Reference: https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/4093/ما-الاسباب-التي-تودي-لزيادة-الايمان-ونقصه
Question: The questioner says that he is a young person, and he goes through times in the day in which he feels an increase of imān, and other times when he fells that his imān has decreased. So he asks: “What causes imān to increase and decrease?”
Response: This worldly life is a place of trials and tests; it is testing place, in which a person is tested with things that increase their imān and other things that decrease it.
So a person should sometimes recite the Qur’ān, reflect upon it, and increase in dhikr (rememerbance) of Allāh – thereby increasing their imān. At other times, a person should accompany righteous people, benefit from their knowledge and good friendship – thereby increasing their imān. At other times, they should strive in the path of Allāh, enjoin what is right, forbid what is wrong, and call people to goodness— again increasing their imān.
There will be other times, however, wherein a person will be tested with bad friends, negligence of Allāh, and being distracted by the adornments of this world which are quick to disappear – and so a person’s imān weakens and decreases.
A person in this life is between ebb and flow: whenever they focus on their Hereafter and righteous deeds, their imān increases; and whenever they are occupied with the opposite, their imān decreases.
According to Ahlus Sunnah wal-Jamā’ah, imān increases and decreases, contrary to what the Khawārij and the Mu‘tazilah believed. According to Ahlus Sunnah, imān consists of statements, actions, and beliefs; it increases through acts of obedience and decreases through acts of disobedience.
The more a person strives in obedience, remembers Allāh, accompanies righteous people, and engages in different good deeds, the stronger their imān becomes.
And the more a person is occupied with other matters – such as negligence, turning away from seeking knowledge and not keeping righteous company, and indulging in worldly desires and adornments – the weaker and more fragile their imān becomes.
A person remains between [the possibility of their imān] rises and falling, always at risk if they incline toward what weakens imān, yet upon great goodness if they focus on what strengthens imān.
So, a believer must beware of the causes of decrease, and strive for the causes of increase: by turning to the noble Qur’ān and the pure Sunnah, increasing in acts of obedience, dhikr, istighfār (seeking forgiveness), tawbah (repentance), and keeping the company of righteous people; along with being cautious of accompanying disobedient people and their friendship, guarding against heedlessness, controlling the self which commands evil, and not becoming absorbed in pleasures and desires while forgetting the Hereafter, Jannah and Jahannam.
And there is no power nor might except with Allāh.
ما الأسباب التي تؤدي لزيادة الإيمان ونقصه؟
المرجع: https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/4093/ما-الاسباب-التي-تودي-لزيادة-الايمان-ونقصه
