Islamic Faith (A’qeedah) and the Power to change

Islam drives its greatness from the strong faith (A’qeedah) it establishes in Muslims  hearts. However, faith without  practice is meaningless. In fact the purpose behind the obligatory acts of worship, which are the pillars of Islam: prayers, charity, fasting, and pilgrimage, is to provide faith continually with nourishment, survival, and effectiveness so that faith will light our hearts and prevail in every aspect of our life.

When correct faith is deeply rooted in beleiver’s heart through practicing it will raise him above the low materialism and always direct him toward high virtues, goodness, and nobleness of life.

That is why,  the Prophet (pbuh) spent 13 years establishing firm faith in the hearts of his companions. Indeed faith makes miracles. Faith changed the Arabs who were just herders of sheep  into the leaders for mankind and enabled them to spread the light of Islam to the east and west.

The Impact of Islam upon Arabs

To realize how marvelous the impact of Islam upon Arabs was, let us have a look at the pre-Islamic Arabia. Arabs before Islam lived in scattered communities here and there in Arabia. Although, they possessed high virtues and qualities, they played no significant role in the world at that time. They were well known of sharp memory, unbeatable in eloquence and skills in use of the language. They were free people who valued freedom and honor more than their lives. They were famous of being bold, generous, truthful, firm in determination, loyal and trustworthy.

Their life before Islam

However, corruption, and disorder dominated their life. They deviated from the religion of their father Abraham, monotheism. Although they believed in one God, their creator, they worshipped different idols beside Him. Polytheism was so deeply rooted in their life that people were competing in collecting idols and building temples for them.  Tribal prejudice was strong, and people were involved in long inter-tribal wars for trivial reasons. Their  social life was degraded; drinking, gambling, usury, adultery, and fornication were very common. Women had no rights. They were looked upon as mere sex objects. Daughters used to be buried alive.

What Changed them

Islam changed them completely. They firmly believed from the depth of their hearts in the Almighty Allah, the true one God, the absolute perfect Power in the universe, the Living, the Eternal, the Self-Subsisting, the Supporter of all the creatures, the Master of the universe, nothing could happen but by His permission, the Most High, the Supreme,  the Lord of all the worlds, the heavens and earth belong to Him alone, none shares with Him  His Authority, His Kingdom, His Sovereignty and His Rule, the all Hearer, the all Knower, nothing is hidden from Him, He is well Aware of everything, big or small, visible or invisible, closed or disclosed, all the finest secrets, the thoughts that cross our minds and our intentions, the past, the present, the future, and there is nothing whatever is similar to Him.

They totally yielded to Allah

This strong faith in Allah reformed their lives and was the source of their strength, pride, and dignity.

They yielded to nobody but Allah.

They feared nobody but Allah.

They turned to no body for support but Allah.

They put their trust in nobody but Allah.

Pleasing Allah was their ultimate goal.

They were determined to face and fight against all forces of evil on the earth with full confidence in the ultimate success and victory from Allah.

When Muslims  conquered Persia, the leader of  Persian army,

Rostom asked Ruba’a Inb A’amer, “Who brought you out of your land.? We know that it is only  hunger and need that brought you out of  your land; go back to your home and we will send you food, cloths, and money.”   

Ruba’a said, proudly : ”Allah has sent us to bring whom He wants from the worship of people to the worship of Allah alone, from the narrowness of this world to the wideness of the Next-World, from the oppression of religions to the justice of Islam”.

Omar and the city Jerusalem

The high priests of the city Jerusalem refused to give the keys of the holy city to Abu-Obaydah Ibn Al-Jarrah. They siad:”We do not find your descriptions in our Books” and requested the Caliph Omar to come to Jerusalem.

When Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived to Jerusalem he was dressed in an old  shirt with 14  patches (although he was the Caliph, he could not afford to buy for himself a new shirt).

Abu-Obaydah Ibn Al-Jarrah advised him to dress up in formal clothes so people show respect for him, Omar said: “We were the most humiliated people and Allah raised us with Islam, if we seek dignity in other sources we will definitely fail”.

When the high priests of  Jerusalem saw Omar, they handed him the keys saying: ”You are the right person. We find your descriptions in our  Books, a humble person dressed in an old shirt with 14 patches.” 

Strong faith is just like a good tree that never stop producing fruit day and night, summer or winter. When we taste the sweetness of  faith and make it dominate our lives it will certainly help us to,

1) purify our hearts from all diseases: arrogance, selfishness, wickedness, oppression, hatred, envy, viciousness, indecency,…ext.

2) resist the temptation for immoral practices and get rid of the evil effects of the degraded environment around us.

3) develop our full capacity for improving our selves and striving for good deeds as hard as we can.

4) strengthen the ties of brotherhood amongst us and keep us united.

5) progress in all fields of life because believers are encouraged to exploit all the resources Allah created in earth in order to enrich the growth of human civilization.

6) make us qualified to attain the guidance and support of Allah (swt) as a fulfillment of His promise in Quran to  lead a life of  contentment and purity. 

We, Muslims should take a lesson from the example of the companions of the Prophet (pbuh) and make Islam  the only source of our dignity and power, and turn to no body for help but Allah as they did.

Indeed, the only way for Muslims  to restore their position in the world is by correcting their beliefs in Allah and holding fast to His way.  They will verily be the source of guidance and mercy for the world as former Muslims  were, and will be able to face and fight against all forces of evil on the earth with full confidence in the ultimate success and victory  from Allah.   

Let the last of our prayers be: ‘All praises are due to Allah, The Lord of all the worlds”.