What is ihsan in Islam, worship as if you see Him

Ihsan is excellence: doing a thing as well as it can be done, because Allah is watching. In the famous hadith of Jibril, the angel came as a man and asked the Prophet ﷺ about Islam, then iman, then ihsan. Islam is the outward practice, iman is belief in the heart, and ihsan is worshipping with full awareness of Allah. It is the summit that the other two lead to.

أَنْ تَعْبُدَ اللَّهَ كَأَنَّكَ تَرَاهُ، فَإِنْ لَمْ تَكُنْ تَرَاهُ فَإِنَّهُ يَرَاكَ

"That you worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then indeed He sees you."

Sahih Muslim 8, from Umar ibn al-Khattab; Sahih al-Bukhari 50, from Abu Hurayrah

The word

Ihsan comes from husn, beauty and goodness. Ahsana means to do something well, and to do good to someone. A person of ihsan is a muhsin, plural muhsinun. So ihsan has two faces: excellence in what you do, and kindness to others.

Two levels in the hadith

Scholars such as Ibn Rajab explain that the hadith describes two stations. The higher is to worship as though you see Allah, with love and longing, so that your heart is fully present. If you cannot reach that, the second is to remember that He sees you, which brings shyness and care. Both make a two-rakah prayer, a dua or a page of Quran something done with the heart, not only the body.

Ihsan in the Quran

۞ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَأْمُرُ بِٱلْعَدْلِ وَٱلْإِحْسَٰنِ وَإِيتَآئِ ذِى ٱلْقُرْبَىٰ وَيَنْهَىٰ عَنِ ٱلْفَحْشَآءِ وَٱلْمُنكَرِ وَٱلْبَغْىِ ۚ يَعِظُكُمْ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَذَكَّرُونَ ﴿٩٠﴾

Innal laaha yaamaru bil 'adli wal ihsaani wa eetaaa'i zil qurbaa wa yanhaa 'anil fahshaaa'i wal munkari walbagh-i' ya'izukum la'allakum tazakkkaroon

Indeed, Allah orders justice and good conduct and giving to relatives and forbids immorality and bad conduct and oppression. He admonishes you that perhaps you will be reminded.

Quran 16:90 · Sahih International · Read in Surah An-Nahl

"And do good; indeed, Allah loves the doers of good" (2:195). "Is the reward for good anything but good?" (55:60), where both "good"s are ihsan. Parents have a special right to it: "and to parents, good treatment (ihsana)" (17:23).

Ihsan in everything

إِنَّ اللَّهَ كَتَبَ الْإِحْسَانَ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ

"Allah has prescribed ihsan in everything. So if you kill, kill well, and if you slaughter, slaughter well: let one of you sharpen his blade and spare the animal suffering."

Sahih Muslim 1955, from Shaddad ibn Aws

If even the slaughter of an animal must be done with ihsan, then so must work, study, cooking, driving and the way we speak to our families. A Muslim does the job properly even when no one is checking, because Allah is.

How to grow in ihsan

• Before salah, pause and remember who you are standing in front of. Pray as if it were your last prayer.
• Learn the meaning of what you recite, starting with Al-Fatiha, so your heart can follow your tongue.
• Do one good deed in secret each day, for Allah alone.
• Treat parents, neighbours and workers with more than the minimum. Ihsan is going beyond what is owed.
• Make your everyday work excellent: on time, honest and careful.

How the word is used today

Ihsan is also a popular name for boys (and Ihsana for girls), and many charities and schools use it in their names. In Urdu and Bangla, ehsan means a favour someone did you, as in "his ehsan on me". That comes from the second meaning of the word: doing good to others.

Related terms

• تَقْوَىTaqwa
• سُنَّةSunnah
• بَرَكَةBarakah
• أُمَّةUmmah

1. Sahih Muslim 8; Sahih al-Bukhari 50.
2. Sahih Muslim 1955.
3. Quran 16:90, 2:195, 55:60 and 17:23, translation by Sahih International.
4. Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali, Jami al-Ulum wa al-Hikam, on the hadith of Jibril.