What are the levels of the religion and the pillars of each?
2026-09-21
F96 · Selected fatwas
Shaykh Ibn Bāz
الشيخ عبد العزيز بن باز
Original Q&A · Complete published question and answer
The complete published question and answer are included, with presenter follow-ups and closing remarks where present. The browsing title is editorial.
النص العربي
السؤال الأصلي
سماحة الشيخ هذا سائل من الرياض يقول: يا سماحة الشيخ ما هي مراتب الدين مع ذكر أركان كل مرتبة؟ جزاكم الله خيرًا.
الجواب
مراتبه ثلاث: الإسلام، والإيمان، والإحسان، كما بيَّنه النبي ﷺ.
فالمرتبة الأولى: الإسلام المرتبة العامة، وأركانها خمسة: شهادة أن لا إله إلا الله، وأن محمدًا رسول الله، وإقام الصلاة، وإيتاء الزكاة، وصوم رمضان، وحج البيت، وكل عمل مما شرعه الله داخل في الإسلام.
المرتبة الثانية: الإيمان وأركانها ستة: أن تؤمن بالله، وملائكته، وكتبه، ورسله، واليوم الآخر، وبالقدر خيره وشره.
المرتبة الثالثة: الإحسان وهو ركن واحد ومعناه أن تعبد الله كأنك تراه فإن لم تكن تراه فإنه يراك.
وجميع الأعمال الصالحة داخلة في الإسلام، والإيمان، فإذا جمع المؤمن بين الأعمال كلها الظاهرة والباطنة صار مسلمًا مؤمنًا، وإذا عبد الله كأنه يراه فإن لم يكن يراه فإنه يراه صار مسلمًا مؤمنًا محسنًا، نسأل الله للجميع التوفيق.
المقدم: اللهم آمين.
English translation
English translation prepared for SalafAlSalih.com from the cited Arabic source. It is not an official translation.
Original question
Your Eminence, a questioner from Riyadh asks: What are the levels of the religion, and what are the pillars of each level? May Allah reward you with good.
Answer
Its levels are three: Islam, faith and excellence, as the Prophet ﷺ explained.
The first level is Islam, the general level. Its pillars are five: testifying that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muḥammad is Allah's Messenger; establishing prayer; giving zakah; fasting Ramadan; and performing Hajj to the House. Every act Allah has prescribed is included in Islam.
The second level is faith. Its pillars are six: believing in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and divine decree, its good and its evil.
The third level is excellence, which has one pillar: to worship Allah as though you see Him; if you do not see Him, He sees you.
All righteous deeds are included in Islam and faith. When a believer combines all outward and inward deeds, he is a Muslim and a believer. When he worships Allah as though he sees Him, and if he does not see Him, He sees him, he is a Muslim, a believer and one who worships with excellence. We ask Allah to grant everyone success.
Presenter: O Allah, amen.
Source and editorial notes
Official Ibn Bāz website fatwa 18974
الموقع الرسمي للشيخ عبد العزيز بن باز
Official website of Shaykh ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Bāz
Arabic checked against the complete official published transcript. Text is preserved; spacing is normalized and legacy honorific glyphs are expanded. The English translates every displayed paragraph; Quran quotations are translations of their meanings.