225 — Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn Kurdī al-Fallās narrated to us, saying: Abū Bakr al-Marwazī narrated to us, saying: Abū Abd Allah Ahmad ibn Hanbal narrated to us, saying: ⦗593⦘ Sulaymān ibn Harb narrated to us, saying: Jarīr ibn Hāzim narrated to us, from al-Fudayl ibn Yasār, who said: Muhammad ibn Ali said, “This is Islam.” He then drew a circle with another circle inside it and said, “This is faith, which lies at its center, enclosed within Islam.” He said that the Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said:

“A person does not commit unlawful sexual intercourse while doing so and remain a believer; nor does he drink wine while doing so and remain a believer; nor does he steal while doing so and remain a believer.”

He then said, “He leaves faith for Islam, but he does not leave Islam. If he repents, Allah accepts his repentance.” He said, “And he returns to faith.”

Muhammad ibn al-Husayn said: How excellent is what Muhammad ibn Ali—may Allah be pleased with them both—said! This is because faith increases and decreases: it increases through acts of obedience and decreases through sins. Islam, however, cannot be said to increase and decrease. A number of the early authorities have related the following: “When a person commits unlawful sexual intercourse, faith is stripped from him ⦗594⦘; if he repents, Allah restores it to him.” All of this is evidence that faith increases and decreases, whereas Islam is not like that.

Do you not see the Prophet’s—peace and blessings be upon him—statement:

“Between a servant and disbelief lies the abandonment of prayer; whoever abandons prayer has disbelieved.”

It is also related from Ibn Masūd that he said, “Allah Most High has coupled zakat with prayer in His Book; whoever does not pay zakat has no prayer.”