FAITH HAS VARIOUS DEGREES- THE LOWEST IS VERBAL CONFESSION

Feb 4, '13 10:54 AM for everyone

God, the Exalted, has said:

Those who believe and obscure not their faith with wrongdoing, theirs is safety; and they are rightly guided. (6:82)

Iman literally means 'affirmation,' that is, believing, and in the terminology of the seers means a particular kind of affirmation, an affirmation of that which is known for certain and has been declared by the Messenger, may peace be upon him. 

The knowledge (ma'rifah) of the Prophet is inseparable from the knowledge of the Sustainer, the Powerful, the Knowing, the Living, the Perceiving, the Hearing, and the Seeing One, Who wills and speaks and has sent the Messengers and revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad Mustafa, may God bless him and his Household, and set forth the laws, the duties, and the sunan, the lawful and the unlawful, as affirmed by the consensus of the entire Ummah.

Hence faith consists of these matters, neither more nor less. For if lesser, it would not be faith at all, and if more, the increase will be a higher degree of faith, contiguous to faith. And the sign of belief is to know, to say, and to do that which should be known, said, and done and to refrain from that which has been forbidden. These pertain to righteous conduct and are subject to increase and decrease and are an essential part of the aforesaid affirmation. That is why in all the places the mention of faith is accompanied with that of righteous action, as in the following [Qur'anic] statement Those who believe and perform righteous deeds ... . (2:25)

And it should be known that faith has various degrees, the lowest of which is verbal confession. The verses:
O you who believe, believe in God and His Messenger and the Book that He has sent down on His Messenger. (4:136)

The Bedouins say: 'We believe: Say (unto them O Muhammad): 'Ye believe not; but say, "We submit;" for faith has not yet entered into your hearts. (Yet, if you obey Cod and His Messenger, He will not with-hold from you aught of your deeds. Cod is indeed Forgiving, Merciful.') (49:74)
Above that is faith by imitation, which is a convinced affirmation of that which must be affirmed, but it is subject to decline. When convinced affirmation is achieved it is necessarily accompanied by righteous action:

The (true) believers are those only who believe in God and His Messenger and afterward doubt not, but strive (with their wealth and their lives for the cause o f God. Such are the sincere.) (49:15)

Superior to this faith in the Unseen, in accordance with [the words of the Qura'an] who believe in the Unseen' (2:3), which represents inward faith in transcendence, as if one were affirming something on the other side of a curtain. Superior to it is the faith of those concerning whom He says:

They only are the (true) believers whose hearts tremor when God is mentioned, and when the revelations of God are recited to them they increase their faith, and in their Lord put their trust, who perform the prayer, and expend of what We have provided them, those in truth are the believers; (they have degrees with their Lord, and forgiveness and generous provision.) (8:2-3)

This is the rank of perfect faith. Next to it is convinced faith, to be explained later on, and that is the ultimate degree of faith.

The minimum degree of faith lesser than which is not appropriate in wayfaring, is faith by imitation and faith in the Unseen, for mere verbal faith is not actually faith. To this refers the following statement of the Qur'an:

And the most part of them believe not in God, but they associate other gods with Him. (12:106)

Wayfaring with a tranquility of the soul is possible when there is convinced belief in the existence of the absolutely perfect Being, the Creator. The acquisition of such a belief is extremely simple and can be obtained with a little effort.