(Ihsan) Excellence in Faith
He said: "Tell me about excellence in faith." He replied: "It is to worship Allah as though you see Him and though you do not see Him you know that He sees you." He said: "You have spoken the truth. Tell me about the Hour." Allah's Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) replied: "The one being asked knows no more than the one who is asking.” He said: “Then tell me about its Signs."He replied: "Its signs are that a slave will give birth to her master and that the barefoot destitute herdsmen shall compete with one another in erecting lofty buildings."
The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) describes excellence in faith by saying: "It is to worship Allaah as though you see Him", meaning that the worshipper engages in his worship with such acute awareness of the fact that he is presenting himself before his Lord that it is as though he see Him. He will be absolutely sincere in his worship and his heart will be full of humility, awe, and fear. This implies that the worshipper will expend every effort in perfecting his worship. He further describes ihsan by saying:"... and though you do not see Him you know that He sees you.”
How does this excellence relate to lslam and Eemaan?
We have already discussed that the word Islam, when used on its own, encompasses all inward beliefs and outward actions Faith, too, when mentioned by itself encompasses all of these meanings. However, when Islam and faith are mentioned together, then Islam refers to outward actions and faith refers to inward beliefs. The concept of excellence in faith is quite similar in this regard. When mentioned alone, it embraces the meaning of Islam and the meaning of faith.
However, when it is mentioned along with those two, it takes on a more distinct meaning. This hadeeth, therefore describes the three levels that a Muslim can attain. The lowest is the level of Islam, the second is the level of eemaan, and the highest is the level of ihsaan. Allah says:
"There is no sin upon those who believe and work righteousness for what they have eaten in the past if they now fear Allah, believe, and work righteousness, and then fear Allah and believe, and then fear Allah and work excellence (ihsan), and Allah loves those who work excellence." (Q5[al-Ma'idah]: 93)
Dealing with the Unseen
When the angel Jibreel asked the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) about the Hour, the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) replied: "The one being asked knows no more than the one who is asking." This answer shows us how we must deal with the Unseen. The Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) was not trying to say that his knowledge was equal to that of the questioner. He was, instead, making it clear that no one knows about this matter except for Allaah. The Hour is part of the knowledge of the Unseen. We only know about the Unseen what Allaah and His Messenger (sallaIllaahu alayhi wa sallam) tell us. This means we only know what we read about these matters in the Qur'an and Sunnah.
These revealed texts tell us of many matters that we have no way of knowing anything about except by way of revelation. Some of these relate to Allah, His attributes, and His actions. Others relate to the existence of certain things, like the seven heavens and what they contain, the angels, the Prophets, Paradise, Hell, the jinn. The Unseen, more broadly, can be defined as everything that cannot be perceived by man's senses. The Unseen includes those things that remain secret from man and are only known by Allaah the All-Aware, as well as those things that man has knowledge of due to his being informed of them by Allaah and His Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam).
It is unlawful for Muslims to speculate about matters of the Unseen. To do so is to speak about matters of which Allah has kept knowledge thereof to Himself. We only know of these matters what Allah has revealed to us about them in the Qur'an and what the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) has informed us about. Moreover, Allah will call us to account for speaking without knowledge. Allaah says:
"And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Verily, every act of hearing, of seeing, or of feeling in the heart will be enquired into." (Q17[al-lsraa']: 36)
We can classify matters of the Unseen in the following way:
1. Matters that are absolutely and categorically unseen: These are matters that man has no way of perceiving by way of his intellect or his senses. These can be further broken down into two subcategories.
The first subcategory comprises those matters that Allaah has informed man about by way of His Messengers who convey to mankind what Allaah has revealed to them. An example of this is what we know about the jinn. Allaah says:
"Say (O Muhammad): It has been revealed to me that a group of Jinn listened to the Qur'an and said: 'Verily we have heard a wonderful recitation. It guides to the right path. We believe in it, and we shall never worship anything besides our Lord'." (Q72 [al-Jinn]: 1-2)
The second subcategory comprises those matters that Allaah has not informed any of His creation about, not even His Prophets and angels. This is what Allaah means when he says:
"He possesses the keys to the Unseen. Non has knowledge of them except for Him." (Q6[al- An' am]: 59)
This includes the knowledge of the when the world will come to an end, the knowledge of when, where, and how a person is to die, and some of the names that Allah has given to Himself. Allaah says:
"Verily Allah has knowledge of the Hour. He sends down the rains. He knows what is in the wombs, and no soul knows what it will earn tomorrow, and no soul knows in which land it will die." (Q31 [Luqmaan]: 34)
Allah's Messenger (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) has said:
"Oh Allah. I beseech you with every name that you have; those that you have given yourself, those that you have taught to some of your Creation and those that you have kept to yourself the knowledge thereof" (Ahmad)
2. Events of the past: These matters are part of the Unseen for some people but not for others. They are Unseen with respect to those who did not witness them or obtain empirical evidence for their occurrence in the past. For this reason, Allaah said to the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) after relating to him the story of the family of 'lmran:
"This is from the news of the Unseen that We reveal to you. You were not with them when they cast lots as to which of them will be the guardian of Maryam, nor were you with them when they disputed." (Q3 [AI-'Imran): 44)
However, these events were clearly not part of the Unseen for the people who actually lived through them. We must also understand that the knowledge that we have of past events that we get from historical documents and archaeological evidence is not part of the knowledge of the Unseen, since this knowledge is acquired by way of our senses. The same can be said for our knowledge of the ancient past that falls under the disciplines of natural history, geology and astronomy.
3. Events of the future: These are matters that will remain. part of the Unseen until they actually occur. Knowledge of the time of the Hour falls under this category. Not even the Prophet Muhammad (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) nor the angels know when the Hour will be. However, when the Hour arrives, it will be known by all. Knowledge of the signs of the Hour is likewise part of the Unseen. Some of this knowledge has been revealed to us. Besides, these categories, there are matters that appear to be matters of the Unseen, but that people can uncover through observation, scientific analysis, and investigation.
This may be by certain means – like telescopes and other instruments - that expand the capabilities of our senses. In actuality, these matters can only be defined as part of the Unseen if taken relative to a person's circumstances at a given time or place. The Qur'an does use the word "unseen" with this intended meaning. Allah says, when relating the story of the death of Prophet Sulayrnan (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam):
"When we decreed death for him, nothing informed them (the jinn) of his death except an earthworm that was gnawing at his stick. So when he fell down, the jinn saw clearly that if they had known the unseen, they would not have remained in their humiliating torment. (Q34[Saba'): 14)
Two Signs Of The Hour
After the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) made it clear that Allah alone has knowledge of the Hour, he was asked to mention some of its signs. Since the events mentioned by the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) are part of the Unseen, we can know nothing about them except what we are told. Probably the only people who will fully understand what the Prophet (sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam) meant when he foretold these events will be those who actually witness them.
The first of these is that a slave will give birth to her master. This could mean many things and we cannot be certain exactly which of the possible meanings is intended. Many interpretations have been offered. All that we can be sure of is that near the end of time, affairs will not be as they are supposed to be.
The second sign mentioned is that barefoot, destitute herdsmen shall compete with one another in erecting lofty buildings. This also opens itself to numerous interpretations. All we can know for sure is that again affairs will be the opposite of what they are supposed to be.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited