By: Allamah Tabatabai

In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.

First stage of Islam

It is to accept and obey the exoteric commandments, orders and prohibitions, by reciting ash-Shahadatayn, that is, testifying to the Oneness of Allah and Messengership of Muhammad (SAW), no matter whether the belief has entered into the heart or not. Allah says: The dwellers of the desert say: We believe. Say: You do not believe but say, We submit; and faith has not yet entered into your hearts (Qur'an 49:14)

First stage of al-Iman

That is the sincere belief in the above-mentioned shahadatayn, such a believer faithfully obeys most of the rules of the Shari’ah.

Hadith for first two stages

Sama’ah narrates from as-Sadiq (a.s) that he said: “Islam is to bear witness that there is no god except Allah and to accept the truth of the Messenger of Allah; it is by this that the bloods are spared and marriages and inheritance are validated; and the multitude of people are on its apparent (meaning); and the iman is the guidance, and (it is) that characteristic of Islam which is firmly placed in the hearts” (al-Kafi)

Second stage of Islam

It is the sincere acceptance of all the true beliefs in detail, with its necessary concomitant, that is, good deeds – although occasional slips are not impossible. Allah says praising the pious ones: Those who believed in Our communications and were submissive (Qur'an 43:69), O ye who believe! Enter into Islam whole-heartedly (Qur'an 2:208)

Second stage of al-Iman

It is the believing, with full details and reasoning, in the realities of the religion. Allah says: The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger then they doubt not and struggle hard with their wealth and their lives in the way of Allah; they are the truthful ones (Qur'an 49:15), O you who believe! shall I lead you to a merchandise which may deliver you from a painful chastisement? You shall believe in Allah and His Messenger, and struggle hard in Allah's way with your property and your lives; that is better for you, did you but know (Qur'an 61:10-11)

Third stage of Islam

When the soul is sufficiently imbued with the above-mentioned Iman, and acquires its characteristics, then man’s all animalistic and beastly faculties are subdued to the sublime powers of his intellect and spirituality. He keeps all his desires – pulling him to the material attractions and transient trinkets of the world – under his firm control. Thereupon, he reaches a stage where he worships Allah as though he was seeing Him – and if he was not seeing Allah, then Allah was seeing him. There is nothing in his hidden life and inner-self, that is not submissive to Allah’s orders and prohibitions; he is never annoyed with any decree or measure of Allah. Allah says: But no! by your Lord! they do not believe (in reality) until they make you a judge of that which has become a matter of disagreement among them, and then do not find any straitness in their hearts as to what you have decided and submit with entire submission (Qur'an 4:65)

Third stage of Iman

Allah says:  Successful indeed are the believers, Who are humble in their prayers, And who keep aloof from what is vain (Qur'an 23:1-3). It is this stage that the words of Allah refer to: When his Lord said unto him: Surrender! he said: I have surrendered to the Lord of the Worlds (Qur'an 2:131). The sublime virtues, for example, being pleased with Divine Decree, submitting to the commandments of Allah, forbearance and patience for the love of Allah, self-denial, piety, and love and hate for the sake of Allah are concomitants of this stage of al-Iman.

Hadith for third stage of Islam and iman

Kahil said that as-Sadiq (a.s) said: “If a people worshipped Allah – the One, there is no partner to Him – and established prayer, and paid the zakat and did the hajj of the House, and kept the fast of the month of Ramadan, and then said about something done by Allah or done by the Messenger of Allah, ‘Why did he not do it in another way?’, or (even if) they felt (like) it in their hearts, they would become polytheists because of it” (al-Kafi) 

Fourth stage of Islam

In the above-mentioned stage of al-Iman the condition of a man vis-à-vis his Lord is like that of a slave with his master when a slave faithfully follows the dictates of his bondage – when he totally surrenders to the will of his master and accepts his likes and dislikes.

Sometimes, when a man reaches the third stage of surrender and submission, the Divine Grace takes him under its wing; he is shown the reality, and sees with his heart’s eyes that the Kingdom belongs to Allah, nothing else owns anything at all – except when Allah bestows it to someone; there is no Lord other than He.

