The wandering Arabs say: We believe. Say: “You believe not but rather
say “We submit” for the faith has not yet entered into your hearts. So
from this Verse we can clearly see there is a difference between belief
and submission as Islam means submission while Imaan Faith is above that
submission. Although every Believer (Mumin) is a Muslim but not every
Muslim is Believer like every Messenger of Allah called Rasul is Prophet
Nabiy but not every Nabiy is Rasul that received law. The example of
Rasuls as we know such as Rasulullah himself our Prophet, Nabiy Isa
Alaihis Salam Jesus Son of Mary who was a Prophet and Messenger of
Allah, and Moses who held similar status all Peace be Upon them were
Messengers at the same time also Prophets of Allah. Some were higher
than others in status as clearly mentioned by Allah however all of them
they had one thing in common which was guidance most of them were from
the progeny of Abraham whom Allah has raised his status who was Wise and
Aware. Allah in His infinite Mercy bestowed upon him Isaac (father of
Jacob) each of them we guided. And Noah did We guide a foretime; and of
his progeny (We guided) David and Solomon and Job and Joseph and Moses
and Aaaron.Thus do We reward the good. And Zachariah and John and Jesus
and Elias each of them was of the righteous and Ishmael and Elisha and
Jonah and Lot. Each one of them We prefer above (Our) creatures. With
some of their forefathers and their offspring and their brethren and We
chose them and guided them unto the straight path. Such was the guidance
of Allah wherewith He guides Whom He wills of his bondmen. But if they
had set up partner (in their worship) with Him (Allah) then all that
they did would have been in vain. So in short this is the real concept
of Worship of One True Creator God we say Allah which is the source of
Monotheist Religion called Tauhid. Muslims believe all the Prophets and
Messengers of God were from the same One Creator Allah who sent them as
guide to the entire humanity and all of them submitted and therefore
were referred as Muslims. It is our belief also all these Prophets were
not only Muslims that submitted but they were true believers in the
sense of real belief. They were commanded to eat good things and do
righteous deeds so similarly the believers were also commanded to eat of
the good things and do righteous deeds like He commanded the Prophets
Alaihimus Salam. So now this brings us to the main theme or the subject
matter which we want discuss now the difference between Muslims and
Believers called Muminun. As earlier stated every Mumin believer is a
Muslim but not so to a certain Muslim who may not necessarily be a true
believer as he wants people to believe. Example a true believer can not
be a Fasiq evil liver while a Muslim can be Fajir and Fasiq and even he
can be a hypocrite. A Mumin shuns lewdness and iniquity while a Fajir
and Fasiq who pretends to be Muslim will promote such shameful deeds
commonly found among the promoters of lewdness and iniquity as can be
seen from phonograph and other evil materials. You cannot be a true
believer unless you love for your brother what you love for yourself. So
a Mumin likes good to spread among all other Mumineen while a Muslim
only who has no real Imaan may be selfish as we can see today. So this
difference is in the degree of faith which is in the heart and exhibited
openly in good deeds. A true believer practically does good deeds and
practically demonstrates and promotes such deeds every where while on
the other hand an evil liver shows the opposite way round. So this is
why even Allah says “Can the Mumin and Fasiq be equal?” Of course they
can not be compared. This is why the Prophet says when somebody steals
or drinks wine his Imaan is taken away from him or her which means they
have no faith at the time of committing such acts. So if one is
interested in committing sin Allah will not change him He will leave
stray in his contumacy and he will think that he is guided as Allah
says:” Lo Allah changes not the condition of people until they (first)
change that which is in their hearts.” Therefore as Allah clearly
mentions it will be a height of misfortune if Allah has not guided
somebody to the right path. He says “If Allah wills misfortune for a
folk there is none that can repel it, nor have they a defender beside
Him.” So if Allah showers His Blessing on person he would give him
guidance and keeps him on the straight path and the misguided will think
that guided person is misguided. Therefore it shows clearly that every
believer is guided but not every Muslim who can be sometimes could be a
sinner, transgressor or an evil liver or even a Munafiq Hypocrite who
pretends to be good believer as mentioned earlier. When they are told
believe as the people believe they say shall we believe as the fools
believe. But Allah says Nay they are indeed the fools though they cannot
perceive. As pretenders when they meet the believers they also say they
believe but when they meet their evil friends they say we are with you
in other words only mocking and not serious about what they say
indicting themselves by themselves. What a misfortune? May Allah in His
Infinite Mercy save us and keep us on the Siratul Mustaqeem the Straight
path of the Prophets, Truthful, the Martyrs and Righteous People. A true
believer is always conscious of his duties and will not mock or jest
with the Commandments of Allah and the Sunnah of His Beloved Prophet.
Unfortunately a pretender-believer does the opposite of what a real
believer who has conviction practically demonstrates and does inwardly
and outwardly. In next article we will discuss in details the
difference between the two the believers and the so called pretender-
believers who are apparently Muslims but unfortunately only express such
belief with tongues. In other word their hearts have not yet submitted
nor accepted the true teachings of Islam this why they are shameless as
the Prophet has said if you are not ashamed do whatever you like. The
Prophet was and is still the best example for the believers as our role
model we have no model better than him but a pretender-believers choose
different models at different time to suit their desires convenient at
different time. So we will look at the evil traits of such so called
pretenders who pretend to be like real believers but unfortunately their
actions show otherwise and the consequence of such evil pretence
spreading corruption and transgression on the earth and the way to
overcome all these will be discussed Insha Allah in the next article.
