What is Imaan (faith)? Who is a believer? What is disbelief? Who is a disbeliever? These questions appeared very early in the history of Islaam. Unfortunately, they also led to differences of opinion as well as division among the Muslims. In the first century of Islam, the khawaarij had developed their own theory of faith and began to call many of the Muslims of that time disbelievers. In response to them came a group such as the Murjia, Jahmiyyah and others whose definitions of Islam embraced everyone regardless of their deeds. Another group, the Mutazila, developed their own theory which was termed the ‘position between the two positions’. Through all of this, though, by the grace of Allah, the position of the Quran and Sunnah on these questions was clear and propagated by the true followers of Islaam.

In the opening pages to his work, Haqeeqat al-Imaan indahl al-Sunnah wal Jamaah, Muhammad Abdul Hadi Al-Misri makes a very important point. This important point is not only valid for the question of faith and disbelief but is valid for practically all aspects of faith. If Muslims would keep this principle in mind, many of the differences among them would be removed and they would be guided to the true teachings of the Quran and Sunnah. The point he made is this: When it comes to any concept from the Quran and Sunnah, historically speaking, there have been two approaches to determine its correct meaning. The first approach is to discover the meaning of that concept from the Prophet as he passed on such knowledge to his Companions, and then to their followers. The second presupposed premises, discover its meaning from a linguistic and logical point of view without first studying how Allah and the Prophet explained those terms. The first approach is the approach of Ahlus Sunnah wa al-Jamaah while the second approach is that of the heretical groups. In fact, these two approaches are what really distinguishes the correct way of Islaam from the distorted, later-invented views of the religion.

On this point Ibn Taimiyah wrote:

“One must understand that if any term is found in the Quran or hadeeth, and its explanation is known and its purport made clear by the Prophet , there is then no need to use as evidence the statements of the linguists or others..The words salaat, zakat, siyaam (fasting), hajj found in the words of Allah and His Messenger have had their meanings clarified by the Messenger of Allah . The same is true for the word khamr (intoxicant) and others. From him, one knows their meanings. If anyone wants to explain such terms in any way other than how the Prophet explained that term, such an explanation will not be accepted.The terms Imaan, Islam, nifaaq (hypocrisy) and kufr are more important terms in such a way that it is not necessary to look for their linguistic origins or how they were used by the (pre-Islamic) Arabs and so forth. Therefore, it is a must that, while trying to determine the meanings of such terms, one refers to how Allah and His Messenger explained those terms. Their explanation is clear and sufficient. The heretics have been misled on this matter. They turn away from this method (just described). Instead they begin to explain the religion of Islam based on some premise that they believe to be sound, either concerning linguistic meaning or rational thought. They do not ponder or consider the explanation of Allah and His Messenger. Every premise that goes against the clarification of Allah and His Messenger is certainly misguidance. (Ahmad Ibn Taymiyyah, Al-Imaan, pp 271-273)

Al Misri adds that the one who will truly follow the methodology of going to the Qur’an and the Sunnah is the one who firmly believes that the Prophet explained the entire religion in a clear manner to his Companions and that those Companions passed the clear knowledge on to their followers and so forth. (al Misri pp 10) Everything that essentially needs to be known of the meaning of the Qu’ran has been given by the Prophet himself. This fact should be something fundamental and obvious to all Muslims. In theory it may be so. I practice, however, many people fail to apply this point and start looking elsewhere concerning matters that have already been made clear in the Qur’an and Sunnah. The question of Imaan is a very clear illustration of this point.

Turning to the Qur’an and Sunnah, one can attempt to answer some basic questions concerning Imaan. These basic questions are the following:
• What is true Imaan or who is a true believer (mu’min)?
• What is the locus of Imaan and what are the essentials components of Imaan?
• What is the relationship between Imaan and deeds?
• What are the articles of Imaan? In other persons, what is a person supposed to believe in?

This is what the Prophet explained to the Angel Gabriel. These topics will be discussed in detail.