Parable 48: Is faith without deed of any value?

In the Qur’an, faith and pious deeds come together

{آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ}

those that believe, and do deeds of righteousness, like a needle and thread that need to work together, for which otherwise if the thread is not through the eye of the needle would not be able to sew anything.

The Qur’an states

{إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّـهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي}

If you love God, follow me^([1]). 

Many say that we have faith but do no deeds, or that we believe in God but don’t speak to Him nor do they pray, they say The Wilayat of Ameer Al Mumineen PBUH (Imam Ali PBUH) is in our hearts, but nothing in their actions has even the slightest figment of his Eminence in them, and that We believe in the Imam of Our Time (May his return be hastened) yet do not pay his rights that are obligatory upon us.  If their actions do not represent what they say they believe, surely doubt has to be cast upon that belief.

In the past, when wars were fought and won, prisoners of war were sold to others as slaves.  The more skilled the slave was, the higher the purchase price was.  One day, a slave was brought to the market with a very high price tag.  When a purchaser asked why… he was told that this slave is able to detect who is thirsty and who is not.  The purchaser was attracted to that skill and bought the slave.

He then invited his friends over to dine, but did not present them with any water.  After some time, one of the invitees requested water.  The owner looked upon the slave but the slave said that your guest is lying, that he is not thirsty.  Slowly, more and more people started to claim thirst but the slave continued to belie them.  Until one of the guests got up to get some water.  At that point, the slave said to his master that that guest was truly thirsty, because he got up from his place and obtained the water himself, rather than just claiming to be thirsty.

So someone who is truthful actually takes steps towards their claim.  One who is without deeds can only make the claim of having faith.

[1] Al Imran 31