Theological Instructions

LESSON FIFTY-FIVE: THE INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FAITH AND DEEDS

Introduction

We have realised so far that the main factors leading to eternal prosperity or adversity are faith and disbelief, and that secure faith guarantees eternal prosperity, but the committal of sins will result in limited punishment. On the other hand, constant disbelief will bring about eternal adversity and will cause good deeds to become obliterated.

Moreover, it was pointed out that faith and disbelief can be weakened or intensified and it is possible that the accumulation of sins will result in the destruction of faith; on the contrary, the performance of good deeds may weaken the root of disbelief and pave the way for the development of faith.

This clarifies the importance of the question about the relationship between faith and deeds. This lesson attempts to answer such a question.

The relationship between faith and disbelief

Our previous discussions clarified the point that faith is a spiritual state, originating from knowledge and an attitude that necessitates the believer to behave in accordance with the requisites of what he believes in.

Therefore, one who is aware of a truth and decides not to behave according to its requisites does not have any belief in it. Such a person, even in the case of doubting as whether to behave according to the requisites of that truth or not, will still be categorised as a disbeliever. The Holy Qur’an maintains:

“The Bedouins say, ‘We have faith’. Say, ‘You do not have faith yet; rather say, ‘we have embraced Islam,’ for faith has not yet entered into your hearts” (al- Hujurāt:14) Moreover, true faith is comprised of different stages; however, the accomplishment of each stage does not necessitate the performance of all its requisites. It is probable that, in a weak believer, excitement due to lust or anger may causes rebellion; however, it might not necessarily cause him to rebel permanently and struggle against his faith and all its requisites. Nevertheless, the stronger and more complete the faith, the more effective it will be in committing deeds accordingly.

To sum up, having faith naturally necessitates behaving in accordance with its requisites; however, the extent of that depends on the weakness or intensity of one’s faith and finally this is the will and decision of the individual, which determines the performance, or abandonment of the deed.

The relationship between deeds and faith

Any arbitrary act is either deserving and in line with one’s faith or undeserving and contradictory to it; the former strengthens the faith and makes one’s heart brighter while the latter weakens the faith and darkens the heart. Therefore, any good deed committed by a believer will not only originate from his faith but will also strengthen and stabilise it, paving the way for other good deeds. The effect of good deeds on the perfection of one’s faith can be understood from the following verse:

“To Him ascends the good word, and He elevates righteous conduct” (Fātir:10)

Provided that the subject pronoun refers to (al-‘amal al-sālih) (righteous conduct) and the object pronoun refers to al-kalām al-tayyib (good word).

In the same way, in a number of verses, the Holy Qur’an maintains that the promotion of belief, enlightenment, and guidance in good-doers is the consequence of their good deeds (Refer to: Āl-‘Imrān:172, al-Anfāl:2, al-Tawbah:124, al-Kahf:13, Maryam:76, al-Ahzāb:22, Muhammad:17).

However, if opposing motives appear against the requisites of faith and if they lead to undeserving acts and one’s level of faith is not high enough to prevent them, faith will begin to weaken and this in turn will pave the way for the repetition of sin. The continuation of this process will lead to greater sins and their repetition, and this will eventually threaten the essence of faith and (May I ask for God’s shelter) convert into disbelief or hypocrisy.

The Holy Qur’an in relation to those who ended up as hypocrites’ claims:

“So He caused hypocrisy to ensue in their hearts until the day they will encounter Him, because of their going back on what they had promised Allah and because of the lies they used to tell” (al-Tawbah:77) The Holy Qur’an states elsewhere:

“Then the fate of those who committed misdeeds was that they denied the signs of Allah and they used to deride them” (al-Rūm:10) Similarly, in many verses, the Holy Qur’an discusses the increase of disbelief, darkness, and hard-heartedness in the sinners (See: al- Baqarah:10, Āl-‘Imrān:90, al-Nisā:137, al-Maidah:68, al-Tawbah:37, al-Isrā’: 60,82, al-Saff: 5,9,24).

