يقين
Yaqīn
Topic
Certainty about the truth of Islam and its claims, needing no further proof
What it means
Yaqīn is certainty, a settled conviction that leaves no room for doubt. In Ismail al Faruqi’s account it is certainty about the truth of Islam and its claims, which requires no further proof. The Quran commands the Prophet to worship his Lord until certainty comes to him (15:99), and commentators generally take this to mean death. The Quran names three levels of certainty: ʿilm al-yaqīn (102:5), ʿayn al-yaqīn (102:7) and ḥaqq al-yaqīn (69:51). Scholars, especially the Sufis, have used them to describe growth from knowledge to sight to direct experience. The opposite of yaqīn is doubt, ẓann or shakk.
Often misunderstood as
That it is blind belief, when the sources join certainty to knowledge and reflection.
Term and Arabic as listed in Ismail al Faruqi, Toward Islamic English (International Institute of Islamic Thought, 1995), p. 48, listed as YAQĪN. The definition is restated here.