And Abū Abd Allāh Muhammad ibn Makhlad al-Attār narrated to us, saying: Abū Yaʿqūb Ishāq ibn Ibrāhīm al-Saffār narrated to us, saying: Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik al-Missīsī, Abū Abd Allāh, narrated to me, saying:

We were with Sufyān ibn Uyaynah in the year 170 AH when a man asked him about faith. He replied, “Speech and action.” The man asked, “Does it increase and decrease?” He replied, “It increases as much as Allah wills, and decreases until nothing at all remains of it—like this.” Sufyān gestured with his hand.

The man then asked, “What should we do about people among us who claim that faith is speech without action?”

Sufyān replied:

“What they say was the case before the ordinances and prescribed bounds of faith were revealed. Then Allah Most High sent our Prophet Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, to all people without exception, commanding them to say, ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, and he is the Messenger of Allah.’ Once they said this, their lives and property became inviolable through it, except by its due right, and their reckoning was with Allah Most High.

“When Allah Most High knew the sincerity of this in their hearts, He commanded His Prophet to command them to pray. He commanded them, and they complied. By Allah, had they not done so, their initial profession would not have benefited them.

“When Allah knew the sincerity of this in their hearts, He commanded His Prophet to command them to migrate to Medina. He commanded them, and they complied. By Allah, had they not done so, neither their initial profession nor their prayer would have benefited them.

“When Allah knew the sincerity of this in their hearts, He commanded His Prophet to order them to return to Mecca and fight their fathers and sons until they professed the same words, performed the same prayer, and undertook the same migration. He commanded them, and they complied, until one of them even brought his father’s head and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, this is the head of the chief of the disbelievers.’ By Allah, had they not done so, neither their initial profession, their prayer, their migration, nor their fighting would have benefited them.

“When Allah, Glorious and Exalted, knew the sincerity of this in their hearts, He commanded His Prophet to order them to circumambulate the House as an act of worship and to shave their heads in humble submission. They complied. By Allah, had they not done so, neither their initial profession, their prayer, their migration, nor their killing of their fathers would have benefited them.

“When Allah knew the sincerity of this in their hearts, He commanded His Prophet to take charity from their wealth to purify them. He commanded them, and they complied, bringing both small and large amounts. By Allah, had they not done so, neither their initial profession, their prayer, their migration, their killing of their fathers, nor their circumambulation would have benefited them.

“When Allah knew the sincerity in their hearts regarding the successive laws and prescribed bounds of faith imposed upon them, He said to His Prophet, ‘Say to them: “Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you, and chosen Islam as your religion.”’ [al-Mā’idah: 3]

“Sufyān said: ‘Whoever abandons any component of faith while denying it is, because of that, regarded by us as a disbeliever. Whoever abandons it out of laziness or negligence, we discipline him, and he is regarded by us as deficient in faith because of it. This is the Sunnah. Convey it on my behalf to anyone who asks you about it.’”