Ihsan

For the name, seeIhsan (name).

Not to be confused withIhsahn.

Ihsan(Arabic:إحسانʾiḥsān,also romanizedehsan), is an Arabic term meaning "to do beautiful things", "beautification", "perfection", or "excellence" (Arabic:husn,lit. 'beauty'). Ihsan is a matter of taking one's innerfaith(iman) and showing it in both deed and action, a sense of social responsibility borne from religious convictions.

Meaning

InIslam,Ihsan is the Muslim responsibility to obtain perfection, or excellence, in worship, such thatMuslimstry to worshipGodas if they see Him, and although they cannot see Him, they undoubtedly believe that He is constantly watching over them. That definition comes from theHadith of Gabrielin whichMuhammadstates, "[Ihsan is] to worship God as though you see Him, and if you cannot see Him, then indeed He sees you". (Al-BukhariandAl-Muslim).According to Muhammad'shadith"God has writtenihsanon everything ".

In relation toislamandiman

Ihsanis one of the three dimensions of the Islamic religion (ad-din):

1. Islam– voluntary submission to God, expressed in practicing thefive pillars of islam.
2. Iman– belief in thesix articles of faith.
3. Ihsan– attaining perfection or excellence in the deployment of righteousness on Earth. This includes doing good things for the benefit of others, such as supporting the oppressed and vulnerable.

In contrast to the emphases ofislam(what one should do) andiman(why one should do), the concept ofihsanis primarily associated with intention. One who "does what is beautiful" is called amuhsin.It is generally held that a person can only achieve true Ihsan with the help and guidance ofGod,who governs all things. While traditionallyIslamic juristshave concentrated onislamandtheologiansoniman,thesufishave focused their attention onihsan.Those who aremuhsinare asubsetof those who aremu'min,and those who aremu'minare a subset ofmuslims:

From the preceding discussion it should be clear that not every Muslim is a man or woman of faith (mu'min), but every person of faith is aMuslim.Furthermore, a Muslim who believes in all the principles of Islam may not necessarily be a righteous person, a doer of good (muhsin), but a truly good and righteous person is both aMuslimand a true person of faith.

— Ayoub (2004),p. 54

SomeIslamic scholarsexplainihsanas being theinnerdimension of Islam whereasshariahis often described as theouterdimension.Ihsan"constitutes the highest form of worship" (ibadah).It is excellence in work and in social interactions. For example,ihsanincludes sincerity during Muslim prayers and being grateful to parents, family, and God.

References

Sources

• Ayoub, Mahmoud M.(2004).Islam: Faith and History.
• Chittick, William C. (2008).Sufism: a beginner's guide.Oxford: Oneworld Publications.ISBN978-1-4356-2770-3.OCLC191803844.
• Maqsood, Ruqaiyyah Waris(15 September 1994).Teach Yourself Islam.Teach Yourself World Faiths.Teach Yourself.ISBN978-0-340-60901-9.

Further reading

• Murata, Sachiko; William C. Chittick (2000).The Vision of Islam.I. B. Tauris.pp. 267–282.ISBN1-86064-022-2.
• The Mysteries of Ihsan: Natural Contemplation and the Spiritual Virtues in the Quranby James W. Morris
• Khan, M.A.Muqtedar (2019).Islam and Good Governance: A Political Philosophy of Ihsan.Palgrave Macmillan US.ISBN978-1-137-54832-0.

External links

• Hadith of Angel GabrielHadith #2 from An-Nawawi's Forty Hadiths