What is the difference between to believe and to believe with yaqin?

- What does the word "yaqin" mean here?

Dear Brother / Sister,

YAQIN: “To know without doubt, soundly and definitely.” “To know a fact in accordance with the truth without any doubt.”

Yaqin: It lexically means knowledge without hesitation and doubt. Another definition that is more comprehensive and better is as follows: “To know something in accordance with the truth, with sound belief and without any doubt.”

In this definition, we see two important meanings of yaqin. The first one is to know something as it is. It is called “in accordance with the truth”. The other is sound belief, that is not to doubt about this belief at all.

For instance, a person who believes definitely that resurrection is only spiritual, not material, is not regarded to have attained yaqin. For, this belief does not have the first condition of belief. Wrong belief is not called yaqin.

The word yaqin has three main levels: ilm al-yaqin (knowledge of certainty), ayn al-yaqin (vision of certainty) and haqq al-yaqin (absolute certainty) …

Some people think “ilm al-yaqin” is weak belief. However, all of those levels express perfect belief. Since the word yaqin is included in all three phrases, all three levels are “in accordance with the truth” and “away from doubt.”

It is necessary to understand accordance with the truth in belief as follows: To believe in the realities of belief as the Quran expresses it. For instance, to know Allah with all His attributes related to belief in Allah. It is in accordance with the truth to know Him as wajib (necessary), pre-eternal, post-eternal and free of space and time. All believers believe in Allah like that. 

Since doubt eliminates belief, all believers are equal related to the condition of having no doubt. In that case, in what field does perfect belief and the different levels in that belief occur?

It is something to believe in a reality and it is another thing to arrange one’s deeds and attitudes according to it. Belief shows its effect on the deeds and attitudes of the people who have yaqin belief. For instance, all believers believe in angels. The belief of a person who knows angels as the Quran states is in accordance with the truth and away from doubt. However, it is one thing to remember angels when they are mentioned and it is another thing to know that they are near man as he walks and speaks. The latter is yaqin belief. It has three levels and each level has endless degrees.   

Ilm al-yaqin means to know the existence of a reality definitely like two plus two equaling four. To know that reality definitely as if seeing, hearing, in short, knowing something entering his realm of feelings is ayn al-yaqin. To know something as if knowing the existence of a reality one has experienced is haqq al-yaqin. For instance, we know that we have memory with knowledge and yaqin. We never doubt it. Similarly, we know the existence of our hands by seeing, that is, ayn al-yaqin. We have no doubt about it. We know that we are alive by experiencing it ourselves, not by thinking or seeing. That knowing is haqq al-yaqin.

Everybody who believes in the existence of the writer more than the existence of the writing must know Allah with a belief more than his own existence. That is, even if he doubts his own existence, he must not doubt the existence of his creator. A believer who reaches this understanding is regarded to have reached yaqin.

There is also iman ash-shuhudi, which occurs in a layer of saints. They see and witness most of the realities of belief. For instance, they are aware of the state of the people in graves.  

Haqq al-yaqin means to assume belief as one’s state. The high rank defined as “to make one’s mind melt in the face of His knowledge, to eliminate one’s will in the face of His absolute will and to sacrifice one’s self in the face of His divinity” is haqq al-yaqin belief.

This field is a vast sea. I find it enough to quote a sentence from Said Nursi, who had the honor of diving into that sea, regarding the issue:

“I saw and felt and experienced at the degree of ‘absolute certainty’ that the pleasure and happiness of my immortality lay exactly and in more perfect form in the immortality of the Enduring One of Perfection, in affirming my Sustainer and God, in believing in Him and submitting to Him.” (Şualar, Dördüncü Şua)

That is, “since I believe in the everlastingness of Allah, non-existence and separation cannot be thought about me any longer because I am everlasting in His knowledge. I will not feel sorry at all due to the thought that I will be deleted from this page of the world.”

He does not only discover that subtle reality but he also feels this meaning as if he sees things; he experiences the pleasure of being submerged in Him in his spirit and heart with liveliness. That is haqq al-yaqin belief in the everlastingness of Allah.

We can think of this meaning related to other attributes of Allah as well as all parts of high ethics.

A person who definitely believes that it is necessary for him to love his believing brother is regarded to have reached ilm al-yaqin in this love. When he starts to feel the pleasure of loving his believing brother in his spirit, he is regarded to have reached ayn al-yaqin.

When he reaches the point of wanting for his believing brother what he wants for himself, he is regarded to have reached haqq al-yaqin.

Ikhlas (sincerity) is like that too. There are three levels in it. When we definitely know that deeds will be accepted only when they are done with sincerity, it is ilm al-yaqin. If the pleasure one’s soul gets from a deed that a person does for Allah’s consent is much more than it gets from a deed he does for show off, it means he has reached haqq al-yaqin. When a person hates show off more than he hates the stink of carrion, he is regarded to have attained haqq al-yaqin in sincerity. We can increase the examples.

Thus, the levels of yaqin are not peculiar to marifatullah (knowledge of Allah) only. It is possible to think it for all principles of belief, all orders of Islam and all parts of ethics. 

Imam Rabbani describes reality as “the inner side of shari’ah”. When man lives in accordance with Islam in terms of his deeds, state and words, yaqin starts to occur in his heart related to the realities he believes and he experiences. In the end, he reaches the point of transforming his belief in those realities into his state. That is, he reaches the point of experiencing those realities with happiness and joy.  

To attain reality means to attain haqq al-yaqin, to enter the last phase of perfect belief. This phase has endless distances. The belief of all prophets, Companions, saints and pure ones is haqq al-yaqin but the great difference among them is clear.  

The way of attaining reality described as “esoteric (inner) shari’ah” is through obeying its apparent rules fully. The inner part of a palace cannot be reached without passing from its outer part. It is sheer imagination.    

If a person is cross with a believer with whom he performs prayers side by side and for whom he prays, it means he has not passed to reality from appearance in supplication.  

If a person thinks about matter only and his heart beats for the world only though he knows that the body is a servant of the spirit, how can he claim that he has reached reality?

If a person is interested more in what is ephemeral than in what is everlasting though he knows that the world is ephemeral and the hereafter is everlasting, it means he is in the outer part of the issue.  

If a person neglects worshipping the Creator though he knows that it is necessary to obey Lord, it means he is very far away from the reality of worshipping. 

If a person sincerely thanks somebody who gives him a lift in his car and does not prostrate before the Owner of the world in which he wanders twenty-four hours a day to thank Him, it means he has nothing to do with the reality of thanking. 

If a person acts very conceitedly though he knows that modesty is a high attribute, it means he has attained a very little share from reality. 

It is easy to mention reality but it is difficult to attain it. It is impossible to attain it by disobeying divine orders.

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