Conclusion

Concerning the interrelationship between faith and deeds and their role in man’s prosperity, it seems reasonable to compare prosperous life with a tree (See: Ibrahim: 24-27) whose roots resemble faith in the unique God, His prophets, messages, and Resurrection; the trunk resembles the decision made for behavior in accordance with the requisites of faith originating directly from it; the branches and leaves resemble the deserving deeds which originate from the root (faith), and finally, its fruit will be the eternal prosperity. Had it had no root, there would be no trunk, branches, or leaves nor would it bear any fruit.

However, there is no guarantee that the roots will always result in suitable branches and desirable fruits; rather it is often possible that due to unsuitable conditions of the environment and various diseases, a number of branches fail to grow, and any fruit that is born may instead cause the death of the tree.

Moreover, it is possible that due to specific grafts on the branches, trunk or even the roots of the tree, either its appearance or the whole plant may change into another tree. This event resembles the change from faith into apostasy.

To conclude, faith with relation to the topics discussed above will be the main factor affecting man’s prosperity; however, the complete effect of such a factor depends on the absorption of necessary nutrition, by the performance of deserving acts, and the destruction of diseases and harmful elements, by the avoidance of sins.

Finally, the abandonment of obligatory deeds and the committal of forbidden acts weaken the root of faith and will occasionally result in its death just as grafting (believing in) wrong ideas causes change in the nature of faith.

Questions

  1. Explain the effect of faith on good deeds.

  2. Describe the effect of good or bad deeds on the weakness or intensity of faith.

  3. Explain the inter-relationship between faith and deeds and their correspondence with man’s prosperity.

LESSON FIFTY-SIX: SOME IMPORTANT POINTS

Introduction

Some of those who know little about Islamic culture evaluate man’s acts on the basis of superficial standards and pay no attention to the importance of one’s motivation or intention. In other words, they ignore ‘the doer’ in favour of ‘the action’. Such people may also think of a deserving act in relation to the extent to which it affects other peoples’ happiness. The advocates of such an idea will, nevertheless, deviate in their analysis of Islamic beliefs and thoughts or may misunderstand them. For instance, in realising the role of faith and its relation to good deeds, and on the other hand, the destructive role of disbelief and dualism they will face deviation. Similarly, they misunderstand the priority of some small short term acts over larger long term ones, and will, for example, suppose that the great inventors who brought tranquility to others or the liberals who struggled for their nation’s freedom should possess an exalted position in the Hereafter even though they have no belief in God or Resurrection. In some cases, they claim that the necessary faith for true prosperity is belief in humanitarian values and labours’ final victory in this world. For them, the concept of God equals a cultural value and an ethical ideal.

Although our discussions in previous lessons can distinguish weak and deviated points in the above thoughts, it seems reasonable, due to their spread, and at the same time, dangerous for the future generations, to explain them more.

However, detailed and comprehensive discussions need more time and space; therefore, what I present below is the most fundamental points with reference to their ideological aspect. I will, nevertheless, try to present my arguments so that the style of this book is not violated.

Man’s true perfection

If we compare an apple-tree with a fruitless one, we will find the apple-tree more worthy; this is not merely because man uses the fruit of a fruitful tree, rather the fact that such a tree is a more complete organism and is more effective, causes it to be naturally more valuable. However, if the same apple-tree faces disease and changes its way towards complete development, it will lose its value and may even become the origin of pollution and harm for others.

The same case applies to man in comparison with other animals. If man reaches his deserving perfection and presents the characteristics relevant to his creation, he will be more valuable than other animals. However, if he meets deviation, he will become inferior and more harmful than the animals. That is why the Holy Qur’an refers to some people as ‘worse than all living things’ (Refer to al-Anfāl:22) and ‘more astray than four- legged animals’ (Refer to al-A’rāf:179).

Moreover, if somebody observes the apple-tree up to when it blossoms, he may think it is at the highest stage in its development. Similarly, those who observe man’s middle stages of perfection will not be able to realise his true and final perfection.

Only those who are familiar with man’s final perfection will be able to understand his true values.

In addition, man’s true perfection is not the same as material or natural perfection because as I discussed earlier, the humanitarian aspect of man depends on his heavenly soul. Similarly his evolution is infact the evolution of his soul, which is performed through his own free deeds, happening either in his inside (heart) or outside and by means of different parts of his body. Such a kind of perfection cannot be recognised by means of experiments neither can it be measured through quantitative scales. Thus, it will not naturally be understood through laboratory tools.

