Lesson 55: The Inter-Relationship Between Faith And Deeds
Introduction
We have realized so far that the main factors leading to eternal prosperity or adversity are faith and disbelief, and that secure faith guarantees eternal prosperity, but the committal of sins will result in limited punishment. On the other hand, constant disbelief will bring about eternal adversity and will cause good deeds to become obliterated.
Moreover, it was pointed out that faith and disbelief can be weakened or intensified and it is possible that the accumulation of sins will result in the destruction of faith; on the contrary, the performance of good deeds may weaken the root of disbelief and pave the way for the development of faith.
This clarifies the importance of the question about the relationship between faith and deeds. This lesson attempts to answer such a question.
The Relationship Between Faith And Disbelief
Our previous discussions clarified the point that faith is a spiritual state, originating from knowledge and an attitude that necessitates the believer to behave in accordance with the requisites of what he believes in.
Therefore, one who is aware of a truth and decides not to behave according to its requisites does not have any belief in it. Such a person, even in the case of doubting as whether to behave according to the requisites of that truth or not, will still be categorized as a disbeliever. The Holy Qur’an maintains:
“The Bedouins say, ‘We have faith’. Say, ‘You do not have faith yet; rather say, ‘we have embraced Islam,’ for faith has not yet entered into your hearts” (Holy Qur’an, 49:14).
Moreover, true faith is comprised of different stages; however, the accomplishment of each stage does not necessitate the performance of all its requisites. It is probable that, in a weak believer, excitement due to lust or anger may causes rebellion; however, it might not necessarily cause him to rebel permanently and struggle against his faith and all its requisites. Nevertheless, the stronger and more complete the faith, the more effective it will be in committing deeds accordingly.
To sum up, having faith naturally necessitates behaving in accordance with its requisites; however, the extent of that depends on the weakness or intensity of one’s faith and finally this is the will and decision of the individual, which determines the performance, or abandonment of the deed.
The Relationship Between Deeds And Faith
Any arbitrary act is either deserving and in line with one’s faith or undeserving and contradictory to it; the former strengthens the faith and makes one’s heart brighter while the latter weakens the faith and darkens the heart. Therefore, any good deed committed by a believer will not only originate from his faith but will also strengthen and stabilize it, paving the way for other good deeds. The effect of good deeds on the perfection of one’s faith can be understood from the following verse:
“To Him ascends the good word, and He elevates righteous conduct” (Holy Qur’an, 35:10).
Provided that the subject pronoun refers to (al-‘amal al-salih) (righteous conduct) and the object pronoun refers to al-Kalam al-tayyib (good word).
In the same way, in a number of verses, the Holy Qur’an maintains that the promotion of belief, enlightenment, and guidance in good-doers is the consequence of their good deeds.1
However, if opposing motives appear against the requisites of faith and if they lead to undeserving acts and one’s level of faith is not high enough to prevent them, faith will begin to weaken and this in turn will pave the way for the repetition of sin. The continuation of this process will lead to greater sins and their repetition, and this will eventually threaten the essence of faith and (May I ask for God’s shelter) convert into disbelief or hypocrisy.
The Holy Qur’an in relation to those who ended up as hypocrites’ claims:
“So He caused hypocrisy to ensue in their hearts until the day they will encounter Him, because of their going back on what they had promised Allah and because of the lies they used to tell” (Holy Qur’an, 9:77).
The Holy Qur’an states elsewhere:
“Then the fate of those who committed misdeeds was that they denied the signs of Allah and they used to deride them” (Holy Qur’an, 30:10).
Similarly, in many verses, the Holy Qur’an discusses the increase of disbelief, darkness, and hard-heartedness in the sinners2.
Conclusion
Concerning the interrelationship between faith and deeds and their role in man’s prosperity, it seems reasonable to compare prosperous life with a tree3 whose roots resemble faith in the unique God, His prophets, messages, and Resurrection; the trunk resembles the decision made for behavior in accordance with the requisites of faith originating directly from it; the branches and leaves resemble the deserving deeds which originate from the root (faith), and finally, its fruit will be the eternal prosperity. Had it had no root, there would be no trunk, branches, or leaves nor would it bear any fruit.
However, there is no guarantee that the roots will always result in suitable branches and desirable fruits; rather it is often possible that due to unsuitable conditions of the environment and various diseases, a number of branches fail to grow, and any fruit that is born may instead cause the death of the tree.
Moreover, it is possible that due to specific grafts on the branches, trunk or even the roots of the tree, either its appearance or the whole plant may change into another tree. This event resembles the change from faith into apostasy.
To conclude, faith with relation to the topics discussed above will be the main factor affecting man’s prosperity; however, the complete effect of such a factor depends on the absorption of necessary nutrition, by the performance of deserving acts, and the destruction of diseases and harmful elements, by the avoidance of sins.
Finally, the abandonment of obligatory deeds and the committal of forbidden acts weaken the root of faith and will occasionally result in its death just as grafting (believing in) wrong ideas causes change in the nature of faith.
Questions
1. Explain the effect of faith on good deeds.
2. Describe the effect of good or bad deeds on the weakness or intensity of faith.
3. Explain the inter-relationship between faith and deeds and their correspondence with man’s prosperity.
