and grant him peace—but a form of deviation has crept in among them, together with an element of hypocrisy and heresy that has weakened their faith. Some doubt and uncertainty concerning much of what the Messenger brought have arisen in their hearts, even though they believe the Messenger to be truthful.

You find them bewildered and unsettled in this matter, beset by doubt and misgivings. They have not fulfilled what Allah Most High describes in His words:

“The believers are only those who have believed in Allah and His Messenger and then have not doubted, and who strive with their wealth and their lives in the cause of Allah. It is they who are the truthful.”

[Al-Hujurāt: 15]

Yet not everyone into whom an element of hypocrisy and heresy has entered, and who accepts it out of ignorance or wrongdoing, is inwardly an unbeliever and a hypocrite. Rather, he may possess faith in Allah and His Messenger for which Allah will reward him; and your Lord wrongs no one.

[Continuation of al-Dārimī’s words]

Abū Sa‘īd ‘Uthmān ibn Sa‘īd said:

“Heresy is more grievous in the eyes of scholars than apostasy or the unbelief of Jews and Christians. That is why Ibn al-Mubārak said: ‘I would rather recount the statements of Jews and Christians than recount the statements of the Jahmiyyah.’

“Al-Hasan ibn al-Sabbāh al-Baghdādī related this to us from ‘Alī ibn Shaqīq, from Ibn al-Mubārak. Abū Sa‘īd said: ‘Ibn al-Mubārak spoke the truth: some of their statements are more disturbing than those of Jews and Christians.’”