بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
لم ترى كيف ضرب الله مثلا كلمة طيبة كشجرة طيبة أصلها ثابت و فرقها في السماء
See you not how God sets forth a parable? A goodly word as a goodly tree, whose root is firmly fixed, and its branches extended to the sky. Giving its fruit at all times, by the leave of its Lord and God sets forth parables for humankind in order they may contemplate (14:24-25)
Faith is like a tree with root and branches. This is a holistic and living metaphor. The root is belief based in knowledge, and the branches are good deeds. Root and branches work together and, when they are severed from each other, the tree cannot survive. Al-Ghazali explains this in the Book of Repentance, one of the books in his comprehensive work aimed at reviving religion through sincere practice, the Ihya Uloom ud-Din. This analogy is drawn from the Qur’an and also from the “Book of Nature”. The Qur’an couples belief with good deeds over 50 times – the two are inseparable, just like the root and branches of a tree. It also links words with deeds explicitly in the first quote above. The Qur’an also talks of those who are deeply rooted in knowledge, in surah 3. But this knowledge, (علم) must be accompanied by deeds (عمل). We can see in Arabic how closely connected these two ideas are because they even share the same letters.
The Prophet also told us that the believer is like a tree whose leaves do not wither and who is beneficial – the date palm. Someone who believes, but whose belief has no significant effect on his behaviour, is like a tree with no branches, no leaves and no fruit. The root can be alive without the branches, but it will not be able to survive long. What is the meaning of a fruit tree that is living but does not bear fruit? In what sense does it remain a fruit tree? Even worse, if a tree dies, even if it retains its outward form, does it remain a tree, or become dry wood fit for the fire? Whatever you do is intimately connected to your faith and cannot be separated from it.
Al-Ghazali says, basing this upon the teachings of the Prophet, that Faith has over seventy varieties – the highest point of which is to bear witness that there is only one God, (as encapsulated in the Shahada) – but whose lowest point is to remove harm from the road.
Al-Ghazali goes on to say that continuing to persist doing things which are wrong is like ignoring the advice of a doctor who warns you to avoid taking poison. You might not even notice an effect immediately, but over time, you will fall sick, and if you do not change your habits, the doctor might not be able to save you and you will die. Without good deeds, you may lose your faith completely. We can see here that religion as belief cannot be kept alive independent of the things that we do and don’t do, it is embodied in this world, not hermetically sealed off like a brain in a jar.
