Value your Îmân

(for those not familiar with the term, îmân means faith)

Honestly, it is one of—if not the most—important gifts you can have.
In today's western society we are always encouraged to question everything and to see everything objectively. To some extent it can be a good thing, but if your îmân is weak then there is a good chance that sooner or later you might get carried away with the tide and lose faith without even realizing it.

I'm not quite sure if this is making much sense. I know what I'm trying to say in my head, but can't quite translate it into words.

I think the best way to illustrate my point is to quote a hadîth:

Narrated by Imrân ibn Husayn in Abû Dawûd, Hadith #4305
The Prophet said: Let him who hears of the Dajjâl (Antichrist) go far from him for I swear by Allah that a man will come to him thinking he is a believer and follow him because of confused ideas roused in him by him (Dajjâl).

While Dajjâl hasn't appeared physically yet, many of the ideologies he will propogate are found all around us and to some extent, the above hadîth can apply to our society. I'm taking a course on Islamic Civilization and obviously, the professor encourages us to look at history through an objective perspective. The problem that I feel this poses is that once you do that, the "perfect" image you may have of some historical figures gets tainted and it's very difficult to correct it. Once that happens, it almost starts a chain reaction and you may begin to see everything in that same light. One thing leads to another, and the next thing you know, you're questioning the validity of the ahadîth, then you're questioning the personalities of the Companions, then you're questioning the reason for certain Islamic injunctions (ie. why perform Salah, or why fast?) and so on.

At the same time, don't take me wrong; if you can question your faith and come up with sound and reasonable answers to those questions withouth decreasing the level of your îmân, then all the power to you. However, from what I've observed, generally people just tend to stop at the questions and are either unable or unwilling to search for answers. To those people, I would say not to undertake such studies until and unless they are confident in their beliefs and are able to answer any criticism that is put against it.

I feel like I've gone off on a tangent and written a mini-essay on something that is probably more confusing to you than it is to me. In the end, the message I'm putting out is to value your îmân before you lose it without even realizing it. Remember, recognizing when it is weak and being concerned about it is a good thing, because atleast you have enough îmân to even make that realization.