Therefore, one who has not reached such perfection and has not realised it through his innate knowledge and ability, should try to understand it by means of intellectual theorem, revelation or Divine book.

Furthermore, revelation, Qur’anic teachings and traditions from the Prophet’s family members, ascertain that man’s final perfection is a stage in his life called ‘living close to God’ which is together with eternal blessings and Divine paradise presented to him in the Hereafter. The general way to this type of perfection is that worship of God and piety should dominate all aspects of one’s individual and social life.

From an intellectual point of view, more complicated theorems can be employed in this discussion, which necessitates a detailed philosophical introduction. However, in this section, I have attempted to provide a simplified explanation of the topic.

Intellectual clarification

Man naturally desires infinite perfection whose manifestations are knowledge and power; approaching such perfection results in endless pleasure and eternal prosperity.

However, infinite perfection is attainable when it is linked with the origin of infinite knowledge, power and absolute perfection - God; this link is called ‘closeness to God’ (See ‘Knowing oneself for empowering one’s soul’, by the same author).

Therefore, man’s true perfection, which is the aim of his creation, is achieved by means of his relationship and closeness to God. Thus, one who has not reached the first or the lowest level of faith is similar to a tree, which is not fully developed and has not born its first fruit. Such a tree will lose its capability for bearing fruit and will become worse than a fruitless tree if it faces disease.

Finally, the importance of faith’s role in man’s perfection and prosperity is because of his soul’s main characteristic - the intentional and free relationship with God - without which he will be deprived of deserving perfection and its traces; in other words, his humanitarian dimension will not be fulfilled. However, if man makes the wrong choice, he spoils such vital talents and damages his dignity; this, therefore, necessitates him to be punished forever. In this relation, the Holy Qur’an maintains:“Indeed the worst of beasts in Allah’s sight are those who are faithless; so they will not have faith” (al-anfāl:55) To summarise, both faith and disbelief determine man’s main way either towards perfection and prosperity or towards decline and adversity; the more powerful any one of them is in one’s life the more influential and determining it will be.

The role of motivation and intention

The above principle clarifies that the true value of man’s arbitrary deeds depends on their role in his approaching true perfection (i.e., closeness to God). Although the deeds, which promote one’s evolution in one way or another or even through some mediators undergo virtue and excellence, their effect on the doer’s eternal prosperity depends on the extent to which they affect his soul’s evolution.

Moreover, one’s own intention mediates his deeds and soul. Intention originates from one’s tendency, eagerness, and love towards the end or result of something. It, at the same time, causes movement within one’s soul towards its aim and is manifested as intention. Therefore, the value of an arbitrary act depends on the motivation and intention of its doer, and one’s good deeds without good intention will have no effect on the promotion of his soul neither will they affect his eternal prosperity. That is why deeds performed on the basis of material and worldly motivations will not affect eternal prosperity. Even causing the greatest benefit to society will be of no benefit to the performer, had they been done in a hypocritical way (Refer to al-Baqarah:245, al-Nisā’:38,142, al-Anfāl:47, al-Mā’ūn:6). Such deeds may even cause spiritual loss and decline. This is the reason why the Holy Qur’an has conditioned the effect of good deeds on eternal prosperity on faith and the intention of gaining closeness to God (Refer to al-Nisā’:124, al-Nahl:97, al-Isrā’:19, TāHa:112, al-Anbiyā:94, Ghāfir:40, al-An’ām:52, al-Kahf:28, al-Rūm:38, al-Baqarah: 207,265, al-Layl: 20).

In conclusion, firstly good deeds are not limited to working for the benefit of others.

Secondly, working for other people’s benefit like other individual acts of worship will be effective on one’s perfection and eternal prosperity provided that it originated from Divine motivation.

Questions

  1. What does one’s true value depend on?

  2. How is man’s final perfection recognised?

  3. Prove that man’s final perfection is achievable only if his life relates to God and being close to Him.

  4. Prove that the effect of good deeds on man’s eternal prosperity depends on his Divine motivation.