[AL-ATHRAM]

IMAN (FAITH) AND IHSAN (CHARITY

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It is not enough for a Muslim to perform the obvious apparent Islamic worship, but he should act and behave according to good moralities in all what he does and in all what he says all over his life through to the end in addition to believing in Islamic beliefs and this is what is called Imam
.

Allah refers to this fact concerning the relation between the Islam and the Iman as Allah says what means
:

“It is not righteousness that you turn your faces to the east and the west, but righteous is he who believes in Allah and The Last Day and the Angels and the Scripture and the Prophets and gives his wealth in love of him to kinsfolk who ask, and to set slaves free, and observes proper worship, and pays the poor-due. And those who keep their treaty when they make one, and the patient in tribulation and adversity and time of stress. Such are they who are sincere, Such are the God-fearing”. (2:177
).

Al-Ihsan (charity) is to worship Allah as if you saw Him, and in case you cannot see Him, He sees you. The Holy Quran refers to this meaning as Allah says what means “ Put your trust in the Almighty, The Merciful for it is He Who watches you stand up in prayers and then you are among those who adore Him for He is the Hearer, the Knower” (26:217-220
).

The Prophetic Hadith refers to Al-Islam, Al-Iman and Al-Ihsan according to Omar Ibn Al-Khattab as he said
:

“When we were sitting with the Prophet (P.B.U.H), a man in white clothes and very black hair with no traces of any traveling on him though he was a stranger, came. He sat before the Prophet with his own knees close to his knees putting his hands on the thighs of the Prophet. Then, the man said: “O Muhammad, tell me about Islam”. The Prophet, said
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“It is to testify that there is no God but Allah, and to perform regular prayers and to pay the Zakah and to fast the month of Ramadan and to perform the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary of Allah if one can afford it” The stranger said, “You have spoken the truth”. We wondered why he asked him and told him that he had said the truth (as if he did not ignore the truth before asking him). Again, the man asked, “Tell me about Iman”. The Prophet answered, “It is to believe in Allah and His angels and His books and His Messengers and The Last Day and in destiny, good and bad” Then, the man asked, “Tell me about Ihsan”. The Prophet replied, “ It is to worship Allah as if you are seeing Him even though you do not see Him, He sees you”. The man asked, “Tell me of The Hour”. The Prophet said, “The questioned does not know about it more than the questioner”. The man said, “Tell me about its signs” the Prophet answered, “when a slave girl gives birth to her mistress and you see the bare-footed and tattered needy shepherds erecting highbuildings”. When the stranger departed the Prophet kept silent for a while and he said “Omar, do you recognize the questioner? “We replied,” Allah and His Messenger know better. “The Prophet said, “It is Gabriel. He has come to teach you your religion
”.

Thus, not only is Islam a compact of religions beliefs, but Islam is a religion that applies to people the true religious beliefs as well as the true practical application of practicing life according to true religious and Islamic and moral rules that join between exterior and interior aspects of human life keeping order between the Muslim and his God, between him and other people and between him and the natural environment around him through the connection between Islam, Iman and Ihsan
.


Cont.….