Iman bil Qist

[Arsalan]

Iman bil Qist Al-e-Imran (The House of Imran) Sura 3: Verse 18 "Allah, the angels and the people of knowledge all bear witness that there is no god but He, upholding justice. There is no god other than Him. He is supreme and most wise." Belief in Allah is strengthened by the knowledge that His dominion is firmly established on justice. This is most significant as a part of faith. It occupies a most prominent place in the scheme of Islam, so much so that justice and Islam are almost synonymous and interchangeable. According to Ustadh Farahi, this attribute is significant for the following reasons: Firstly, iman, or faith, is derived from aman or trust. In other words, trust is its intrinsic part. This means that for a person to have faith, he must have a firm belief in the existence of Allah. This cannot be achieved unless we accept that reason is initially given to humans in order to guide rather than misguide them. Human reason is an instrument of justice placed within human beings. This, in turn, leads us to yet another conclusion: the Creator has created and fashioned nature on the principles of truth and justice, as He essentially loves justice and wills to establish and confirm it in all its forms. Secondly, the essence of iman is love for Allah. We believe in a Deity Whom we adore and love, to Whom we look with hope and strive to win His pleasure. This is not possible unless we firmly believe that He is free of all traces of injustice and cruelty and that He will reward only those who obey Him and punish those who justly deserve such recompense for their misdeeds. To love an unjust and cruel master is utterly abhorrent to human nature. Thirdly, the incentive to believe in Allah that arises out of our reflection over His blessings and the manifestations of His grace is rooted in our sense of gratitude. But this sense of gratitude becomes active only when we accept that we owe it to Him as our true Benefactor and as a necessary consequence of His blessings upon us. That is why the Quran describes shirk, or associating others with Allah, as injustice; while iman, or belief, is described as an act of gratitude. Under this principle, the privilege of entitlement to rights is linked to the obligation of establishing justice as a necessary condition. Every Divine law is essentially based on justice and equity. Fourthly, the first fruit of iman is obedience to Allah while the fruit of obedience is the attainment of the pleasure of Allah. This relationship between actions and their effects has been established by Allah through His acts of creation and command and His arrangement and control of affairs. He has explained and guided us to this right way of obedience by various means. As we fully believe in these consequences of human actions, we obey and serve our Creator and Sustainer and place our trust in His promise. In the absence of such a faith and trust in His promise, the entire basis and fabric of our actions and our life collapses. Thereafter, we will have no option but to put our trust in deviant hopes and beliefs. To safeguard ourselves against such deviance, it is essential to believe that Allah is established in justice and maintains justice and, moreover, that all His promises are trueiman bil qist Compiled From: "Pondering Over The Qur'an: Surah Ali Imran" - Amin Ahsan Islahi