The Essence of Faith

As we know, faith has its own special flavour or innate characteristic quality. It is reported in a tradition that one who is willing to make God his Lord will savour that essence of faith. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 34) Tastes vary considerably from each other. For example, God has created a number of fruits, each with its own individual flavour. For instance, the fig has a different taste from a date. Grapes have a taste not found in apples. A mango has a taste quite distinct from that of a banana. Each fruit has its own unique taste. When anyone eats a piece of fruit, he savours this individual taste. The same holds true of the essence of faith. For believers, God has bestowed upon happiness a taste which is absent from sorrow. Affluence has an innate quality missing from poverty. Health has a taste which illness does not have. The same goes for difficulty and ease. Moreover, faith may be better savoured in anonymity rather than in repute. Power has a taste which powerlessness can never have on a parallel with strength vis-à-vis helplessness.

However, it depends upon a man’s awareness whether he can savour faith in different situations. The ability to savour faith is not an unconditional bestowal. It comes with the condition that one fully understands what is meant by living faith.

Just as it is only one with fully sensitive taste buds who will be able to discriminate between the tastes of different fruits, it is only one who is alive in his sense of faith, and also continually revivifies it, who will be able to appreciate the taste of faith in different sets of circumstances. On the contrary one who allows his sense of faith to become blunted, may experience different types of situations, but he will never be able to savour the sacred taste immanent in them. Even if living in the garden of faith, he will never know the divine aroma of faith.