Yasir Qadhi – The Branches of Faith – 05 – The Definition of Iman

Yasir Qadhi

In this amazing talk by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi, we are made to ponder on the exact meaning of Iman, where it comes from and what aspects it encompasses.

This video will shake you to the core as one realises the great depth behind the meaning of Iman.  

Iman is more than just belief. There must be an emotional attachment that will then bring about a change in our life which will conform to the Iman in our hearts, which is beautifully explained by Shaykh Yasir Qadhi.

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The meaning ofseemaan believe is to believe in what it knows and follow it up in actions. It is the heart that is most important to eemaan, and it is the heart that is most important to eemaan. Love is seen as an action that shows up in one's behavior, and personal and daily transformation is necessary to achieve a spiritual transformation.

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			De La wa salatu salam ala rasulillah Allah Allah He was a woman who Allah.
		
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			So we are now getting to the topic this is going to be a little bit more technical for today. We've
talked about the blessings of a man. We've talked about some of the ways that a man has been
described in the Quran and the Sunnah. But we haven't actually talked about what is the reality of a
man? What does even mean what is the linguistic meaning of the word a man? And what does the term
eemaan entail in the Quran and Sunnah? So before we move on to some of the more spiritual aspects we
have to pause for today, and take a little bit of an academic look to deconstruct what exactly does
the word eemaan come from? And what does it imply from a technical perspective? The word eemaan
		
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			comes from the verb Amina and Amina means to give peace to give security. For example, in the surah,
Allah de atama, who means you are in what's the next verse? What Amana whom in house, he gave them
security so that they weren't scared. And Allah says, Amina Hello, Cora and yatirim. So were the
people of the city Didn't they feel a safety and security. So Amina means to give peace to. So the
concept of eemaan somehow also has to do with the concept of peace but not just any piece, because
another meaning of Amina is to believe in the truth of something. So I mean, it has two meanings
memorize this number one, to give security to grant peace, and number two, to believe someone or
		
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			something. So he man is to believe someone such that you get a sense of peace. So he man is to
believe to the level that you are certain that that belief is true, and that certainty is giving you
peace, for example, in the story of use of when the sons of one of the sons of Jaco did what they
did, they ran back the brothers of use of they ran back they said to their father, one unter B, Mo,
Mini, Lana, one acuna sada teen, you're not going to feel safe in believing what we're saying, most
men, even if we're telling the truth, you're not going to have a man in us, one man to be more men
Welcome nasaga. Even if we're sodic, you are not going to have a man in us. And they knew their
		
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			father did not have a man and what they're saying. So from a linguistic perspective, he man is the
concept of believing with such certainty that the certainty gives you peace. This is what the
linguistic meaning of a man is. And from a technical perspective, so he man is to believe in what
Allah wants you to believe, and to verbalize that belief, and then to follow it up in actions. In
other words, there are three fundamental pillars of eemaan belief in the heart, verbalizing on the
tongue, and then manifesting in actions. And this is something that all of the Sahaba into their
own, they agreed to. So to deconstruct these three pillars, number one, the heart number two, the
		
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			tongue number three, the actions as for the heart, and I need everybody to pay attention. It's a bit
of a technical issue here, the heart What does the heart do when it comes to a man? three functions?
Number one, to know? Number two, to believe in what it knows. And number three, to then emotionally
act upon the belief of what it knows I'll explain. Who is our Creator? A lot, this is knowledge. You
ask a Kaffir, who do Muslims believe is their Creator, the kafir will say, oh, Muslims believe Allah
is their Creator. Does the cafard have knowledge? Yes. Does he have a man? No, that's mere
knowledge. You ask the coffee, how many times there's a Muslim pray, he will say Muslim prays five
		
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			times a day. This is knowledge, okay? We have to have knowledge, but knowledge alone is not enough.
Knowledge must be followed by certainty in that knowledge is true. Okay, this is your thing. You
have to have certainty. So certainty means yes, I believe Allah created me, not just Allah is my
Creator, not just Muslims believe Allah created. Rather, I know. I am certain that Allah created me
that certainty in Arabic is called yaqeen. We have to have your key in anytime there's doubt there
is no demand because the meaning of a man is to believe with such certainty that you feel safe in
your belief. That's
		
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			What eemaan believes, so you have to have certainty. But then there is a third point as well. And
that is with that certainty, the heart becomes emotionally involved. There are emotions that come
with certainty. And this is a very technical point. And I'll give you a simple example that will
inshallah illustrate, to merely know and to believe is not a man, there must be something more than
belief even. And that's a key point I need you to memorize. And take away from this lecture. Eman is
not synonymous with belief, the two are not the same. A man is more than just belief in man is more
than just knowing something is true. There must be an emotional attachment and emotional acting,
		
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			that then changes our life, it brings about a difference. It's not just to know something, it is to
act upon what you know, from the heart, and the tongue and the body. And I'll give you the simplest
example, that are scholars of the past that are their own. They use this example throughout the
books of, of theology. And it's a very simple example. And that is the example of a police. The
example of a police. A police is a very interesting case study in what is not a man. If we could
interview at least we could ask him at least who created you, at least for say, Allah created me. We
will say Are you certain? You will say of course I'm certain I know Allah created me. It believes
		
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			believes in a law, he has your cane that Allah is his Rob, in fact, in the Quran, or the rugby under
de la Yomi bartholin, he believes makes the DA, oh my god, allow me to live until Judgment Day. So
it believes believes not only that Allah is the rub, but that he has to make dua to Allah, He makes
the right to a law because he knows no one will give him life other than a law. So he even raises
his hands and he says, Yeah, Rob, he believes the thing you're up, allow me to live until Judgment
Day. So he believes believes in the law. He has the occasion that Allah is the rub. It believes in
karma, it believes believes that Allah has sent the prophets he's not denying that. So he believes
		
