Action must follow faith

Let me begin by qualifying the claim that actions must follow faith, that actions are rewarded rather than faith. First, it is obvious that all people in some situations, and some people in all situations do not have the power or the freedom to act on what they believe. By way of extension we can say that our power of action (what we can do in the external world) is necessarily limited by our physical limitations. By contrast, we have much larger command of our interior life which includes our conception of God and how we respond to Him. I cannot support the view, which feels very western, even American, that we are what we can do and so we are judged by our power in the world and its effects in the world.

That said there is some truth in this statement which just qualified. Let me begin to explain this limited truth by explaining the difference between knowledge and belief. You know for a fact that you are going to die. It is a different matter to believe that you are going to die. What’s the difference? You test knowledge by all sorts of means, such as logic, experiment, experience – either philosophically or historically you can be sure that your knowledge of being mortal is true. However, this knowledge will not modify your way of life unless you believe it. For that is the nature of belief that you hold something sufficiently true to act upon it.

Now in the case of belief in Islam, given the limitations of our powers, the claim of belief is validated not by specific actions (assuming actions are within our power) but by the dedication of each action to God. In sum, religious effort, the quality of dedication to God is rewarded not specific actions. It is important to note that religious effort does not mean only devotional effort, i.e. formal religious actions. The test of devotional actions, like the test of belief generally, is the degree to which devotional actions inform your being in the world generally. Such being comprehends your conception of God, attitude to Him, and your relation with His creation, both the animate and inanimate.