Taking your iman to new heights

At any given point, our individual Iman (faith) is either going up or down, depending on what we ourselves are doing (or not doing).  We express this phenomenon often in our conversations: “I’m having an Iman low” or, hopefully, “I’m having an Iman rush.”  As a rule, Iman is anything but static. Indeed the heart turns all the time, and we ask Allah, the turner of hearts, to fix our hearts upon His path.

But what is the relationship between hijab and Iman?  Oftentimes, we delay a certain deed, such as wearing hijab, waiting for a time when our Iman is “higher” so that the deed will become either easier to do or more noble in nature.  Should we really wait until we build our Iman higher so that hijab can become easier?  Should we really work on what’s inside first?  Isn’t what’s “inside” more important? Although our interior, our hearts and intentions, are vital, postponing doing a good deed until our Iman is higher is more of an excuse than a good idea.  Why?

For one thing, we can never be sure of how high our Iman is, or how high it will be tomorrow.  The reality is that we may die before we ever reach our high-Iman goal, and in that case, we suffer a great loss by having curbed our chances for performing good deeds such as wearing hijab.
As another point, consider these ayat from the Qur’an:

[5] As for he who gives and fears Allah
[6] And believes in the best [reward],
[7] We will smooth his way towards ease.
(92:5-7)

Therefore, the more good deeds we do, the easier it will become to do additional good deeds.  Remembering to pray your Sunnahs, reading more Qur’an, or getting involved in your community are all related – any one may lead to the other. They work by an indirect effect. They raise Iman, and when our Iman starts to go up, we feel empowered to do more, and then our Iman goes up even higher. So why not work on those other deeds first, and then hijab will come along when we are “strong enough”? Because what many people may not realize is that hijab itself can be one of those factors.  It can easily be the action paving the way for many other obligations and sunnahs!  It may bring you that “Iman-high” you are looking for.  Wearing the hijab, or struggling in the path of Allah in any way, serves as a sort of boost for our Iman and takes it higher.

By all means, find ways to build your Iman.  But don’t delay in its favor. If you are already wearing hijab and feeling weak about continuing with it, this is when this strategy of doing other good deeds becomes really useful.  More often than not, that weakness is a sign of your Iman’s weakness, so engage yourself in as many actions beloved to Allah as you can.

Finally, I ask that Allah aids us all so that our Iman can always go up, up, UP!

taken from: http://www.igotitcovered.org/2011/01/20/what-goes-up-must-go-up/