Islam: A Din of Action, Not Just Philosophy

Islam is a dīn of action, not just philosophy. It is more than the decadent acquisition of knowledge. Many times we as Muslims describe the key tenets of our faith as abstracts — taqwā, iḥsan — and yet these two words, as they are used in the Qur’an, are most often in the imperative form. In other words, taqwa and ihsan are things you do, not simply think.

Who are the people of taqwa? God says:

لَّيْسَ ٱلْبِرَّ أَن تُوَلُّوا۟ وُجُوهَكُمْ قِبَلَ ٱلْمَشْرِقِ وَٱلْمَغْرِبِ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱلْبِرَّ مَنْ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلْيَوْمِ ٱلْءَاخِرِ وَٱلْمَلَٰٓئِكَةِ وَٱلْكِتَٰبِ وَٱلنَّبِيِّۦنَ وَءَاتَى ٱلْمَالَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِۦ ذَوِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَٱلْيَتَٰمَىٰ وَٱلْمَسَٰكِينَ وَٱبْنَ ٱلسَّبِيلِ وَٱلسَّآئِلِينَ وَفِى ٱلرِّقَابِ وَأَقَامَ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتَى ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَٱلْمُوفُونَ بِعَهْدِهِمْ إِذَا عَٰهَدُوا۟ ۖ وَٱلصَّٰبِرِينَ فِى ٱلْبَأْسَآءِ وَٱلضَّرَّآءِ وَحِينَ ٱلْبَأْسِ ۗ أُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ ٱلَّذِينَ صَدَقُوا۟ ۖ وَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْمُتَّقُونَ

“Goodness does not lie in turning your faces to the East or to the West. Rather, those with true devoutness are those who believe in God and the Last Day, the Angels, the Book and the Prophets, and who, despite their love for it, give away their wealth to their relatives and to orphans and the very poor, and to travellers and beggars and to set slaves free, who establish prayer and pay Zakāh; those who honor their contracts when they make them, and are steadfast even in poverty, illness, or duress. Those are the people who are proven truthful. They are the people who have taqwā.” — Sūrah al-Baqarah, v. 177

Likewise, regarding ihsan, God says:

وَٱبْتَغِ فِيمَآ ءَاتَىٰكَ ٱللَّهُ ٱلدَّارَ ٱلْءَاخِرَةَ ۖ وَلَا تَنسَ نَصِيبَكَ مِنَ ٱلدُّنْيَا ۖ وَأَحْسِن كَمَآ أَحْسَنَ ٱللَّهُ إِلَيْكَ ۖ وَلَا تَبْغِ ٱلْفَسَادَ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُحِبُّ ٱلْمُفْسِدِينَ

“Seek the abode of the Next World with what Allah has given you, without forgetting your portion of this world. And do good as Allah has been good to you. And do not seek to cause corruption in the earth. Allah does not love corrupters.” — Sūrah al-Qasas, v. 77

A lack of action, something we are guilty of as a community, is one of the things the Prophet ﷺ warned us about:

النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم قال‏:‏ ‏"‏ خيركم قرني، ثم الذين يلونهم، ثم الذين يلونهم‏"‏ قال عمران‏:‏ فما أدري قال‏:‏ النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم مرتين أو ثلاثاً ‏"‏ ثم يكون بعدهم قوم يشهدون ولا يستشهدون، ويخونون ولا يؤتمنون، وينذرون ولا يوفون، ويظهر فيهم السمن

“The best of you are my contemporaries, then those who follow them, then those who will come after them.” (‘Imran said: I do not know if he said this twice or thrice.) “Then they will be followed by a people who will testify without being called upon to testify, who will betray trust and not be trusted, who will make vows but not fulfill them, and among whom obesity will prevail.” — related by ʻImrān ibn al-Ḥusayn and Ibn ʻUmar, in Ibn Ḥibban, among others.

Truthfulness is not simply a state of mind but also what one does. Both the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه had titles based on their actions:

• Abū Bakr was called al-Ṣiddīq (“the Truthful”) because his actions of trustworthiness came to define him.
• The Prophet ﷺ was called al-Amīn (“the Trustworthy”) because he was reliable and dependable in all that he did.

And with God is all success.