With the name of Allah, The All-Merciful, the Very Merciful
"Alif. Lam. Mim. That book has no doubt in it - a guidance for the God-fearing, who believe in the unseen, and are steadfast in Salah, and spend out of what We have provided them. (Surah Al-Baqarah:1-4)
Lexically, the Arabic word Iman means accepting with complete conviction the statement made by someone out of one's total confidence and trust in him. If a person confirms what someone else is saying on the basis of what they themselves have observed, it may be called Tasdiq (confirmation) but not Iman. In the terminology of Shariah Iman means accepting with complete conviction the statements made by a prophet out of one's total confidence and trust in that prophet, and without the need for personal observation.
As for the word Ghaib lexically it means things which are not known to man in an evident manner, or which can not be perceived through the five senses. The Holy Qur'an uses this word to indicate all the things which we cannot know through the five senses or through reason, but which have been told to us by the Holy prophet ﷺ. This includes matters like the attributes of Allah, the Day of Judgment and what will happen on that day, destiny, heaven and hell and what they contain, divine books, and all the prophets who came before the Holy Prophet SAW.
So belief in the unseen ultimately comes to mean having firm faith in everything the Holy Prophet SAW has taught us, with the caveat that that teaching has come to us from Rasool Allah SAW through authentic sources.
Adapted from Ma'ariful Qur'an, by Mufti Muhammad Shafi RE
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