion on its own, is an unreliable path to Iman. Idol worship, mythology, anthropomorphism, and giving divine attributes to human beings are just some examples of mistakes that occur when one relies on emotion alone. This is why Islam obligates that emotion be tempered by the mind so that man only worships the One whom the innate nature is guiding to.
Every muslim must come to Iman in Allah ta’aala through conscious, rational reflection based on what we can sense and observe, so that Iman in Him (SWT) is absolutely certain.
I call on Allah with sure knowledge… (12:108)
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