Imam Tustari said: Persistence in sin (dhanb) gives rise to ignorance, and ignorance gives rise to transgression into falsehood (bāṭil). The transgression into falsehood gives rise to hypocrisy (nifāq) and hypocrisy in turn gives rise to disbelief (kufr). [He] was asked, ‘What is the sign of the hypocrite?’ He replied: It is that he perceives something when he is reminded of it, but when he gets up to go, it is as if that thing never entered his heart. Allah, Exalted is He, has said: Whenever it gives them light, they walk therein, and when darkness falls around them, they stand still [2:20].
Allah Said in the Qur’an the main reason He sent the Prophet (saws) was to help people purify their character and selfs (nafs) from bad qualities and to nurture and grow good qualities in their place, “He it is Who sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger (Muhammad SAW) from among themselves, reciting to them His Verses (teaching them), purifying them, and teaching them the Book (Law and science) and Al-Hikmah (Wisdom regarding creation). And verily, they had been before in manifest error”(62:2).
[62:2] It is He who sent to the unlettered [folk] a messenger from among them…Imam Tustari said: The unlettered are those who believed in Muḥammad (saws) and were connected to him through following (ittibāʿ) him and emulating (iqtidāʾ) him. Whoever does not emulate him is not of his nation.
[62:3] And [to] others from among them who have not yet joined them…Imam Tustari said; That is, those (later generations) who came after him who believed in him and followed him, Allah will join with the first [generation of believers].
Imam al Ghazali said a man “intends to construct a house. For the first time his vision embraces a perspective of his proposed great house, which is laid originally on the plan of his mind, at the back of which he has the number of walls and rooms, etc., and the order in which bricks are to be placed to make the walls. Unless he plans the house according to his prearranged outline, he cannot construct it. Similarly, know that Allah creates man, so that he may attain nearness to Him. This nearness is impossible without the assistance of the intermediaries nearer to Him, i.e. the Prophets. Prophethood, therefore, is not an end in itself, but a means to an end. Allah’s claim to nearness is obligatory and binding upon all creatures because He made it obligatory upon them through the words of His Prophets, and not by reason alone. ” (The Mysteries of the Human Soul).
Meaning science alone isn’t enough, and will never be enough, because mans nature is not built that way, rationality is only part of mans physiology while Allah gave man instincts to sense matters through, sound judgment is only partly built upon facts, any person can present fabricated information as facts then person are only left with their instincts to unravel the matter.
People constantly put their faith in things without realising it, a scientist can prove what he likes through experimentation to which he knows all the proofs and evidence, but even the greatest and most devout Atheist must put his faith in the words of the scientist because he didn’t conduct the experiments himself, so he is taking the matter at the scientists words, this is the state of every Atheist secular society.
Because this is mans nature Allah created the universe to accommodate for this, the matter with Allah isn’t simply faith it is first learning and understanding and then to have faith our actions will bring results, Islam is faith based upon knowledge. Allah calls this process Jihad, it is the struggle to find a wasila, a means to Him, and every persons wasila, or means to Allah is different because each person’s heart is unique.
Upon making the connection between science and faith, scholars began to write works on such matters, Imam Al-Balkhi (933 CE) wrote a book dedicated to maslahah (public interest), which he entitled, Masalih al-Abdan wal-Anfus (Benefits for Bodies and Souls), in which he explained how Islamic practices and rulings contribute to health, physically and mentally, this was one of the earliest works connecting science with religious practice.
One of the most famous and important hadith (narration) in Islam is the hadith of Jibril (Gabriel), which occurred just 86 days before the prophets (saws) death;
Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, said, “While we were sitting with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, one day a man came up to us whose clothes were extremely white, whose hair was extremely black, upon whom traces of traveling could not be seen, and whom none of us knew, until he sat down close to the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, so that he rested his knees upon his knees and placed his two hands upon his thighs and said,
‘Muhammad, tell me about Islam.’
The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘Islam is that you witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, and you establish the prayer, and you give the Zakat, and you fast Ramadan, and you perform the hajj of the House if you are able to take a way to it.’
He said, ‘You have told the truth,’
and we were amazed at him asking him and [then] telling him that he told the truth.
He said, ‘Tell me about Iman.’
He said, ‘That you affirm Allah, His Angels, His Books, His messengers, and the Last Day, and that you affirm the Decree, the good of it and the bad of it.’
He said, ‘You have told the truth.’
He said, ‘Tell me about Ihsan.’
He said, ‘That you worship Allah as if you see Him, for if you don’t see Him then truly He sees you.’
He said, ‘Tell me about the Hour.’
He said, ‘The one asked about it knows no more than the one asking.’
He said, ‘Then tell me about its tokens.’
