If it is said, “He was destroyed only because he committed a forbidden act, namely shirk (associating partners with Allah),” the reply is: It is enough for destruction that he abandoned the very tawḥīd—affirming Allah’s oneness—that he was commanded to uphold, even if he never performed its positive opposite, shirk. Whenever a person’s heart is completely devoid of tawḥīd and he fails to single out Allah, he is ruined, even though he may not worship anything alongside Him. Should he then add to that the worship of another, he will be punished both for neglecting the commanded tawḥīd and for committing the prohibited shirk.
The eighth consideration makes this clear. Suppose someone invited to faith says, “I neither affirm nor deny, neither love nor hate; I will not worship Him, but I will not worship anything else either.” Such a person becomes an unbeliever solely by his omission and indifference. This differs from one who says, “I affirm the Messenger, love him, believe in him, and intend to do what he commands me; yet my desire, will, and natural inclination overpower me, preventing me from leaving what he has forbidden. I know he has prohibited it and dislikes my doing it, but I cannot restrain myself.” That person is not deemed an unbeliever on that account, nor is his ruling the same as the first. He is obedient in one respect, whereas the one who abandons every commanded duty is in no way obedient.
The ninth consideration clarifies the matter still further: obedience and disobedience relate primarily to the command and only secondarily to the prohibition. The obedient person is the one who fulfills what he has been commanded, while the disobedient person is the one who neglects the command. Allah, exalted is He, says, “They do not disobey Allah in what He commands them” (Al-Taḥrīm 66:6). And Moses said to his brother, “What prevented you, when you saw them going astray, from following me? Did you then disobey my command?” (Ṭā Hā 20:92–93).
ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ (d. 43 AH), when death approached him, declared: “I am the one whom You commanded, yet I disobeyed—but there is no deity but You.” (1)