One day while we were sitting with the Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu
alayhi wa sallam) there appeared before us a man whose clothes were
exceedingly white and whose hair was exceedingly black; no signs of
journey were to be seen on him and none of us knew him. He walked up
and sat down in front of the Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam),
with his knees touching against the Prophet's (sallAllaahu alayhi wa
sallam) and placing the palms of his hands on his thighs he said: “O
Muhammad, tell me about Islaam.”

The Messenger of Allaah (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
“Islaam is to testify that there is no deity worthy of worship but
Allaah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah, to perform prayers, to
give zakaah, to fast in Ramadaan, and to make the pilgrimage to the
House if you are able to do so.”


He said: “You have spoken rightly”; and we were amazed at him asking him and saying that he had spoken rightly.


He (the man) said: “Tell me about Eemaan.”

He (the Prophet, sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “It is to
believe in Allaah, His Angels, His Books, His Messengers, and the Last
Day, and to believe in divine destiny (qadr), both the good and the
evil of it.”


He said: “You have spoken rightly.”


He (the man) said: “Then tell me about Ihsaan.”

He (the Prophet, sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “It is to
worship Allaah as though you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then
(knowing that) truly He sees you.”


He said: “Then tell me about the Hour.”


He said: “The one questioned about it knows no better than the questioner.”


He said: “Then tell me about its signs.”

He said: “That the slave-girl will give birth to her mistress, and
that you will see barefooted, naked destitute shepherds competing in
constructing lofty buildings.”

Then he (the man) left, and I stayed for a time. The he (the
Prophet, sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “O `Umar, do you know who
the questioner was?”


I said: “Allaah and His Messenger know best.”


He said: “It was Jibreel, who came to teach you your religion.”


It was related by Muslim.

Explanation of Hadeeth 2

This is no doubt a great hadeeth, in that it includes within it all
the outwardly apparent and inwardly actions, and all the Sciences of
the Sharee'ah return back towards it due to its encompassing all the
Knowledge of the Sunnah. Hence some of the scholars have termed this
hadeeth the Mother/Core of the Sunnah (Umm as-Sunnah), just as soorah
al-Faatihah has been termed the Mother/Core of the Qur'aan (Umm
al-Qur'aan), due to its succintly containing all of the Message of the
Qur'aan.

And in this hadeeth (from the mention of the white dress and
black hair) is evidence for the beautification of ones appearance when
entering upon the scholars, the pious and the kings, as Jibreel (alayhi
as-salaam) came to teach
the people by his appearance, his statements and his actions.

The fact that the 'man' had no sign of travel upon him, and yet
no one had ever seen him before surprised the Sahaabah, as if he did
not live amongst them then how did he just appear from 'nowhere'. In
this way, Jibreel (alayhi as-salaam) was able to attract their
attention to what he was to say next. His statement 'O Muhammad' rather
than the respectful 'O Messenger of Allaah' that was obligatory upon
the Sahaabah, also helped to attain the full attention of the Sahaabah.

His questions regarding Islaam, Eemaan and Ihsaan show us that
these are three distinct levels, with the level of Ihsaan being the
highest. It is important to note here that these terms when used
together indicate specific meanings,
whereas when used on their own they may encompass the meanings of the
other terms. What this means will be explained in more detail below in
shaa' Allaah.

The term 'Islaam' in its specific meaning refers to the
outwardly apparent actions - such as the Shahaadah, the Prayer, paying
the Zakaat etc. If a person has the basic amount of eemaan required of
him and then performs these major outward actions then he is at the
level of 'Islaam'.

The term 'Eemaan' in its specific meaning refers to the inward
beliefs of the heart, and for a person to enter the fold of Islaam he
must adhere to the basic beliefs mentioned in this hadeeth. However, in
a more general sense the word
Eemaan denotes the beliefs and actions in the heart (eg aqeedah and
fear of Allaah), the statements of the tongue (e.g. dhikr of Allaah)
and actions of the limbs (e.g. fighting jihaad in Allaah's cause). If a
person achieves the basic
outward actions of Islaam, and then increases upon that in terms of his
belief and his other actions, then he rises to the level of Eemaan.

Having eemaan in Allaah means the attestation that Allaah - Glory be to
Him - exists, and is described with the Lofty and Perfect Attributes,
and is free from all deficient characteristics. And it includes the
belief that He is One, The Truth, The Independent, and He is the Only
Creator of all that exists, and He changes the creation as He wishes
and He acts within His Kingdom whatever He wishes.

And eemaan in the Angels means attesting that they are His
honoured slaves, and that they do not act except according to Allaah's
command.

And eemaan in the Messengers involves attesting that they are
Truthful in all that they have conveyed about Allaah, and that they
were aided by Allaah in the miracles that they performed to prove their
truthfulness, and that they conveyed and explained the Message of what
Allaah has ordered us with. Also, we must respect and honour them all,
and we must not differentiate between them.

And eemaan in the Last Day involves the attestation that we
shall be brought back to life again after our death, and shall be
collected together on the Day of Judgement, and on that Day will be the
Accounting of our deeds, and the
weighing in the Meezaan (Scales), and the crossing of the Siraat
(Bridge), and finally the entry to either Paradise or Hellfire. And the
belief that Paradise is the place for rewarding the doers of good,
while Hellfire is the place for
retribution for the doers of evil.

And eemaan in Qadr (Divine Preordainment) includes the belief
that Allaah knows all that has happened and all that will happen, and
that He has written this down in the Protected Tablet (al-Lawh
al-Mahfooz) which is with Him, and that nothing can happen except by
Allaah's Will and Permission.

And the way of the Salaf and the Imaams of the later times has
been that whomsoever attests to and believes in these matters with a
firm conviction having no doubt in them, then he will be counted
amongst true Believers, whether
he arrived at these beliefs through detailed study of the intellectual
proofs or not.

The term 'Ihsaan' refers to the third and highest level, and is
attained as mentioned in the hadeeth when the person worships Allaah as
though he sees Him, and if he does not see Allaah, then he worships Him
knowing that Allaah sees him. The scholars have mentioned that the
higher level of worshipping Allaah as though one sees him is the level
of mushaahadah. This implies that the person worships Allaah seeing the
effect of Allaah's Names and Attributes in all the things around him.
For example, when he sees mercy shown by an animal to its young he sees
this as the effect of the Mercy of Allaah upon His Creation, and so on
and so forth. Thus whatever the slave sees around him he is reminded of
the Perfect Attributes of Allaah 'azza wa jall. It does not mean that
the slave sees Allaah with his eyes, as this ru'yaa (Seeing) is only
for the Believers on the Day of Resurrection. The second and lower
level of Ihsaan is where the slave is constantly aware of Allaah
watching him at all times.

The statement of the Prophet (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) that "the one questioned knows no better than the questioner"
shows that even the Prophet sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam had no
knowledge of when the Last Hour shall be. This knowledge is with
Allaah, and Allaah alone. Regarding the Signs of the Day of Judgement,
then two are mentioned in this hadeeth.

The first states that a slave-girl shall give birth to her
master. Some of the scholars have suggested that this could mean that
the people will degenerate to the extent that they will sell their
women slaves, from whom they have already had children. These children
may then unwittingly buy their mothers as slaves, and thus become their
masters. Others have suggested that it means that children will become
so bad mannered and insolent towards their parents that they treat
their parents as though they were their slaves - and this is what we
see in todays society.

The second sign is that the poor, destitute shepherds will
compete with one another in building tall buildings. We only have to
look to the Arabian Peninsula to see how people who were desert
bedouins only a few decades ago are now literally competing with one
another in constructing lofty sky scrapers. And there are some
ahaadeeth from the Messenger sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam indicating
that constructing tall buildings is hated, if there is no genuine need
for doing so.

So this hadeeth contains an explanation of Islaam, Eemaan and
Ihsaan. It has been narrated from the scholars of the past, such as
Imaam Aboo al-Husain ibn Bataal al-Maalikee that Ahl-us-Sunnah wa
al-Jamaa'ah are united upon
understanding Eemaan to consist of Beliefs, Speech and Action, and that
Eemaan increases with the obedience of Allaah and decreases with His
disobedience. This is contrary to the statement of some of the deviant
sects that Eemaan is fixed or constant, and a person either has it or
does not. So different people have different levels of Eemaan, and we
are not all equal in this respect. Rather, we know from the statement
of the Prophet sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam that the Eemaan of Abu Bakr
radiAllaahu anhu was greater than the eemaan of the rest of the people
combined (excluding Allaah's Messenger, of course).

And we also learn from this hadeeth that the person who attests to the
shahaadataan and displays the major outward aspects of Islaam is
considered a Muslim, while the one who goes further than that and
increases in actions and beliefs is called a Mu'min. Thus the Mu'min is
at a higher station than the Muslim. And the one who achieves the level
of Ihsaan is the best of the three and is called a Muhsin - may Allaah
'azza wa jall make us of them.

Summary

• That the Angel Jibreel himself came to teach the fundamentals of
  the Faith to the Companions by asking questions to the Messenger
  (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam).
  


• 
  That one can teach others by asking about that which he already knows.
  


• 
  That if someone wants to know about Islaam generally, then he should be made aware of the pillars which constitute it.
  


• That Islaam is built on the five pillars which have to be acted
  upon with eemaan and ihsaan. Denying any one of these pillars and not
  wishing to fulfill any one of them makes one a non-Muslim.
  


• That belief in what Allaah has destined for us, whether it is
  perceived to be good, or bad, is part of eemaan, and without believing
  in it, our eemaan is incomplete and defective.
  


• 
  That one must accept the Messengers sent by Allaah.
  


• That one must develop ihsaan in all that he does so that he is as
  much aware as he can be that Allaah is indeed watching every move that
  he makes.
  


• That as part of the Islaamic manner the teacher should be ready to
  accept and say that he does not know the answer or that he does not
  know it better than the enquirer.
  


• 
  That the signs of the Last Hour are real and cocern how we live and behave.
  


• That although the Companions were the best of the people and were
  the most knowledgeable, they did not interrupt with their own answers,
  nor did they show impatience at the questioner. Therefore as part of
  the Islaamic manners, if
  someone asks a question to the teacher in a group, then the others in
  the group should keep quiet until one of them is asked for help.
  


• It is not permissible to say that there is a certain length of time
  left before the end of the world, for none knows but Allaah, not even
  the Messenger (sallAllaahu alayhi wa sallam).