He said, ‘That the female slave should give birth to her mistress, and you see poor, naked, barefoot shepherds of sheep and goats competing in making tall buildings.’
He went away, and I remained some time. Then he asked, ‘Umar, do you know who the questioner was?’ I said, ‘Allah and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘He was Jibril who came to you to teach you your deen’.” (Muslim and Bukhari narrated it and has a grade Higher than Sahih and that is “Agreed upon”, in terms of authority it is on par with the Quran).
This hadith is described by Imam Nawawi as one of the hadiths upon which the Islamic religion turns. The use of the word deen in the last line, Atakum yu’aallimukum dinakum, He “came to you to teach you your religion” entails that the religion of Islam is composed of the four fundamentals mentioned in the hadith: Islam, or external compliance with what Allah asks of us; Iman, or the belief in the Unseen (parts of the universe) that the prophets have informed us of; Ihsan, or to worship Allah as though one sees Him; and The Hour, or the remembrance of death and the afterlife.
The reason it is one of the most important Hadiths in all of Islam is because it summed up the entire religion and categorised into into four parts, and the meeting with Jibril occurred 86 days before the prophets (saws) death, a time when Allah revealed the verse, “This day have I perfected your religion for you (sent down all it should be about), completed My favor upon you (decided your blessings and what you shall receive spiritually and materially), and have chosen for you Islam as your religion (All that is mentioned in the Hadith of Jibril)” (Surah Al-Ma’idah 5:3).
Becouse Jibril (a.s) was the one who brought down this verse to the Messenger, Allah inspired him to prepare the Prophet (saws) and the Ummah for what it meant by first visiting them and instructing them on all the parts of the Deen.
So there is no room to say the hadith is missing any aspect of what Islam is, and to deny any part of it is to deny what Allah revealed and is Kufr (disbelief), because the Prophet (saws) said “He was Jibril who came to you to teach you your deen” these words have the same authority as a verse in the Quran.
The holy Prophet Muhammad (saws) had four Prophetic duties, as illustrated in the holy Qur’an:
“Certainly did Allah confer [great] favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error.”(3:164)
“It is He who has sent among the unlettered a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom – although they were before in clear error.” (62:2)
These four duties are:
(1) Reciting the Verses of the Qur’an; The Revelation conveyed the Commands of Allah, and is the foundation of Islamic Shari‘ah. The final revelation was received at ‘Arafat on the 9th day of the Islamic month of Zilhajj during the Farewell Pilgrimage. It declared: “This day I completed your Deen (way of life) for you and My favours upon you, and chosen for you Islam as Deen”, according to the Hadith of Jibril Islam means the religion and it’s laws, and Deen is the way of life, or end result in each persons life.
(2) Tazkiyah, purifying them; there a number of ways to purify the self, such as through our actions as we practice the acts that purify us, the other was the Prophet’s (saws) company, it purified the souls and immediately refined human conduct. This was because of the extent to which He embodied the qualities of Allah, some of the companions converted on the sight of him because they could perceive the magnitude of Allah through him. Allah took a number of oaths by the messenger of Allah in the Qur’an, two on the tremendous nature of his character. “Ya Seen, By the wise Qur’an Indeed you, [O Muhammad], are from among the messengers, On a straight path (36:1-5). And “Nun. By the pen and what they inscribe, You are not, [O Muhammad], by the favor of your Lord, a madman. And indeed, for you is a reward uninterrupted. And indeed, thou art of a tremendous nature.”(68:1-4) This transformation was most strikingly evident in the character of his Companions, this process of purifying the soul instantly, still continues with those who emulate him and achieve what he did, the Awliya of Allah who are the inheritors of the prophets. “Indeed in the Messenger of Allah you have a good example to follow, for him who hopes in (the Meeting with) Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah much”.(Surah Al-Ahzab, Verse 21)
(3) Teaching of the Book; It was befitting Allah’s majesty that the exalted personality (saws) which received the Book and fully understood the Message, should teach it to the rest of mankind.
(4) Teaching of Wisdom; To expound the deeper meaning of the Book, teach the wisdom behind the words of Allah, raise people up to be wise in conduct and exhibit practical implementation of the Qur’an. Wisdom means that a person considers as much knowledge as possible when judging a matter, and only people with purified hearts can handle taking in many points of view before there heart settles on the best answer, others may be quick to anger, be short sighted, not intelligent enough to handle more than one kind of knowledge or perspective, and may be hypocritical and only seek self interest, many bad qualities hinder the ability of a person to be wise and sagacious (having an ability to understand difficult ideas and situations and make good decisions).
This is why Allah coupled knowledge and wisdom with Takiyah, purifying the self and a person can only know himself if he purifies it, and he can only know Allah if he knows His self.