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Islam, Iman and Ihsan
'Umar ibn al-Khattab reported that a stranger in brilliantly white clothes, with no sign of travel on him, sat before the Prophet ﷺ and asked him about Islam, then iman (faith), then ihsan (excellence). After he left, the Prophet ﷺ said: "That was Jibril, who came to teach you your religion" (Sahih Muslim 8). His answers describe the three levels of the religion.
Islam is the outward practice: "That you testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, establish the prayer, give zakah, fast Ramadan, and make the pilgrimage to the House if you are able." Iman is what the heart believes: "That you believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers and the Last Day, and that you believe in the divine decree, its good and its bad." These are the five pillars of Islam and the six pillars of iman.
Ihsan is the highest level: "That you worship Allah as though you see Him, and though you do not see Him, He sees you." Each level builds on the one before it: actions, then the faith that gives them life, then worship done with full awareness of Allah. The Foundations topics The Pillars of Islam and The Pillars of Iman take each pillar in turn.
- Sahih Muslim 8Sahih · in the two Sahihs
- Sahih al-Bukhari 50 Sahih · in the two Sahihs
What the hadith grades mean
- Sahih (authentic): an unbroken chain of trustworthy, precise narrators, free of hidden flaws or contradiction. It is acted upon.
- Hasan (good): like sahih, but a narrator's precision is slightly lighter. It is also accepted and acted upon. "Hasan sahih" means it reaches sahih by its routes.
- Da'if (weak): a break in the chain or a narrator who is not reliable enough. It is not used to establish beliefs or rulings.
- Very weak (munkar, matruk): a seriously flawed chain or a narrator accused of lying. It is not relied on at all.
- Mawdu' (fabricated): falsely attributed to the Prophet ﷺ. It may not be narrated as his words except to warn against it.
- The two Sahihs: every hadith with a full chain in Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim is accepted as sahih by the scholars of hadith.
- Historical report: biographies and histories (Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Sa'd, al-Tabari) record events with chains that are often incomplete. They are used for the story, not for rulings.
- Hadith scholars grade a narration; the four madhhabs do not. Where a hadith carries a ruling, the page shows which schools act on it.
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