What should we do so as not to lose our belief?

The Details of the Question

What if we lose our belief one day? What should we do so as not to lose our belief?
I pray to Allah after every prayer so that He will keep my belief in my heart and preserve my belief. I do not want to lose my belief; I want to be a good and useful Muslim and die like that. What should I do for it and how should I live?

The Answer

Dear Brother / Sister,

Our first duty is to believe in Allah and the other five principles of belief, that is, in His Books, Prophets, Angels, the hereafter and qadar (predestination) in the way that Allah wants.

The last part of this sentence is important in particular nowadays. For, we meet such people that they think they are Muslims but you see that they say or do things that are clearly contrary to belief and Islam today. Yes, he believes in Allah but he believes in the way his soul and his incomplete mind desire, not in the way that Allah wants and His Prophet (pbuh) teaches.

We should not forget that the Quran and the books of siyar mention the polytheists of Makkan period. In other words, they have “belief” in Allah, but in a way that their own minds and souls want. That is, they accept Allah but in the way that they want, just like the polytheists of today.  

If the first numeral of a number with a lot of zeros is not “1” but zero, that number has no value no matter how many zeros you add unless you write “1” before it.

The first numeral (“1”) of the number that will determine our eternal address in the hereafter is our belief. Our righteous deeds will form the zeros after that.

Therefore, we repeatedly and insistently say that the first thing is to believe in the 6 principles of belief in the way that Allah wants.

Is it enough?

It is definitely not enough. We have to develop and strengthen our belief all the time, every day as we live.

Belief is something like swimming against the current. If we stop, the current will push us back – God forbid.

Therefore, we should always develop our belief, which is a great boon, and try to attain investigative belief.

What is investigative belief?

Allah Almighty wants us to see His seals of existence and oneness in both materiality and spirituality, in our person, in our world, as well as in everything in the universe, to know His names and attributes as we see them, to feel satisfied about His existence as we know them and to do what He wants us to do in awe and to avoid what He prohibits in the same way.

This becomes possible only by increasing our faith.

The Quran literally orders us to increase our faith from beginning to end and wants us insistently to observe everything small-big, living-non-living in the universe and to meditate on them. That is why, the following is stated in a hadith: ”One hour of meditation is better than one year of supererogatory worshipping.” For, this meditation will increase our faith.

For instance, a tangerine.

It is a watery winter fruit with plenty of vitamin C, and with a slightly sour taste; we like it very much and it is a source of cure.

We know that Allah always does things in this universe based on causes.

Therefore, we act based on the causes and sow a tangerine seed in suitable ground and season, water the ground and add manure to eat tangerines. Thus, we also pray to Lord of the Realms so that the seed will be a sapling, a tree and then yield abundant fruits to eat tangerines 

We believe that

“It is Allah Who causeth the seed-grain and the date-stone to split and sprout. He causeth the living to issue from the dead, and He is the one to cause the dead to issue from the living. That is Allah: then how are ye deluded away from the truth?” (al-Anam 95)

And that

“For to Allah belong the Forces of the heavens and the earth; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Full of Wisdom.” (al-Fath 7)

For, we know that

A tangerine seed, which consists of various lifeless, ignorant, unwise, unconscious and powerless combinations of atoms of carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and nitrogen does not know how to root, form the trunk, shoot out branches, have leaves, blossom, transform flowers into fruits, carry the muddy water it takes from the ground to a height of many meters, produce delicious fruits from that dirty water, form slices in the fruit, give the fruit a shape and color, cover it with a peel and place a seed that knows all those deeds in it. 

As it is stated in the verses above, Allah is behind all those deeds. “Particles” or “atoms”, which are Allah’s army act upon His order, on behalf of Him, His knowledge, His art and the causes and laws imposed by Him, transform the seed into a root, the root into a tree, the tree into a flower and the flower into a fruit, putting a seed into the fruit by saying Bismillah.

Even if man, who is ignorant and shallow-brained, goes to the most advanced laboratory and brings all scientists together, he will not be able to produce even the bitter peel of the tangerine, let alone producing a tangerine, which Allah creates with wisdom. 

As we witness endless miracles that occur in front of us with such meditation, we can see Allah, who is behind the operation of everything, and can and must develop our belief

As we notice and realize those endless miracles that take place in all beings, whether living or non-living, whether conscious or unconscious, that we witness all the time but that we are generally heedless about and get accustomed to and especially the miracle of “life”, it is definite that we will be more conscious and more God-fearing in all issues, from prayers we perform to zakah we give and harams we avoid.     

It is necessary to ask those who seek miracles: Which one is a bigger miracle: to fly or a tangerine tree that consists of atoms of carbon, that has no spirit, consciousness, knowledge and wisdom, that does not know us and that is actually wood but gives us sliced fruits that will be of no use to it?

The following is stated in a verse:

“Do they not travel through the land, so that their hearts (and minds) may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear? Truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but their hearts which are in their breasts.” (al-Hajj 46)

Let us open our hearts to Allah Almighty with full surrendering and sincerity so that we will be able to see the truth and attain guidance. Amin!

For more information, please click on the links given below;

What is Belief?

How can we strengthen our faith?

Is an increase and development in Belief in question?

Questions on Islam

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