Islam, Iman and Ihsan: where Sufism stands

The hadith of Jibril

Umar ibn al-Khattab relates that one day a man came and sat before the Prophet ﷺ with great courtesy and asked him about Islam, Iman and Ihsan, and then about the Last Hour. Afterwards the Prophet told his companions that it had been the angel Jibril, come to teach them their religion. The hadith is recorded in Sahih Muslim, and Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi opens his chapter on the importance of Tasawwuf with it (p. 62).

• What is Islam? To bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His Messenger; to establish prayer, give zakat, fast in Ramadan, and make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able.

• What is Iman? To believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers and the Last Day, and to believe in destiny, its good and its bad.

• What is Ihsan? To worship Allah as though you see Him; and if you do not see Him, He sees you.

After the first two answers, Jibril replied: "You have spoken truly."

Three steps of one religion

The book explains the three words as three steps (p. 63):

1. Islam is to accept Allah as One, without partner, the only one worthy of worship, and to follow the Shariah without hesitation. This is the way of peace and safety.

2. Iman is a certainty, grown out of practice, in which no trace of doubt remains. Certainty rests on witnessing, just as no court accepts testimony without an eyewitness.

3. Ihsan is to worship as though seeing Allah, or at least in the awareness that Allah is seeing you. In Tasawwuf this degree of certainty is called the station of Ihsan (martaba-e ihsan).

Sufism, in other words, is not something added to Islam. It is the third step of the same religion, which the Prophet ﷺ himself named.

How the Sufis read it

The scholars explain the hadith as knowing and following the rules of the Shariah, and holding the right beliefs about Allah, His angels, His books and His messengers. The people of Tasawwuf accept all of this, and add one more step: having followed the Shariah fully, the seeker comes to stand before Allah with a present heart (huzur-e qalb) (p. 64). This station is called witnessing (shuhud, mushahida), and the book says it is reached in meditation (muraqaba), where the servant gains awareness from the knowledge of Allah.

Presence in prayer

The Quran warns: "Woe to those who pray, who are heedless of their prayer" (Quran 107:4–5). They do pray, the author notes, but without Ihsan, without the heart being present (p. 44). The Sufi's conviction is that when a person prays with humility and sincerity, knowing that Allah is present and watching, presence of heart is granted.

Signs on the horizons and within

"We will show them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves" (Quran 41:53). The book places this verse at the centre of the path (p. 64): the seeker looks for Allah's signs both in the world and in the self. As the well-known saying puts it, whoever comes to know their own self comes to know their Lord (p. 67).

Rabia of Basra

The book recalls the prayer of Rabia of Basra (p. 64): "O Allah, if I worship You out of fear of Hell, burn me in it. If I worship You in hope of Paradise, keep me from it. But if I worship You for Your own sake, do not deprive me of seeing You."

The ascetic worships to escape Hell or to win Paradise. The friends of Allah worship too, since worship is an obligation for everyone, but their attention never leaves Allah. They ask Allah for Allah Himself.

Based on Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi, Ahsan o Tasawwuf (Khwaja Shamsuddin Azeemi Research Society), pp. 44 and 62–67. The hadith of Jibril: Sahih Muslim, Book of Faith.