—namely, the faith—worship of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and the like, which reinforce faith and devotion—(1). And whenever a disease of doubts or lusts enters the heart (2), it is repelled by its opposite (3); such sickness appears only because the causes of soundness are deficient. In the same way, the heart is not afflicted by desires and doubts (4) unless its faith—and its worship of its Lord (5)—has fallen short.

Faith and disbelief, righteousness and wickedness, are mutually exclusive opposites. With every pair of opposites, one sometimes prevents the other and at other times removes it—just as blackness keeps whiteness from occupying its place and expels it if it is already there (6). Likewise, good deeds keep sins from arising and erase them after they have occurred; and conversely, disbelief obstructs faith and may uproot it after it has taken hold, and sins may block good deeds and may erase them once they have been performed (7). As for the doctrine of nullification (ihbāt), which the early generations of this community rejected—