What are the Islamic branches faith?

Taken from IslamToday.com

Answered by Sheikh Muhammad al-Qannâs
This hadîth is related in Sahîh al-Bukhârî. The Prophet (peace be upon him) explained that the best among these branches of faith is monotheism which is the essential aspect of faith. No other branch would be of any benefit if this one is compromised. The lowest branch of faith is to remove an obstacle from the road.

The hadîth did not detail the seventy branches. But, some scholars tried to illustrate them. However, they do not claim that what they have come up with is in any way decisive.

Ibn Hajr writes in Fath al-Bârî (1/52):

The scholars who have attempted to enumerate these branches have not agreed on a particular approach. The best among their methods is the one adopted by Ibn Hibbân. I have not come across his actual words. However, in brief, his approach is that these branches are from the actions of the heart, tongue and body.

He then goes on to list the following:

The actions of heart include belief and intentions. This covers twenty four branches: belief in Allah, including believing in His existence, His attributes, His singularity and that nothing looks like Him, belief in His angels, books, Messengers and destiny whether good or bad, and belief in the Day of Judgment. This also includes belief that we will be questioned in the grave, belief in the Resurrection, belief in the reckoning of deeds, the balance, the bridge, Paradise, and Hell.

Also from the heart are to love Allah, to love and hate for His sake, to love the Prophet (peace be upon him), respect him, pronouncing salutations on him, and follow his Sunnah. Then there is the dimension of sincerity and the abandonment of showing off, vanity, jealously, spite and anger.

The actions of the tongue comprise seven branches They are our testimony of monotheism, our recitation of the Qur'ân, learning religious knowledge, teaching it, engaging in supplication and remembrance, requesting forgiveness, and refraining from foolish chatter.

The actions of the body include thirty eight branches. Fifteen of these are personal. These are physical purification, ritual purification, avoiding impurities, covering the private parts, prayer , paying Zakâh, releasing slaves, generosity, feeding others, entertaining the guest, fasting, Hajj, `Umrah, Tawâf, `Itikâf, seeking the night in Ramadan known as Laylah al-Qadr, emmigration for the sake of religion, emmigration from the country of polytheism , fulfilling a vow, avoiding excessive oaths, and performing expiations for broken oaths.

Other branches are regarding relations with other specific people. These are six: being chaste in marriage, performing one's duty to one's children, being kind to parents, raising and educating one's children, visiting relatives, obeying one's master, and being gentle to one's slaves.

Some branches of faith relate to dealing with the broader public. They are seventeen: governing with justice, following the community, obeying to the ruler, achieving reconciliation between people, combating violent groups, helping others in doing good, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong, carrying out the prescribed legal punishments, engaging in jihâd, guarding the borders, fulfilling one's trusts, giving over the due share of spoils, giving loans, repaying loans, honoring one's neighbor, treating others nicely, acquiring lawful earnings and spending it properly, avoiding excessive spending, returning others' salutations, invoking blessings upon one who sneezes, avoiding hurting people, avoiding frivolous activities, and removing obstacles from the road.

These total ninety six branches, and they could be counted as more if we were to make further distinctions.

And Allah knows best.