Faith is Action

Masjid S.A.Aziz, PJ
Sahih Bukhari

Ustaz Asri is one of my favorite da'i! :-) He is passionate, his argument is founded, his explanation is clear.

Faith is action (good deeds), not just saying we have faith.

Narrated Abu Huraira, Allah's Messenger was asked, "What is the best deed?" He replied, "To believe in Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad)." The questioner then asked, "What is the next (in goodness)?" He replied, "To participate in Jihad (holy war - religous fighting) in Allah's Cause." The questioner again asked, "What is the next (in goodness)?" He replied "To perform Hajj (pilgrimage to Makka) Mabrur (which is accepted by Allah and is performed with the intention of seeking Allah's Pleasure only and not to show off and without committing any sin, and in accordance with the legal way of the Prophet)".

So there comes the topic of jihad, an infamous word nowadays. The word "jihad" mentioned in the Quran and ahadith is always with the meaning of going out to fight for Islam. The downplayed version of jihad in the saying "The greatest jihad is against one's nafs (desires)" is NOT a hadith. It's an athar (saying of a Companion), and even so it means that holy war won't be accomplished if the fight against our own desires is not successful yet. So start with fighting our nafs first.

Why does Islam go to war? Not because we want to force people to become Muslims (there is no compulsion in religion), but because we fight those who oppress us and those who are against the spread of The Message of Islam. That's why Muslims fought the musyrikin in Makkah, who oppressed the Prophet and his followers.

Muslims are obligated to be fair, even to non-Muslims. Look around, non-Muslims can live safely in a Muslim majority - for example: the Jews in Egypt (look at them when they tried to live in Europe), Georgia in Eastern Europe, or any Ah Chongs or Muthus in Malay villages! Not otherwise - for example: Bosnia, Muslims minority in Philippines, and other Muslim minorities in some parts of Indonesia.

Let's ask ourselves, how much do we do for the sake of Allah? Companions who are guaranteed Paradise did a lot more for Islam then we do. This is real servitude and love for Allah.

What about us? How much do we spend our wealth, time, and energy for Islam? Don't we have more food than we can eat, more clothes than we can wear? (and sometimes more cars and houses than we can fully utilize?). There's a lot to do to help spread the message of Islam. It is our responsibilities as the khalifah (vicegerent). Rasulullah said there are two things we take for granted the most: our health and our free time. What do we do with that? This is not even to go fighting!

Faith is until we fight for the sake of Allah. Otherwise it's just belief.