The actions or works of humans are an integral part of the faith--part 3

In the Quran, faith is mentioned in the verse of changing of the Qibla

We appointed the Qibla to which thou wast used, only to test those who followed the Messenger from those who would turn on their heels(From the Faith). Indeed it was (A change) momentous, except to those guided by God. And never would God Make your faith of no effect. For God is to all people Most surely full of kindness, Most Merciful. [2:143]

The following verses indicate that the faith of someone may increase

Whenever there cometh down a sura, some of them say: "Which of you has had His faith increased by it?" Yea, those who believe,- their faith is increased and they do rejoice. [9:124]

For, Believers are those who, when God is mentioned, feel a tremor in their hearts, and when they hear His signs rehearsed, find their faith strengthened, and put (all) their trust in their Lord.[8:2]

So, if the faith was already perfect with the initial confession, then there would be no room for any increase.

The hadiths mentioned a number of duties and practices as part of faith. And new duties/practices are added to reflect the various stages of the revelation.

Abu Ubayd (the Sunni Traditionalist) sums up by declaring that "Faith/Iman" consists in intention (niyya), speech and work". Whoever affirms his belief of God and his messenger is only entering the faith and not perfecting it.

The Two Opposing Doctrines of Faith in Sunni Islam --part 2

The book al-Iman is analyzed on page 3. According to Madelung, while many people believe that the author of the book is unknown/ anonymous, a lot more believe that this book is actually the work of the Sunni traditionalist Abu 'Ubayd al-Qasim.

The first chapter of the book al-Iman is entitled "chapter on the definition of faith in its perfection (istikmdl) and its degrees". Here, Abu Ubayd states that the ulama are divided into two groups.

• The position of the first group is, the Iman/faith consists in "sincere devotion (ikhlas) to God in the hearts, testimony of the tongues, and work of the limbs". (Position 1)
• The other party maintains that faith "is in the hearts and tongues". Works or actions are not part of the faith. (Position 2)

Abu 'Ubayd stated that the first position is supported by the Quran and the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet. He added that Islam rejects the second position. The second position is represented by the Sunni Imam Abu Hanifah or Hanafi Murji'ism. He argued that many Islamic rituals were reinstated in Medina beginning with the change in the direction of the Qiblah. And had the people not follow the new direction of the Qibla,

"this would have availed them nothing and would have amounted to a repudiation of their confession, since their first act of obedience was no better entitled to the name of faith than their second one"

Abu 'Ubayd maintain that the Murjiyyah and the earlier Hanafis were wrong because they did not include the Islamic acts and rituals (many that were established in Medina) as part of the faith.

On the other hand, the Murjiyyah reasoned that since the Quran already referred to the people in the early days of the Prophet mission (in Makkah) as Muslim, so all the newly established ritual would not have any effects on their Iman/faith. They also argued that if the ritualistic part of Islam was so fundamental or if it was crucial to completing the faith/Iman, then Allah swt should have not called the earlier folks Muslims!

The Two Opposing Doctrines of Faith in Sunni Islam

I am reading an interesting paper.

Here are the two opposing doctrines of Faith in Sunni

School of Abu Hanifa and Maturidi theology (Murjiyyah)
Faith/Iman is knowledge or verbal confession. Your work/actions are excluded.

Hanbali or Ashari theology (Traditional Sunni)
Faith/Iman is the knowledge, verbal confirmation and actions.

The author of this paper (Wilferd Madelung) has analyzed the

• Hanafi Sunni-Murjiyyah point of view by reading the book K. al-'dlim wa I-mula'allim of Abu Muqatil al-Samarqandi (d. 208/823)
• And the book al-Iman whose author is the Abi 'Ubayd al-Qasim b. Sallam al-Harawi

Shahrastani on Murji'ites

Al-Shahrastani in his book al-milal wa al-nihal stated (in chapter 5, page 119)

On meaning of al-Irja
Deferring the case of one who commits a grave sin to the day of judgement. In this world, therefore, no judgement is made as to whether he belongs to the people of Paradise or the people of hell.

I am going to briefly go through all the murjiyyah sects mentioned by him (these are pure Murjiyyah sects)

• Yunusiyya: Eman/faith only consists of knowledge and love of God. Deeds is not part of Iman, hence act of disobedience doesn't injure your faith.
• Ubaidiya: All sins other than polytheism will be forgiven. God is in the likeness of man because Adam was created in his image.
• Ghassaniya: Faith increases but does not decreases. (What happens if you keep on committing sins every single day?)
• Thaubaniyya: Deeds are secondary (unimportant) to faith. If god forgives one sinner on the day of judgement then He will forgive every single sinner.
• Taumaniyya: Agrees on the qualities that makes someone a disbeliever but refraining from calling a person disbeliever or fasiq
• Salihiyya: Worship of God is knowledge of him. Prayers/salat is not worship of God. Even if someone said God is one of the three this is not unbelief!

These beliefs sound a little bit Christian (accept Jesus Christ as your lord and savior and you will be safe)

Reference
Kitab al-Milal wal Nihal by al-Shahrastani

Qaddari sect is not a Sufi order

When you search for the Qaddari sect, google think you are interested in the Qadiriyya Sufi order.

The Qadari sect was one of the early sects (in the first hundred years mark). The Qadari sect came out against some of the disturbing interpretation of the Ummayad and the Murjiyyah sect.

The Ummyyad and the Murjiyyah sect promoted the belief that one should not question someone's evil action. So if Yazeed (la) slaughtered the grandson of the Prophet (pbuh) and his family then one should not question or blame Yazeed because the judgement is deferred until Qiyamah (the day of judgment) and all the bad/evil actions are predestined by Allah swt!

The Qaddari sect challenged the interpretation of the free-will and predestined as understood by the Umayyad and Murjiyyah.

The following personalities were members of the Qaddari sect: Mabad al-Juhanī and Ghaylān al-Dimashqī.

Sunnism is heavily influenced by some of the philosophies from Murjiyyah. A number of prominent Sunni scholars were also members of the Murjiyyah sect.

Sunni Imam Abu Hanifah was from the Murjiyyah sect

No one is actually hiding this fact. They believed that this was a slight mistake. Please see the Q&A here



Is Abu Haneefah from the murji'ah? (Note: This is the name of the sect)

Question:

Esteemed shaykh, may Allaah grant you tawfeeq, is it the case that Imaam Abu Haneefah (rahimahullaah) did not enter actions into (the definition of) eemaan? And is he to be considered from the fuqahaa al murji'ah (the murji'ah scholars) ý and if this is actually correct, then how do we make an excuse for this Imaam?

Answer:

Yes, Abu Haneefah and his shaykh, Hammaad ibn Abee Sulaymaan both made this statement that eemaan comprises speech upon the tongue and belief in the heart, and that actions of the limbs do not enter into it. And this is irjaa, without doubt. For this reason they call them murji'at ul fuqahaa' and the murjiah of ahl us sunnah. They are from ahl us Sunnah but this slight mistake occurred from them; and it is a mistake, without doubt.

We do not accept the mistake from any single person, not from Abu Haneefah (rahimahullaah) nor from anyone other than him because our goal is what is correct and attainment of the Truth. And this does not decrease Imaam Abu Haneefah's status with us.

Shaykh Saalih al-Fawzaan Explanation of Lu'mat ul I'tiqaad p 312