Allah Ta’ala has said in His Glorious Qur’aan:
انما المؤمنون الذين إذا ذكر الله وجلت قلوبهم وإذا تليت عليهم آياته زادتهم إيماناً و على ربهم يتوكلون.
The Imam of Mujahideen, Sayyidul Anbiyaa’ wal Mursaleen Nabi SAW had said:
إن الايمان ليخلق في جوف أحدكم كما يخلق الثوب الخلق . فإسئلوا الله أن يجدد الايمان في قلوبكم.
“Imaan wears out in the heart of any one of you just as clothes wear out. So pray to Allah to renew the Imaan in your hearts.”
Iman is the core of everything in our life. It is that valuable diamond which we need to constantly polish with our obedience to Allah, because with Iman, we will know what to do and what to achieve in this world. Iman is the torch we should use to light the darkness of our life. Now, the question is, “Is our battery of Iman charged enough to help us find our way to Jannah?”
According to the hadith, Nabi SAW said that the Imaan in our heart won’t always stay as sound and strong as we want it to be. It gets strong and increases through us performing good actions but it weakens and decreases, sometimes because of the deficiencies in our Ibadah and sometimes it is because of the whispers of the Syaitaan. Whatever the cause maybe, when Imaan is weak, there’ll be some sign, very important to recognize these signs so that we are able to rectify ourselves and restore our Imaan.
The first sign of weak Imaan is when a person commits sin and he does not feel guilty about it and disobeying Allah becomes his habit. One man came and asked Rasulullah SAW:
رسول الله ، ما الايمان ؟ يا
Nabi SAW said:
إذا سرتك حسنتك و ساءتك سيئتك فانت مؤمن.
What is Imaan? It is when your good action pleases you, and your bad action displeases you.
For every sin committed, one black spot will appear on the heart. If that is not removed and cleaned by making Istighfar, then the black spot stays and when he commit another one, it increases from 1 to 2, from 2 to 3 and will eventually blackens the heart and hardens it totally. As a result, that person has no desire to read the Qur’an. Or, even if he reads or hears the recitation of the Qur’an, he doesn’t feel anything in his heart. And that is the 2nd sign of weak Imaan.
3rd sign of the weakness of Imaan is that he finds difficulty in remembering Allah. For example, he enters the toilet without the remembrance of Allah, he eats without Bismillah, he sleeps whenever his eyes close forgetting the dua Allahummabismika amutu wa ahya La Ilaha Illallah. He becomes restless to finish even the simple tasbih Fatimah.
Remember? Allah mentioned the quality of the true believers, they are those whose hearts trembles when Allah’s name is mentioned, and their Imaan increases when the ayaat of Allah is recited upon them!
انما المؤمنون الذين إذا ذكر الله وجلت قلوبهم وإذا تليت عليهم آياته زادتهم إيماناً و على ربهم يتوكلون.
4th sign of weak imaan is that this person knows that wine and beer etc are haram. He’ll definitely not go to a shop and buy a bottle of Carlsberg. But because of the weakness of his faith, he’s unable to refrain himself from doubtful food and drinks. He eats just whatever is available. He avoids the haraam, but not the makrooh.
The 5th sign is that a heart with weak imaan is unstable and uneasy, so he becomes very moody and impatient. He gets upset and irritated about petty things very easily whereas a Mu’min is patient, calm, and he’s a positive person because there’s Allah and contentment in his heart.
If we are in any of these 5 situations, that means we have to go to the doctor to get some medicine for our heart and Imaan. Not normal doctor, but Iman doctor who will help us strengthen our Imaan. Who? The people who speaks about Allah Ta’ala, the greatness of Allah, the love of Allah… Find the opportunity to join them speaking about Allah, so that our knowledge regarding Allah increases, and when we are alone; ponder about Allah as much as possible. Look at the skies, how Allah raised it with His power, look at huge mountains how Allah erected them and placed them firmly on the ground. Look at the ocean how vast and wide and look at ourselves, how Allah created us, from a drop of water, to a walking, moving and talking human beings. Amazing is the work of Allah.
Another way of increasing Imaan is to constantly make taubah. Taubah removes the black spots of sins from our heart. Allah Ta’ala is the Most Merciful. Allah Ta’ala says:
يا عبادي، لو بلغت ذنوبك عنان السماء ثم استغفرتني غفرت لك ولا أبالي
If you sin, and continue sinning till your sins reach the clouds of the skies, then you seek forgiveness, and you repent, I will forgive and I will not even mind forgiving you.
إن الله يبسط يده بالليل ليتوب مسيء النهار و يبسط يده بنهار ليتوب مسيء الليل
He spreads His hand during the night so that the sinners of the day may repent, and He spreads His hand during the day so that the sinners of the night may repent. So day and night the door of Allah’s mercy is open. Knock, Allah is there and will answer our duas.
It is said of a famous companion of Nabi SAW, Hadrat Abdullah bin Abbas (RA) when he heard the adzan, he cried so much that his shawl would get wet with his tears and his eyes would become red. Somebody said to him: “We don’t see anything in Adzaan that should make you so nervous.” He replied: “If people understood what the Muazzin announced to them, they would give up sleep and forsake their comforts.
Performing our 5 times daily solah with punctuality and according to the Sunnah, believing that I’m not just fulfilling one of the fardh, but I’m standing, in front of Allah, and speaking to Allah. Every day from Subuh prayer until Isha, stand with the intention “I want to perform this solah properly”. Gain proper knowledge regarding it, because solah connects us to Allah, The King of all kings.
To explain another way of increasing Imaan, I’d like to start to with a story. Once, a boy was asked by his grandfather: “Oh my grandson, go and fill this basket with clean water and bring it to me.” The boy looked at his grandfather confusedly and said: “But grandfather, it’s impossible to bring water in a basket. Plus, the basket is very dirty and black. “Just go”, said the grandfather.
So the boy went by the river, scooped out the water into the basket, and return to his home. But before he could reach home, all the water leaked out. He went back to the river, and tried to fill the basket with water many times but failed. At last the boy gave up, and went home with the empty pail. He said to the grandfather: “Grandfather, this action is useless, a basket cannot contain water.”
The grandfather said: ‘Oh my grandson, though you didn’t manage to fill the basket with water, but take a look at it again.” The boy realized the basket that was initially dirty and black is now sparkling clean!
The effect of Qur’an is the same. It cleanses and softens our heart. So instead of listening to music or watching TV during Ramadhan, rather use the ni’mat of the free time Allah has given us to prepare for our Akhirah, by either reciting the Qur’an ourselves or by inculcating the habit of listening to its recitation by the Qaris. This will increase our Imaan, and strengthen our heart because the words of Allah have light.
I will conclude by mentioning this one hadith: It is said that when Hadrat Harith bin Malik (RA) claimed that he was a mu’min to Nabi SAW, Nabi SAW asked him, what s the reality of your Iman? He replied: “I have kept my heart away from the worldly affairs, spent my night standing before Allah Ta’ala, kept my days in fasting, as if I see the throne of Allah Ta’ala being brought forth, as if I hear the dwellers of Jannah greeting each other and the wails of the dwellers of Jahannam. Nabi SAW said: A true Mu’min, whose heart has been enlightened.
Last but not least, benefit of Imaan is that when it increases, then the quality of our ibadah increases. We won’t feel that they’re a heavy burden; instead we’ll find easiness and sweetness. To gain that, InsyaAllah we should increase our dua’
اللهم ثبتنا على الإيمان وامتنا على الإيمان واحشرنا يوم القيامة مع الإيمان
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