Reports on the description of faith

Sayyiduna Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Islam is the name of outward submission, and faith is in the heart." Then, pointing with his hand towards his chest, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Piety is here; piety is here."

Sayyiduna Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Whoever has no trustworthiness has no faith at all."

Abdullah bin Amr bin Hind al-Jamali (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Faith begins as a white dot in the heart. As faith increases, the whiteness also increases, until by the light of faith the believer's whole heart becomes white. Hypocrisy begins as a black dot in the heart. As hypocrisy increases, the blackness also increases, until the whole heart becomes black with the darkness of hypocrisy. By the One in whose hand is my soul, if you were to split open the heart of a believer and look, you would certainly find it white, and if you were to split open the heart of a hypocrite and look, you would certainly find it black.

Tariq bin Shihab (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) said: When a man commits a sin, a black dot appears in his heart. Then when he sins again, another dot appears, until his heart becomes like an ash-coloured goat.

Hisham (may Allah have mercy on him) said that his father, Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him), said: Failure to keep a trust takes nothing away from a servant except his faith.

Amr (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Ubayd bin Umayr (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Faith is the name of being fearful.

Nafi' bin Jubayr said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) sent Sayyiduna Bishr bin Suhaym al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) on the Day of Sacrifice to call out among the people: "No one will enter Paradise except one whose soul is a believer."

Hisham bin Urwah (may Allah have mercy on him) said that his father, Urwah, said: Let no one's praying and fasting deceive you at all. Whoever wishes may pray, and whoever wishes may fast; but whoever has no trustworthiness has no share in the religion.

Sayyiduna Umayr bin Habib bin Khumashah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Faith increases and decreases. He was asked: "What are the decrease and increase of faith?" He said: "When we remember Him and fear Him, that is faith increasing; and when we become heedless of Him, forget Him and neglect Him, that is it decreasing."

Nafi' (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyiduna Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) used to supplicate in this way: O Allah, do not take faith away from me, just as You have granted it to me.

Ghalib said that Bakr said: If I were asked about the most excellent man of the mosque: "Do you bear witness that he is a believer of complete faith, free of hypocrisy?", I would not bear witness; and if I did bear witness, that testimony would be a testimony that he is in Paradise. And if I were asked about the worst or the most wicked man (the doubt is from Abu Bakr), and people said: "Do you bear witness that he is a hypocrite of complete hypocrisy, devoid of faith?", I would not bear witness, because if I did bear witness, that testimony would be that he is in Hell.

Uthman bin Abi Safiyyah al-Ansari (may Allah have mercy on him) said that Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said to one of his boys: "Shall I not marry you off? For there is no servant who commits fornication except that Allah snatches the light of faith from him."

Sayyidah Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When the fornicator commits fornication, his faith does not remain; and when the thief steals, his faith does not remain either."