What is a Momin? Any person who believed in the Unity of Allah and finality of Prophet Muhammed's Prophet hood, who felt that the Quran was revealed to him just as it was revealed to Prophet s.a.w.. who fortified his will by imposing upon himself the discipline of Islam, and who realized in actuality the ideals of equality, solidarity and freedom by doing that which was permitted under the law of the Lord - was entitled as a Momin. Who he had surrendered himself completely and entirely to the Lord Allah, and therefore his will was the Will and his hand was the Hand of the true creator-Allah. He believed in himself and his Lord and therefore he conquered and was successful.
Within a couple of centuries after the advent of Islam when decadence had resulted from the tribal and racial jealousies of numerous people who came within the fold of Islam, and when Greek and Persians thought had started exerting its influence on the minds of the Muslims theologians and mystics and the conditions of exalted life were withdrawn from the idea of the personality of the Lord of Islam, and everything strong, brave, domineering, proud and dynamic was taken away. The living and creative Lord of Islam was transformed into a pantheistic God and was made to hold an absolute position in a fixed universe. He was reduced merely to an Ideal, an Abstraction, a pure spirit, a Divine Principle.
The Muslim mystics of the later phases of Islamic history, contrary to the original teachings of Islam, renounced the world of matter as profane and devoted themselves entirely to spiritualism. The Muslim theologians of the period closed the Gates of Ijtihad (independent inquiry) and thus made the entire religious thought in Islam practically stationary. Consequently the True Momin made an exit from the scene leaving behind the abstract and unrealizable, exclusively moral and spiritual ideal of the perfect Man (Insan-e-Kamil) of the later mystics of Islam. This mystic ideal destroyed the original concept of Momin as a person concerned to act in the world.
The God of Islam and Momin are interdependent and complementary forces. If the idea of God is reduced to merely an Omnipotent Will which inculcates fatalism and encourages renunciation, then naturally the Momin - the strong, courageous and powerful man who loved purity, freedom, hardship and toughness and who lived dangerously would cease to be the ideal of humanity. In the Quran, the use of the terms Muslim and Momin also denotes a variation in the degree of the intensity in the love of Allah.
"Successful indeed are the believers (Muminun) who are humble in their prayers, and who shun vain conersation, and who are the payers of the Zakat and who guard their modesty.. who are shepherds of their pledge and their covenant and who pay heed to their prayers They are the heirs who will inherit Paradise."
Qualities of a Momin:
He is righteous.
He's sincere and God fearing.
He's modest, pure and a man of manners.
He's straightforward.
Affectionate towards his parents, children and orphans.
He abhors slander and backbiting.
He is courteous and cautious to small kindnesses.
He doesn't simply 'believe' but genuinely and sincerely 'submits' to Allah and His Prophet s.a.w. He's Allah's soldier and fights only for Allah's sake. He's a true warrior of Islam.
A Momin is the ideal represented by Islam for a Muslim human. Being a Muslim we should try to attain the highest degree of the ideal given by Islam. Let us all try to reach the best of ideals and become a good Muslim by adhering to the simple and beautiful injunctions of Islam so that we can be able to call our self a true Muslim and gradually entering into the circle of qualities of a Momin.
