Faith is of the heart, whereas belief is intellectual. As we say, “Seeing is believing.” Faith, on the other hand, is belief in the unseen.
Faith is to accept and trust someone whom we love without constantly cross-checking or doubting them. Just as a child naturally believes and trusts its mother, without feeling the need to doubt or cross-verify her, faith is built upon love and trust.
Faith is Eemaan (إيمان), whereas belief is Aqeeda (عقيدة) in Arabic.
Faith is like your health—your actual state or condition of the heart. Aqeeda, or the belief system, is like nutrition facts and knowledge about health. Eemaan can change just as your spiritual “health” changes; it can increase and decrease, whereas Aqeeda remains established and defined. Aqeeda is a set of established facts and beliefs that can be written down and preserved in books. Eemaan, however, is something that lives in and is carried by the human heart. Books can carry the knowledge of Aqeeda, but they cannot carry Eemaan itself.
In Ahlus Sunnah, Aqeeda has been defined and explained by scholars through the various established theological schools, such as Ash‘ari, Maturidi, and Athari, based on how they understood and transmitted the Eemaan of the Prophets and the Companions.
فَإِنْ آمَنُوا بِمِثْلِ مَا آمَنتُم بِهِ فَقَدِ اهْتَدَوا
“So if they believe in the same as you — the Prophet ﷺ and the Companions (رضي الله عنهم) — believe in, then they are truly guided.”
(Qur’an 2:137)
Since Eemaan is rooted in the heart, and the language of the heart is love, it is difficult to build true Eemaan without loving, trusting, and knowing the one whom we believe in.
In religious terms, Eemaan means accepting with conviction what has been brought to us by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Therefore, Eemaan requires an effort to know Prophet Muhammad ﷺ—his personality, his character, his greatness, his position as the Messenger of Allah, and the conviction that he truly is the Messenger of Allah.
Knowledge about nutrition and health should be understood and explained by experts, whereas the ordinary person needs to actually become healthy. Simply knowing about nutrition does not make a person healthy. Likewise, merely learning Aqeeda does not necessarily bring Eemaan.
One of the most fundamental elements of Eemaan is love for the beloved Prophet ﷺ.
This, in a simple way, is the message of Rabee al-Awwal.
Hubb (love) and Eemaan are deeply interconnected and inseparable. Just as honey cannot exist without sweetness, Eemaan cannot exist without love for the One whom we believe in—and, in particular, love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ through whom this Eemaan has reached us.