Iman — Faith and Its Branches

Iman (إيمان) means faith or belief. In Islamic theology, it refers to the inward belief that underlies a Muslim’s outward practice of Islam.

The clearest classical definition comes from what is known as the Hadith of Jibril, in which the Angel Jibril (Gabriel), in human form, questioned the Prophet ﷺ in front of his companions. Asked to define Iman, the Prophet ﷺ replied that it is belief in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and Qadr (the divine decree) — the six articles of faith. The same narration distinguishes Iman from two related terms: Islam, the outward submission expressed through actions such as prayer, zakah and fasting, and Ihsan, worshipping Allah as though one sees Him, or knowing that He sees you.

Scholars of Ahl al-Sunnah wa’l-Jama’ah traditionally describe Iman as having three components: belief in the heart, declaration with the tongue, and action with the limbs. A widely held position is that genuine Iman increases with acts of obedience and decreases with sin. Other positions in Islamic theology have defined Iman more narrowly as belief and affirmation alone, treating action as a separate, though closely connected, matter — the exact relationship between Iman and action has long been discussed carefully by scholars rather than treated as a settled, uncontested point.

A well-known hadith describes Iman as having many branches — some narrations say over seventy, others over sixty — ranging from the greatest branch, the declaration that there is no god but Allah, down to the smallest, removing something harmful from a path, with modesty described as one branch among many. This teaching illustrates that Iman is expressed through a very wide range of belief, speech and action, not a single fixed state.