Quran Academy

“…The Messenger of Allah said, “It (Imaan) is that you believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His Messengers and in the Last Day, and in qadar (fate), both in its good and in its evil aspects….” [al-Bukhari & Muslim

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Six components of Imaan:

Belief in Allah: This includes recognizing, affirming, testifying and believing that there is only one God, Allah; believing in His Names and Attributes as mentioned in the Quran and Sunnah.

His Angels: Believing in the existence of angels who belong to the world of the unseen in general, believing in their names that have been explicitly stated in the Quran and hadeeth, believing in their attributes and believing in the actions they perform.

His Books: Belief in revelations sent down by Allah to His Messengers like the Quran (revealed to Prophet Muhammad) Tawrah (revealed to Prophet Musa) Injeel (revealed to Prophet ‘Isa) and Zaboor (revealed to Prophet Dawood) amongst others.

His Messengers: A messenger is any human chosen by Allah to receive revelation from Him and pass that revelation on to his people. Muslims believe in all the Prophets sent by Allah from the starting of time until Muhammad who is the last Prophet.

The Last Day: On this day, every person is taken into account for every single deed of theirs, and rewarded with Paradise or punished with Hellfire. Belief in the Last day should make a believer rush to do good deeds and stay away from sins, repent constantly and seek Allah’s pleasure.

Qadar (fate), both in its good and in its evil aspects: When a Muslim realizes that all things are under the control and decree of Allah; it makes it easier for him to put his complete trust in Allah and surrender to Allah’s Will.

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According to the ahlus-sunnah-wal-jamaah:

Imaan is in the heart, tongue and physical actions.
Imaan increases and decreases.
People who have even the slightest amount of imaan in their hearts will enter jannah.
Imaan has more than 70 parts, the highest being confession that there is no God except Allah, and the lowest being removing a harmful object from the road. [Al Bukhari, Ibn Majah]

The earliest scholars defined imaan as the statement of the heart (affirmation) and statement of the tongue (verbal profession) and actions performed by the body.

A person with high imaan:

Completes his obligatory acts of worship like praying the fardh rakats of five daily prayers.
Goes one step further to fulfill the recommended acts of worship because of his extreme love, hope and fear in Allah.

For example:

Ø Prays all the sunnah rakats.

Ø Prays tahajjud (even if it’s just 2 rakats)

Ø Prays Salatul-Duha

Have you noticed that the extra acts of worship I’ve mentioned above, like praying tahajjud or salatul duha only take about 5-10 minutes of your time?! And the reward for spending 10 minutes extra in Allah’s worship: Higher levels in Jannah!

Imaan goes up and down

So, is it possible for a person to always be in a state of imaan high 24/7? No. It is common for Muslims to suddenly feel energetic and do all acts of worship, followed by days when doing even the obligatory acts of worship become burdensome.

What are some signs of weak imaan?

Having a hard heart and no desire to read the Quran.
Feeling lazy to pray or do good deeds
Not moved by the Quran
Don’t feel like reading Quran
Committing sins and not feeling any guilt.
Difficulty in doing dhikr or remembering Allah
Not worried about the punishments that are mentioned in the Quran

Steps to increase imaan:

So, wondering how you can get an imaan high? Follow these simple yet powerful steps inshaAllah!

Begin with isthigfar and avoid major sins: Sins have a direct effect on our hearts and souls, making us feel spiritually drained. Constantly engage in repentance, even if you don’t feel like. Allah notices the struggle that is going on in your heart, and He will help you come closer to him.

One step at a time: Pray 2 rakats and talk to Allah. Let Him know how you feel, why you’re feeling down, beg Him to get you back on His path and ask Him to raise you closer to Him. This always works, always.

Read Quran: If you haven’t read Quran for a long time, open the mushaf and read just half a page maybe or even less, take the first step, and the rest would be easy to follow inshaAllah.

Dua for imaan:

Abdullah ibn Masood (RA) narrated the following dua to be recited, asking Allah to revive your heart with imaan.

Allahumma zidna eemaanan wa yaqeenan wa fiq’ha

Translation: Oh Allah! Revive us on our faith, in our conviction/certainty and in our understanding.

Imaan buddies: The kind of friends you hang out with have a direct impact on your relationship with Allah. Surround yourself with friends who remind you of Him, so when you feel down, you can always go back to them to lift you up.

We have to always be on guard and make sure our imaan does not get corrupted, for a weak imaan can turn our life into something that is totally meaningless and purposeless. What is in our heart will manifest in our tongues, in turn driving our limbs towards it. So when your heart is filled with imaan, your tongue will only utter words that are pleasing to Allah, and your body will rush to do deeds that please Him. Let us strive to keep a check on the status of our hearts at all times insha’Allah

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