Seâdet-i Ebediyye Endless Bliss Second Fascicle

of a religion, and to those irreligious people who lived in ancient
times when one religion was changed and defiled by disbelievers
and died before the advent of another Prophet. Please read it to
learn the matter! [Please read the second chapter in this book!]
Our savants gave different deduced reports on the increasing
and decreasing of îmân. Hadrat al-imâm-ul-a’zam Abû Hanifa
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ said that îmân does not increase or decrease;
Hadrat al-imâm-ush-Shâfi’î ‘rahmatullâhi ’alaih’ said that it
increases and decreases. Since îmân is a confirmation and belief
in the heart, there is no increase or decrease in it. Belief that
increases and decreases cannot be îmân. It is called supposition.
By performing the acts of worship, the actions which Allâhu
ta’âlâ loves, îmân gets polished, becomes luminous, and shines.
When harâms are committed it becomes blurred. Then an
increase or decrease occurs in the lustre of the îmân on account
of behavior. It does not happen in itself. Some (savants) said that
the îmân which is bright is very much greater than that which is
not bright. They almost did not consider some beliefs that are not
bright as îmân. And about some lustrous ones they said that they
were îmân but they were small. This comparison between two
different versions of îmân is like that of two mirrors standing
opposite each other and with different brightnesses. It is similar
to saying that the one which is more lustrous and reflects the
things opposite itself more brightly is greater than the one that
reflects less brightly. And another person, for example, says that
the two mirrors are equal. They are different only in brightness, in
reflecting the things opposite themselves; that is, their properties,
qualities are different. Of the two persons, the latter’s opinion is
keener and more correct. The former has looked at the
appearance, and has not penetrated into the essence. This
example, which has fallen to this faqîr’s ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’alaih’
lot to give, has disproved the words of those who would not believe
the fact that îmân does not increase or decrease; and at the same
time the îmân of any Muslim has not been likened to the îmân of
Prophets ‘’alaihimussalawâtu wa-t-teslîmât’ in every respect. For,
their îmân, being very luminous and very bright, will provide much
more fruit, much more benefit than the dark and cloudy îmân of
their ummats. It is stated in a hadîth: “The îmân of Abû Bakr-i
Siddîq ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ is heavier than the total sum of the
îmâns of all this Ummat.” And this is in regard to the nûr, the
lustre of îmân. Being greater is not in the essence, in the basis, but
in the qualities. As a matter of fact Prophets ‘’alaihimussalawâtu
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