The Faith Revival
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Ep. 1: Faith is Refuge | The Faith Revival
http://youtu.be/hYQEW37_hWM
Before exploring different methods of reviving and protecting our faith, it's important to understand the meaning of faith itself. In the first episode, Sh. Omar Suleiman explores what faith is, particularly its role as a protector - a refuge.
Transcript
This transcript was auto-generated using AI and may contain misspellings. As-salamu alaykum everyone, welcome to the faith revival where every day this month I'm going to take you through a saying, a verse, a tip on how we can revive our faith, renew our faith, maintain it and keep it strong well beyond this month. So what I'm going to need you to do from the very beginning is to commit to watching all 30 videos. And the reason being is that a lot of times when we talk about faith and we talk about how to settle faith in the heart and how to maintain our faith, we talk about it in an almost random fashion. But the truth is that there is a methodology that is laid out for us from divine revelation and from those that practice that divine revelation in a way that we can continue to emulate until the end of times. So when we talk about iman, when we talk about faith, what does faith mean? From a technical perspective we know about imanu billah, to believe in God, to believe in the angels, to believe in the messengers, to believe in the scriptures, to believe in the day of judgment, to believe in divine decree. But it goes beyond just that belief. So that's the technical definition, to believe in those six pillars of iman. Ahl as-sunnah also speak about it as a belief that encompasses all of your limbs. So it's qawlun bil-lisan, it's testifying with your tongue, to say that I believe in Allah, and I believe in His messenger, and I believe in all of the implications of that statement of belief. But it also has to settle in the heart. So it's qawlun bil-lisan, but it's it's it's conviction in the heart. As some of the scholars said, it's not simply tasdiq, it's not simply to acknowledge faith externally with the tongue, but it's also to have this qarar, this conviction, this settlement in the heart. And then it has to extend to the limbs. So it has to be amlun bil-jawarih, it has to be actions with the limbs, yazidu bil-ta'a wa yanqusu bil-maasiyah, it increases when a person does good, it decreases when
a person does evil. However, in the linguistic meaning of iman, there's something very powerful. The word iman comes from the word amn, which means safety, tranquility, to be assured that nothing will come to you of harm, to have no fear. And we find this in many different verses in the Quran, where Ibrahim alayhi salam, where Abraham establishes the sanctuary, رب جعل هذا بلدا آمنا, Oh Allah make this a place of safety and security. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says that on the day of judgment the believers would assume maqam an-amin, a safe place, a place of tranquility. So iman brings safety. It also means to safeguard a trust. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is also al-mu'min, Allah safeguards his believers, he safeguards those that place their trust in him. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala does for them as he promises. So iman comes from this word safety. And if you think about what that means in the comprehensive sense, safety of the heart from all of the diseases that could corrupt it, the safety of the eyes and the safety of the limbs and the safety of our deeds, from all of the misdeeds that could corrupt those deeds, all of those things that could take us away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Safety in this world from delusion, safety in the hereafter from the punishment of God, safety from despair. If a person has iman, they have hope, and so they do not fall into despair. They have safety from any type of despair that would take them away from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and cause them to forget their purpose in life. Safety from the devil, safety from the corruption of the soul, safety from the corruption of evil friends. Of course iman provides all of those benefits, faith provides all of those benefits for us to fully realize it in all of those different things. Now the tip that I want you to take, and I'm going to give you one of these, at
least one of these in every video, there's a very powerful explanation from a scholar by the name of Imam al-Muzani rahimahu Allah ta'ala. He said that since iman means safety and security, so you safeguard yourself with belief in this world and the hereafter, and all of the comprehensive meanings of safety, you need to look to where your insecurity is in your creator. So for example, if you feel constantly afraid of people harming you, you need to renew your faith, you need to recognize that that's where you have a lack of iman in Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the protector. If you're always afraid of poverty, then that's where you need to renew your faith in Allah ar-Razzaq, and that's where you recognize that insecurity and you constantly try to establish your belief in the sustainer, Allah. So wherever you feel that insecurity coming from, that's where you know you have a weakness and a vulnerability in your iman, and that's where you need to settle it so that your iman can be comprehensive and encompass all of your limbs, all of your thoughts, all of your beliefs. So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us an iman, a faith that is fulfilling, that protects us from our deeds, that protects us from the corruption of ourselves, that protects us from any type of harm in this world or in the next, and we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to establish our faith in Him, and to realize all of the benefits of having that faith. Allahuma ameen. See you all next time. As-salamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
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