Phenomenon of Weak Iman (Faith) – The remedy

It was narrated that Prophet Mohamed PBUH said “إن الإيمان ليخلق في جوف أحدكم كما يخلق الثوب فأسالوا الله أن يجدد الإيمان في قلوبكم”, meaning that Iman in our hearts gets old and weak and thus we have to Ask Allah to renew the faith “Iman” in our heart. And in another beautiful Hadith, the Prophet PBUH said,” every heart has a cloud like the cloud that blocks the moon, The moon is shining and when the cloud covers it, it becomes dark and when it goes away the moon shines again”, and that is our hearts has the light of Iman in it and when a cloud of sins covers it, the person is left in darkness and loneness, and we increases his Iman the cloud goes away and he/she is back to the light on Iman again.

So as we say that the level of Iman goes up and down Prophet Mohamed PBUH explain to us that “every deed has a period of enthusiasm and a period of weakness and boredom, and whoever makes this period weakness to my Sunah he is successful and whoever makes it otherwise he is indeed a loser”, meaning that when we get these “Low Iman” periods we should not leave what we are commanded to do or commit a sin, rather we should train ourselves to maybe give up some of the liked acts.

So how can we treat this dangerous problem of weak Iman

1-    Explore, ponder and dive into the meanings of the Quran

2-    Feel the greatness of Allah SWT, know His names and attributes, and have the ultimate belief in each and every one of them

3-    Seek Islamic knowledge, because those who have knlwedge fear Allah SWT and those who know and those who don’t know are not equal

4-    Be frequent and regular to the circles of knowledge, the remembrance of Allah , the descendant mercy and tranquility, the angles surrounding these circles and Allah SWT mentioning the attendees of this circles is a great way to increase our Iman

5-    Increase the good deeds such as fasting, following a Janazah, visiting a sick person or other similar deeds and we have to consider the following

a.    We should not delay doing these deeds and in fact we have to hurry up and start right away

b.    Be consistent and persistent

c.     Pray that these acts are accepted with the fear that they might not.

d.    Vary them, put a plan of actions so you don’t get board doing the same act all the time

6-    Fear a bad ending to your life

7-    Remember Death, Prophet Mohamed PBUH told us to always mention death and visit the graveyard to soften our hearts

8-    Remember the Hereafter, Jannah and Fire

9-    The continuous remembrance of Allah SWT “With the remembrance of Allah SWT the hearts get to be calm and comfortable”

10-                       Give up arrogance

11-                       Question yourself often

12-                       Don’t look how small your sins are, but rather look to the greatness of you whom you committed the sin towards

13-                       Humiliate yourself to Allah SWT, Make Dua’a and Ask Allah SWT to make your heart filled with Iman and stays its course towards Allah SWT

اللهم إنا نسألك بأسمائك الحسنى وصفاتك العلى أن تجدد الإيمان في قلوبنا ، اللهم حبب إلينا الإيمان وزينه في قلوبنا ، وكره إلينا الكفر والفسوق والعصيان واجعلنا من الراشدين ، سبحان ربك رب العزة عما يصفون وسلام على المرسلين والحمد لله رب العالمين

 Oh Allah we ask you with the greatness of your names and attributes that you renew the Iman in our hearts and you make it dear to our hearts and make us hate sins and disobedience and make us among those who are wise and have sound Iman.