“Whoever cheats us is not one of us” (1), and “Whoever raises a weapon against us is not one of us” (2).

All these indicators show that the offense is a major sin, yet it is still beneath polytheism. Its perpetrator does not leave the fold of faith but is deemed a believer with deficient faith, or is called a fāsiq (open sinner). This is the position of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah: they do not excommunicate people for major sins that fall short of polytheism, yet they do not grant such a person the unrestricted title of faith. Instead, they attribute to him a qualified faith, saying, “A believer by virtue of his faith, a sinner by virtue of his major sin.”

Hence it is not said, as the Murjiʾah claim, that he is a believer of perfect faith, nor is it said, as the Khārijites and the Muʿtazilites allege, that he has departed from Islam altogether.

Thus, concerning the one who commits a major sin less than polytheism, people fall into three camps:

1. The Khārijites and the Muʿtazilites expel him from Islam; the Khārijites declare him an unbeliever, while the Muʿtazilites stop short of that, saying he occupies a “position between two positions,” yet they still remove him from Islam.

2. The Murjiʾah maintain that he is a believer of complete faith. As long as—according to the majority among them—he harbors faith in his heart, and—according to some of them—merely pronounces it with his tongue, he is, in their view, a believer.