so long as they continue to acknowledge everything the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—brought, and believe as true all that he said and conveyed.

Such is the doctrine of the Murjiʾah, and it is a deviant doctrine. They and the Khārijites occupy opposite extremes: one group went to excess—namely, the Khārijites—while another melted away and grew lax, claiming that such acts of disobedience cause no harm—namely, the Murjiʾah. The people of the Sunnah and the Community, however, have adopted the middle course. Their creed is drawn from the Qur’an and the Sunnah; it is the just path that harmonises all the proofs.

The Khārijites and the Muʿtazilah seized upon the texts that threaten punishment and left aside the texts of promise, whereas the Murjiʾah clung to the texts of promise and ignored the texts of threat. The people of the Sunnah and the Community, by contrast, accept both the texts of promise and the texts of threat and reconcile them—and that is the truth: “But those firmly grounded in knowledge say, ‘We believe in it; all of it is from our Lord’” (Āl ʿImrān 3:7). They relate one set of texts to the other and do not cling to one side while abandoning the other, as is the practice of the deviant: “As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow that which is ambiguous of it” (Āl ʿImrān 3:7). Such people seize upon the ambiguous passages and abandon the clear verses that explain them.

As for the author’s phrase “as Muslims and believers,” it is not to be taken without qualification, for they may be deficient in Islam and faith and therefore subject to Allah’s threat.

But if they were to deny anything the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—brought and refuse to acknowledge it, they would become