This realization, this unveiling of reality, is a Divine Gift, a bestowal by Allah, to whom He pleases; a man cannot reach this sublime stage by his own will or effort. Probably it is to this Islam that the prayer of Ibrahim and Ismail refers: Our Lord! and make us both submissive to Thee (Qur'an 2:128)

Fourth stage of al-Iman

It happens when the above-mentioned conditions permeates the believer’s whole being, and submerges all his conditions and actions: Allah says: Now surely the friends of Allah-- they shall have no fear nor shall they grieve. Those who believe and guarded (against evil) (Qur'an 10:62-63). The believers here must be having the certainty that nothing is independent of Allah, and no ‘cause’ has any causative power except by His permission. It is this certainty which insulates them from grief when a tragedy strikes them, and protects them from fear if a danger looms ahead. It is only because of this factor that they have been praised in these terms.

This Iman comes after the above-mentioned Divine Gift.

Hadith for fourth stage of Islam and Iman

Ad-Daylami narrates in his al-Irshad – and gives two sanads for this hadith which is one of the traditions of Ascension – that Allah said: “O Ahmad! Do you know which way of living is happier and which life more durable?” (The Messenger of Allah) said: “No, O Allah!” (He) said: “As for the happy way of living, it is that in which the (living) person is not tired of remembering Me, and does not forget My bounties, and does not ignore My rights (on him); he seeks My pleasure day and night. And as for the ever-lasting life, it is (realized) when (the person) works for his (spiritual) benefit until the world loses its significance for him, and looks small in his eyes; and the hereafter becomes great for him; and he gives preference to My pleasure over his own desire, and seeks My pleasures, and thinks the right of My bounty (as) great (on him); and keeps in mind what I have done for him (i.e., for his benefit); and watches Me day and night whenever he is tempted to commit any wrong or sin; and keeps his heart clean from all that I dislike; and hates Satan and his whisperings, and does not let Satan establish a hold over, or passage to, his heart. When he acts (like) this, then I put (My) love into his heart – until I make his heart, as well as his leisure and engagement, and his thought and speech, a part of (My) favors which I have bestowed on those of My creatures who love Me; and I open his heart’s eye and ear, so that he hears with his heart, and looks with his heart to My Majesty and Greatness; and I make the world straitened for him; and make him hate it with all its pleasures; and I caution him of the world and all that it contains, as a shepherd protects his sheep from dangerous pasture lands. When it happens, then he flees from people, and transfers from the house of termination to the abode of eternity, and from house of Satan to the seat of the Beneficent (God), O Ahmad! And I adorn him with dignity and majesty. So, this is the good way of living and the eternal life; and it is the station of those who are pleased (with Me). So, whoever acts for My pleasure, I give him three characteristics: I teach him gratitude which is not polluted by ignorance, and remembrance that is not adulterated with forgetfulness, and love – so that he does not prefer the love of creatures to My love. Then when he loves Me, I love him, and I open the eye of his heart to My Majesty, and do not keep My (very) special creatures hidden from him. And I converse with him secretly in the dark of night and the light of day, until he ceases talking with the creatures and sitting with them; and I make him hear My talk and speech of My angels; and I make My secret known to him – which I have kept hidden from (all) My creation. And I dress him in modesty, until all the creation is awed of him. And he walks on the earth (and all his sins are) forgiven. And I make his heart hearing and seeing; and do not hide from him anything of the Garden or the Fire; and I make known to him what terror and affliction are going to happen to the people on the Day of Resurrection, and the things I will question the rich and the poor, as well as the learned and the ignorant, about. And I will make him sleep (in peace) in his grave, and I will send Munkar and Nakir to him for questioning him; and he will not see the sorrow of death, nor the fright of the prelude (of the next world). Then I will erect his weighting scale for him, and will unroll his book (of deeds), then I will put his books in his right hand, and he shall read it unfolded; then I will not keep any interpreter between Me and him. So these are the attributes of the lovers. O Ahmad! Make your concern one concern, and make your tongue one tongue, and make your body (i.e., your person) alive that is never oblivious (of Me). Whoever is oblivious of Me, I do not care in which valley he perishes.” (Biharul Anwar)