𝑺𝒂‘𝒊𝒅 𝒊𝒃𝒏 𝑱𝒖𝒃𝒂𝒚𝒓 (رحمه الله) 𝒐𝒏 Ī𝒎ā𝒏, 𝑫ī𝒏, ‘𝑰𝒃ā𝒅𝒂𝒉, 𝑰𝒔𝒍ā𝒎, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑰𝒌𝒉𝒍āṣ
𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒂𝒍-𝑱ā𝒎𝒊‘ 𝒇ī ‘𝑨𝒒ā’𝒊𝒅 𝒘𝒂 𝑹𝒂𝒔ā’𝒊𝒍 𝑨𝒉𝒍 𝒂𝒍-𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒏𝒂𝒉 𝒘𝒂𝒍-𝑨𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒓
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The Epistle of Sa'id ibn Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him)
Al-Jami' fi 'Aqa'id wa Rasa'il Ahl al-Sunnah wal-Athar
Muhammad bin Nasr al-Marwazi (may Allah have mercy on him) narrated:
From ‘Ata bin Dinar al-Hudhali, that ‘Abd al-Malik bin Marwan wrote to Sa’id bin Jubayr asking him about these matters, so he replied:
1 – You asked about faith (Iman)?
Faith is confirmation (Tasdiq); it is that the servant believes in Allah, His angels, whatever Book He sent down, whatever Messenger He sent, and in the Last Day.
2 – And you asked about confirmation (Tasdiq)?
Confirmation is that the servant acts upon what he believes to be true from the Qur’an. Whatever he falls short in or neglects, he must recognize it as a sin, seek Allah’s forgiveness, repent from it, and not persist in it. That is what confirmation is.
Footnote:
The predecessors (Salaf) and the Imams of Ahl al-Sunnah often explain faith by its linguistic meaning, saying: faith is confirmation (Tasdiq). They do not mean what the Murji’ah mean—that faith is mere abstract belief without action. Rather, they mean a confirmation that necessitates action, inwardly and outwardly. As al-Awza’i said: “Religion is confirmation, and it consists of faith and action.” And Ibn Battah said: “Faith in Allah means confirming everything He commanded, obligated, and forbade… and confirmation is speech of the tongue, belief of the heart, and action of the limbs.”
A person is not a true believer according to the Salaf unless belief of the heart, speech of the tongue, and action of the limbs are all present. If one is missing, he is not a believer.
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3 – And you asked about religion (Din)?
Religion is worship (‘Ibadah). You will not find a person of any religion who abandons the worship of his religion and enters another unless he has entered into that new religion.
4 – And you asked about worship (‘Ibadah)?
Worship is obedience. Whoever obeys Allah in what He commands and forbids has perfected his worship of Allah. Whoever obeys Satan has worshipped Satan.
Allah said:
“Did I not command you, O children of Adam, not to worship Satan?” (Ya-Sin: 60)
Their worship of Satan is only obedience to him. People took idols, sun, moon, humans, and angels as objects of worship through obedience to Satan, not because Satan appeared to them.
On the Day of Resurrection Satan will say:
“Indeed, I disbelieved in your associating me before.” (Ibrahim: 22)
And Allah said:
“Indeed, you and what you worship besides Allah are fuel for Hell.” (Al-Anbiya: 98)
Jesus and the angels were worshipped besides Allah, yet Allah did not punish them. The sun and moon have no sin, yet will be among those worshipped due to the idolaters’ claims.
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They will say:
“Exalted are You! You are our protector, not them. Rather, they used to worship the jinn; most of them believed in them.” (Saba: 40–41)
Thus their worship of the jinn was only obedience in worship. Obedience becomes worship.
5 – And you asked about Islam?
Islam is sincerity (Ikhlas). Allah said to Abraham: “Submit (aslim)” meaning: be sincere.
And: “Whoever submits his face to Allah” meaning sincerity of religion for Allah.
6 – And you asked about sincerity (Ikhlas)?
It is that the servant makes his religion and actions purely for Allah, without showing off to anyone.
“ᴍᴀʏ ᴀʟʟᴀʜ ʀᴇᴡᴀʀᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴄʜᴏʟᴀʀꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴀʜʟᴜꜱ ꜱᴜɴɴᴀʜ ᴡʜᴏ ᴄʟᴀʀɪꜰɪᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛʀᴜᴛʜ ᴀɴᴅ ᴇxᴘᴏꜱᴇᴅ ꜰᴀʟꜱᴇʜᴏᴏᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ ᴍᴀʏ ʜᴇ ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ᴜꜱ ᴀᴍᴏɴɢ ᴛʜᴏꜱᴇ ᴡʜᴏ ʟɪꜱᴛᴇɴ, ᴜɴᴅᴇʀꜱᴛᴀɴᴅ, ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴏʟʟᴏᴡ.”