The Islamic Personality by Sheikh Taqīuddīn An-Nabahānī

Many Muslims perform actions in discord with their Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed) and many Islamic personalities may display behaviour contradicting their Islamic personalities. Some (people) believe that such actions and behavior clearly incompatible with the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed)

would take the person out of Islam and would therefore divest him from his Islamic shakhsiyya (personality).

The truth is that any gap in the conduct of a Muslim does not divest him from his Islamic shakhsiyya (personality). This is because he may inadvertently fail to associate his concepts with his ‘aqīdah (creed) or he may be ignorant of the contradiction between such concepts and his ‘aqīdah (creed) or his Islamic shakhsiyya (personality) or Shaytān (Satan) may influence his heart and thus cause him to distance himself from this ‘aqīdah (creed) in one of his acts, so he might act in a manner that is incompatible with his ‘aqīdah (creed) or that contradicts the attributes of a Muslim adherent to his deen (way of life) or go against the commands of Allah الله سُبْحَانَهُۥ وَتَعَالَىٰ and His الله سُبْحَانَهُۥ وَتَعَالَىٰ prohibitions. He may do all or some of this whilst still embracing the ‘aqīdah (creed) and employing it as the basis for his thought and inclinations. Thus it is incorrect in such cases to say that the person has left Islam or that he has become a non-Islamic shakhsiyya (personality). As long as he embraces the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed) he remains a Muslim even if he is disobedient in an act amongst the acts. As long as he adopts the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed) as the basis for his thought and inclinations he is an Islamic shakhsiyya (personality) even if he trangresses in a specific conduct from amongst the totality of his behaviour. What matters is the embracing of the ‘aqīdah (creed) and the adopting of it as the basis for thought and inclinations, even though there may be shortfalls in acts and conduct.

A Muslim is not ostracized from Islam unless he abandons the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed), by speech or by action, nor is he divested of his Islamic personality unless he distances himself from the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed) in his thinking and inclinations, that is, he does not take it as a basis for his thought and inclinations. If he distances himself from it, he is no longer an Islamic shakhsiyya (personality). If he does not distance himself from it he remains an Islamic shakhsiyya (personality). Therefore, one can be a Muslim because he does not deny the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed), but in spite of being a Muslim he is not an Islamic shakhsiyya (personality). This is because despite his embracement of the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed) he does not take it as a basis for his thinking and inclinations. The association or linking of concepts with the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed) is not a mechanical association such that the concept does not function except in accordance with the ‘aqīdah (creed). Rather it is a voluntary association (ijtimā’i), having the capacity of separation and restoration. It should not be surprising then that a Muslim commits an act of disobedience violating the commands and prohibitions of Allahالله سُبْحَانَهُۥ وَتَعَالَىٰ in one of his acts. He may see the reality as being unsuitable for associating (in that instance) his behaviour with the ‘aqīdah (creed) or he may imagine that it was in his interest to do what he did and then feel remorse and comprehend the error of what he did and return to Allah الله سُبْحَانَهُۥ وَتَعَالَىٰ. Such a violation of Allah’s commands and prohibitions does not indicate absence of his ‘aqīdah (creed) but it does indicate absence of his commitment to the ‘aqīdah (creed) in this specific act. Thus a disobedient person [aasi] or a trangressor [fāsiq] is not considered as an apostate, rather he is a disobedient Muslim only in the act in which he was disobedient, and he is punished for this act only. He remains a Muslim as long as he embraces the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed). So it should not be said that he is a non-Islamic shakhsiyya (personality) for the mere instance when he erred inadvertently, or when he was overwhelmed by the Shaytān (Satan), as long as his adoption of the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed) as a basis for his thinking and his inclinations is intact and free of any doubt.

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Several incidents occurred (even) among the Sahābah (Companions) رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ in the time of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم when a companion would violate some commands or prohibitions. Such violations did not remove him from Islam nor did they adversely affect his Islamic shakhsiyya (personality). This is because they were humans and not angels. They were like other people and they were not infalliable (ma’sūm: lit. protected (against sin)) because they were not prophets. So Hatib ibn Abi Balta’ah conveyed to the kuffār (disbelievers) of Quraysh the news of the Messenger’s intention to invade them, whilst the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم was cautious to maintain the secrecy of the invasion; and when the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم turned the head of al-Fadl Ibn al-‘Abbas when he صلى الله عليه وسلم saw him gazing, in a manner indicating inclination and desire, at a woman who was talking to the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم. In the year of the conquest (of Makkah), the Ansār spoke about the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم that he would abandon them and return to his kinsfolk despite his vow not to do so. The senior Sahābah (Companions) رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ fled the fight at Hunayn and left the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلمwith only a few of his Sahābah Companions رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ. These are only some of the incidents which occurred yet the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم did not consider them as undermining to the Islam of the perpetrators or blemishing to their Islamic shakhsiyya (personality).

This alone is sufficient as evidence that gaps which occur in conduct do not take the Muslim outside the fold of Islam, nor do they divest him of his Islamic shakhsiyya (personality). Yet this does not imply the permissibility of disobeying the commands of Allah الله سُبْحَانَهُۥ وَتَعَالَىٰ and His الله سُبْحَانَهُۥ وَتَعَالَىٰ prohibitions. That doing so is either haram (prohibited) or makrūh (reprehensible) is a matter beyond any doubt. Nor does this imply that an Islamic personality is free not to conform to the attributes of a Muslim committed to his deen (way of life), since this (commitment) is indispensable for the formation of an Islamic shakhsiyya (personality). What it does imply is that Muslims are humans and that Islamic personalities are humans, not angels. Thus if they err they are to be treated in accordance with the dictates of Allah’s rule if their fault is punishable, and it cannot be said that they have become non-Islamic personalities.

The criterion for judging whether a Muslim holds an Islamic Shaksiyyah is the soundness of his Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed) and the building of his thoughts and inclinations upon it. As long as the basis is sound and the building of thought and inclinations are exclusively on the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed), rare inadvertent errors, that is, gaps in conduct do not compromise a Muslim’s Islamic shakhsiyya (personality). But if the ‘aqīdah (creed) becomes flawed, this removes the person from Islam, even if his deeds are built on the ahkām (rules) of Islam, because in that case they would not be built on firm conviction [i’tiqād] but on other than firm conviction: either on habit or custom, on conformity to people, on the (perceived) benefit of such deeds or on other than that. If the building process becomes flawed due to the use of benefit or the intellect as the basis on which to build behaviour, the person would be a Muslim due to the soundness of his ‘aqīdah (creed), but he would not be an Islamic shakhsiyya (personality), even if he was among the carriers of the Islamic Da’wah, even if all his conduct is in conformity to the ahkām (rules) of Islam. This is because what makes one an Islamic personality is the building of thought and inclinations on the Islamic ‘aqīdah due to belief in it. To this end, it is imperative for those who love Islam and want it to be dominant and victorious but do not build their thinking on its thoughts and rules but rather on their own minds, interests or desires, to be wary of such a deed, because it distances them from being Islamic personalities; even if their ‘aqīdah (creed) is intact and even if they were highly knowledgeable of the thoughts and ahkām (rules) of Islam. Of that which is imperative to draw attention to is the fact that embracing the Islamic ‘aqīdah (creed) means belief in all that the Messenger ﷺ came with, as a whole, and in that which is established by definitive [qat’i] evidence, and that the acceptance of all this be accepted with contentment and submission. It should be known that mere knowledge does not suffice and that rejecting even the most minor of matters proven definitively as part of Islam removes the person, and detaches him, from the ‘aqīdah (creed). Islam is an indivisible whole as fair as belief and acceptance is concerned; relinquishment of (even) a part of it is entails disbelief [kufr]. Hence the belief in the separation of the deen from life or from the State is indisputable kuf (disbelief). Allah الله سُبْحَانَهُۥ وَتَعَالَىٰ says,