What are the indispensable conditions of faith in Islam?

Answer 1

The dearest act of worship to Allahu ta'ala is Muslims' loving one another. This is an indispensable condition of faith (iman). Faith is to believe in six fundamentals, and these six fundamentals are matters pertaining to belief. In order for faith in these six fundamentals to be valid, there are two additional conditions to be fulfilled. Just as time is the condition of salat-that is, just as a salat performed before its due time is not valid- so a person is not considered a Muslim if he believes in these six things without fulfilling the two conditions.

Of these two conditions, the first is faith in the ghayb, i.e., faith without seeing. It is to believe in Allah and His Messenger before death, before the curtain goes up from the eye, and before realities are seen. As a matter of fact, when Pharaoh was just about to be drowned, Allahu ta'ala drew back the curtain from his eyes. At the time he saw the realities he said, "I believe in the Lord of Musa," but his faith was not counted as valid because he believed in what he himself saw, not in what Hadrat Musa conveyed. It was not acceptable because he had not believed in the ghayb before seeing the facts.

The second condition is hubb-i fillah andbughd-i fillah. It is to deem Allahu ta'ala's friends to be friends and His enemies to be enemies, that is, not to love non-Muslims and the enemies of Allah and His Messenger and to love Muslims for the reason that they are Muslims. If a person bears another person enmity solely because he is a Muslim, he cannot be a Muslim even if he believes in the six fundamentals expressed in the Amantu. Therefore, Muslims' enmity toward one another is dangerous. Our religious superior state, "If you are to have a fight with anyone, then have a fight with yourselves-that is, with your nafses-which are disbelievers. Never glower at a Muslim, for it may cause animosity toward Allah's friend. In this case, you will go to Hell, may Allah forbid, even if you do not raise your heads from prostration." It is incredible how a Muslim backbites his Muslim brother and speaks unfavorably of him. If the name of a Believer has been written on a wall, one should, when passing by there, button up one's jacket and walk respectfully, for the name of a person who believes in Allahu ta'ala and His Messenger is written there. In other words, there is the friend of Allah. Accordingly, a person is not considered to have believed if he does not meet these two conditions.

Great persons used to become miserable when one of their disciples was a little cross with another disciple. The event that used to sadden them the most was this because in such a situation one party is right. Since both parties are Muslims, why should one of them burn because of resentment? Let us put our hands into fire, so that we see then what fire, fights, unlawful things, and backbiting are, because unlawful things are fire. How can a Muslim go to the Fire? This means to say that he forgets and does not see the Fire; thus, he is going to it. For this reason, those who look at something with the worldly eyes are deceived. Those who had a look with these eyes did not even believe in our Master the Prophet. They saw him, but they supposed him to be an ordinary human like themselves as they looked at him with these eyes. Those who saw him with their hearts' eyes were saved, while those who saw him with the eyes on their heads were burned.