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			believes believes believes is he beliefs a believer is a belief Minh? And obviously we say what?
Obviously not, of course not about what stuck but our academy none. Caffeine question. Why is he
believes a catheter, when he has yaqeen that Allah created him, he has the opinion that there's
judgement day he has yaqeen that Allah sends the prophets that Allah revealed the Quran. This is the
case study that will clarify Eman is not the same as belief. Because with all of that belief came
zero actions. His heart was so cold, so hardened, he became arrogant. So when Allah said do this, he
said, I'm not going to do it. He did not display the emotions that need to come for a man to be
		
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			called a man is that clear. And of those emotions is love of a law, fear of a law hoping the law of
those emotions is to worship a law at some minimal level, the heart has to have that. And I'll give
you another example that will help us understand what I mean when I talk about emotions of the
heart. We all know what it means to love. We love our children, we love our families. We love money.
We love this world. We all know what love means. Let me ask you, is it possible that you see your
child in danger, and you can protect your child with minimal effort and your child is in mortal
danger. For example, the toddler is just crawling and there's something dangerous is gonna fall over
		
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			maybe the edge of a cliff, something simple example like this, you see the baby and he's gonna fall
over the cliff. It's your own child, all you have to do is pick the child up and save no problem to
you. Is it called love that you just sit there and do nothing and you see your own son, your own
daughter fall into destruction. The fact of the matter is that may Allah protect all of us, we will
give our lives for our children. That's what love means. We will sacrifice ourselves for our
children. That's what real love is. See, love isn't just a word. I love you. It shows up in your
actions. your lifestyle will change. You will take care of your children. We hear the men here
		
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			especially know we go to work and we toil and we earn for our families, not for ourselves. We're
doing this so that they live a better life. That's what love means. Now somebody says I love my
child, and he does nothing for that child. He doesn't protect that child. He doesn't care. That's
not love. That's just speech of the tongue. That's just words being emitted. That don't mean
anything. If we understand this when it comes to love, how much more so when it comes to a man in a
law, a man in a law is not just I believe a law exists. That's not a man. That's one part of the
man. Obviously the one who doesn't believe a law exists is not a woman.
		
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			But the one who believes a lot exists does not become a Mormon, just by that belief, it is more than
that he has to be certain. And that certainty will lead to a peace of the heart. That's what he man
means the peace of the heart that comes with the certainty of belief that I know Allah exists. And
that knowledge will affect my lifestyle, it's going to change who I am, I will conform to that
belief. So the heart has to know believe, and then emotionally attached to that belief. This will
then be manifested in the tongue, and the tongue will then alter the Shahada. Somebody who does not
utter the Shahada is not a Muslim, and Abu Talib is the best example. I will thought it knew that
		
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			Islam was true. The Hadith is in Buhari, I will call him on his deathbed. And the prophet SAW some
is begging him, my uncle, just say this one kenema and I will be able to argue in front of a law
about your case, but Abuja had was there. And our Buddha has said your father of the mortality, he
would be embarrassed if you left his way, your father the legacy of Abdulmutallab. And so Abu Talib
knowing Islam was true, but see, he loved to be the son of his father more than he loves to be a
worship of Allah, the legacy of the giant Abdulmutallab. This was a legend amongst men. And I
thought it was the inheritor of that legend, who thought it was the caretaker of his father's
		
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			legacy. He loved that more than he loves submitting to a lot. Another example here actually is the
emperor of Rome, and it is in Bahati. When the Prophet system sent him the letter heraclius knew
Islam was true, he knew Allah is his creator, he knew he had yaqeen that the Prophet system is the
Prophet but he loved his empire more than he loved worshipping Allah. So he did not say the Kadima.
So, to refuse to say the Kadima is to refuse him. And then the third level of EMR, which is a
necessary pillar as well is that your body must follow up in some sense. Now, what is the minimal
sense? That is a very technical talk, and we're not going to necessarily go into it in these
		
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			lectures. But the point is, your life has to conform, most of our scholars say there must be some
sila in a person's life, a person has to pray, even if occasionally to manifest that he man. And of
course, this is a theoretical discussion in the human level. Anybody who says he or she is a Muslim,
we deal with them as a Muslim. We don't ask How many times do you pray, we don't ask about you know,
outwardly, somebody says they're a Muslim. We interact with them as they are Muslim. But from a
theoretical perspective, somebody who is a Muslim, there must be more than just a label. I am a
Muslim. There has to be a genuine emotional attachment to a lion is messenger. There has to be some
		
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			level of worship. And we're going to get to this tomorrow. The meaning of the Kadima, La Ilaha.
Illallah means there is no deity worthy of worship other than a law. So if you have no worship in
your life to Allah, you have not demonstrated the Kalima if there's no worship, no Salah, no such
the mosaic app, no good deed your lifestyle has nothing to do with Islam. Where is the worship?
Where is the Kadima? Therefore, and this is a theoretical point, from a real perspective. We don't
interrogate people, what do you do in your private lives, somebody comes and says, My name is
Mohammed, I'm a Muslim, Hamas, you deal with them as a Muslim, it's not your job to judge. But this
		
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			is an academic discussion for me and you to look at our own lifestyles. For me and you to understand
that a man is not just something that is theoretical, abstract, it's just knowledge. Allah is my
Creator. And the Prophet says my Prophet, the Koran is my book, even a beliefs checked all of these
boxes, and he is not a Mormon, because there was no emotions of the heart, and there was no actions
from the body. So to summarize today's lecture, as our scholars said, Eman is belief in the heart
and manifested in statements of the tongue and actions on the limb. It's not just theoretical
knowledge, and inshallah we'll continue discussion tomorrow, Santa Monica barakato