The Need for the Renewal of Faith

According to a hadith, the Prophet of Islam once observed: “Renew your faith.” When asked how to do so, the Prophet replied, “renew your faith by the kalimah ‘la ilaha illallah’ (there is no god but one God).” (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 8710) From this tradition we learn that the kalimah is not something which should be recited only once in a lifetime, thinking that it would suffice for one’s whole life. No indeed. Its renewal is necessary. The renewal of the kalimah means awakening the consciousness of faith again and again, so that a person does not become forgetful and lose his sensitivity to it. A person should always have a living active faith.

There is another aspect to this tradition that we learn from another tradition, and it is that Islam does away with all the things of the past. (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 121) One aspect of it relates to that time when an individual recited the kalimah and became a believer. Another aspect pertains to later life. After bringing faith, it repeatedly happens that the individual makes mistakes. He feels then that he has become distanced from the mercy of God. At that time what the believer has to do is to have full faith in God being ever present and, in the presence of God, he should again recite the kalimah in solitude, with keen awareness. He should say, “I witness that there is no God but the one God and I witness that Muhammad is His servant and His Messenger.” In addition to saying this, he should pray to God in this way, “O God, forgive my sins and envelope me with Your mercy once again. I have accepted Islam once again, so that I may join the body of the believers, and the virtuous. O God, I had digressed from the right path, so give me a new life of faith and Islam once again.”

Those who do so with keen awareness will keep receiving new faith. As a result of this renewed faith they will become, in the words of a tradition, like a newborn child. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 1521)