The Definition of Iman

The classical definition of īmān is short to state and not at all short to unpack. The Prophet ﷺ, in the famous hadith of Jibrīl, gave the answer himself when asked what īmān is: it is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree — its good and its evil.

The scholars of ʿaqīdah then asked the question that the hadith, by its nature, leaves implicit: is īmān only the assent of the heart (taṣdīq), or does the verbal profession (iqrār) and the works of the body (ʿamal) belong to its definition as well? On this question, two old and respectable opinions sit side by side in the Sunni tradition.

The Hanafi position — preserved in the writings of Abū Ḥanīfah, his students, and the later Māturīdī tradition — settles on the first two: īmān is taṣdīq plus iqrār. Works are demanded by faith and perfect it, but they are not its essence. The opposing position, held by the majority of the muḥaddithīn and by al-Shāfiʿī's school, holds that works belong to the definition itself.

The disagreement is not idle: it determines what one says about a Muslim who falls short in practice. But it is also bounded — neither party admits that disbelief is the consequence of mere sin, and neither denies that works are required of the believer.