The Relationship between Faith and Practice in Twelver Shiism

In order to explain how faith and practice are related on the basis of the Twelver Shiite sources, we can speak of two kinds of relationship: conceptual and objective. The conceptual relationship of faith and practice is concerned with the question whether practice is a constituent part of faith. If practice is among constituent parts of faith, the loss of it will lead on to the loss of faith. But if practice is regarded as one of the conditions or elements outside faith, the loss of it won’t result in the loss of faith although it won’t be a perfect one. This issue is significant, because on the one hand, according to some Shiite traditions, physical act is one of the constituent parts of faith and it is even narrated that faith totally consists in practice and on the other hand, if this is the case, the number of believers will be very restricted whereas this position is not consistent with the current Shiite viewpoint. As regards the objective relationship, the interaction between faith and practice can be either of a conditional, revealing or concomitant type in the external world. In fact, faith necessitates righteous practice and righteous practice, in turn, is a sign and proof of faith.