and religion are both statement and deed; they increase and decrease. It is the statement of the heart and the tongue,⦗1⦘ and the deed of the heart, the tongue, and the limbs.”

They said, “If this is declared to be one of the fundamentals of the saved sect, then anyone who does not hold it is excluded from that sect—such as our fellow dialectical theologians who say that faith is nothing but inner assent,(2) or those who say that faith is assent together with verbal acknowledgement. And if they are not saved, it necessarily follows that they are doomed.(3)

“As for the three remaining questions—which formed their main reliance—they directed them at our statement: ‘Included in what we have enumerated under faith in Allah is believing in all that Allah has reported in His Book, in what has been transmitted through mass narration from His Messenger ﷺ, and in what the early generations of the umma have unanimously affirmed:⦗4⦘ that He, exalted is He, is above His heavens, upon⦗5⦘ His Throne, exalted over His creation, yet He is with them wherever they may be, knowing what they do. He has combined these truths in His words: “He it is who created the heavens and the earth in six days, then established Himself over the Throne; He knows⦗6⦘ what penetrates the earth and what comes out of it, what descends from the sky and what ascends therein, and He is with you wherever you are; and Allah sees well all that you do” (al-Ḥadīd 4).’