Shayk Al Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said: The foundation of iman is a gift from Allah, from which the actions of the servants emerge, so its foundation is affirmation, acknowledgment, and actions. He mentioned the disagreement about the increase and decrease of iman, and he said: Our position is that it increases and decreases.
He said: Then there was disagreement regarding the Quran, whether it is created or not created. Our position and the position of our imams is that the Quran is the speech of Allah, not created, and that it is an attribute of Allah, from Him it began as speech, and to Him it will return in ruling.
Then he mentioned the disagreement about the vision, and he said: Our position and the position of our imams in what we believe is that Allah will be seen on the Day of Judgement, and he mentioned the proof.
Sharh By Muḥammad Īmān ibn ʿAlī Āl Muḥājī:
Then Ibn Khafif (d. 371 AH) said: (The foundation of iman is a gift from Allah, from which the actions of the servants emerge). That is, the foundation of iman is the iman of the heart, which is the firm affirmation that has no doubt and no hesitation.
This affirmation is not any affirmation in general, rather it is the specific affirmation. Their saying: iman in the language means affirmation, requires restriction, for not every affirmation is iman, rather it is the specific affirmation.
To make this clearer, fasting for example: fasting in the language means abstaining, abstaining from what? But fasting in the Sharia is a specific abstaining, a specific abstaining at a specific time from specific things. The Sharia meaning is always more specific than the language meaning, the language meaning is more general. So here when it is said: iman in the language is affirmation. Affirmation of what? But when it is said: iman in the Sharia, its foundation is affirmation.
That means the specific affirmation, which is the affirmation that is confirmed by words and actions, words of the tongue and actions of the limbs. When this affirmation exists, and this affirmation is confirmed by actions, and confirmed by the words of the tongue, this is iman.
To this points al Hasan al Basri (d. 110 AH) when he said: (Iman is not by wishful thinking and not by outward display, but it is what settles in the hearts and is confirmed by the actions) (Narrated by Ibn Abi Shaybah in al Iman (p. 3), and al Zuhd wa al Raqa’iq by Ibn al Mubarak (p. 545), and Amali Ibn Bishran vol. 2 (p. 141)).
This is a great statement, and it shows you the Sharia definition of iman. The Sharia iman begins with the iman of the heart, with the condition that the iman of the heart is confirmed by actions and words.
When guidance settles in a heart, the limbs become active in worship. The keenness and desire for what is with Allah is a proof for the soundness of iman of the heart, and turning away from Allah and having no desire for what is with Allah and no activity in acts of nearness is proof for the lack of soundness of that iman, which is affirmation.
He said: (And he mentioned the disagreement about the increase and decrease of iman, and he said: Our position is that it increases and decreases).
Our position, we the majority, Ahl al Sunnah wa al Jamaah, is that iman increases and decreases. (Ibn al Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said: Abdur Rahman ibn Abi Hatim said: I asked my father and Abu Zurah about the madhhab of Ahl al Sunnah in the fundamentals of religion and what they found the imams of knowledge upon, so they said: We met the scholars in all lands, Hijaz, Iraq, Sham, and Yemen, and from their madhhab was that iman is words and actions, it increases and decreases. See al Fawaid by Ibn al Qayyim (p. 107)). And from Ahl al Sunnah are those who were strict, and said: it does not increase and does not decrease.
But we hold back from saying outright that they are not from Ahl al Sunnah wa al Jamaah, rather we say: Some of Ahl al Sunnah wa al Jamaah, who opposed the majority of Ahl al Sunnah wa al Jamaah, claimed that iman is either mere affirmation, or affirmation and speech together, but that it does not increase and decrease. The increase and decrease according to them is in the objects of iman, not in the iman of the heart. The iman of the heart, they said, does not increase and does not decrease (See Majmu al Fatawa (7/195), Maqalat al Islamiyyin (1/213), al Milal wa al Nihal (1/151, 131), and I’tiqadat Firaq al Muslimin wa al Mushrikin by al Razi (p. 107)).
Books were written on this matter, and people disagreed over it, but when examined, the disagreement seems to be substantial, not just in wording.
However, it does not follow from our saying that the disagreement is substantial, that they are outside Ahl al Sunnah wa al Jamaah. Rather its meaning is that they departed from the majority of Ahl al Sunnah wa al Jamaah. And this often happens in many issues.
Sharḥ al-Fatwā al-Ḥamawiyyah al-Kubrā By Muḥammad Īmān ibn ʿAlī Āl Muḥājī (2/70-72)
