—even if they have not repented—so long as they meet Allah with knowledge of Him as “believers,” they remain within His will and decree: if He so wills, He forgives them and pardons them out of His grace, as the Almighty has stated. To insist, however, that such a person possesses perfect faith and that these sins—though they are major—do not diminish his faith is itself a further error.

The correct view is the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah: the perpetrator of a grave sin that falls short of polytheism is a believer, not an unbeliever, yet his faith is deficient. You must understand this and fix it firmly in your mind, for the people of evil have intensified their mischief in our times, openly promoting the creed of irjāʾ to circulate it among the public and to conceal the misguidance in which they themselves are immersed.

Knowing this issue is therefore among the most pressing duties of the student of knowledge today.

Yes—this is the true doctrine: those who commit major sins below the level of polytheism are not disbelievers. If they meet Allah without having repented of those sins, they fall under His will: should He will, He punishes them in proportion to their offences, then brings them out of the Fire and admits them into Paradise by virtue of their monotheism and faith; they will not remain in Hell eternally. The evidence is His saying, “Surely Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him, but He forgives whatever is less than that for whom He wills” (Q 4:48). The expression “with cognizance, as believers” is somewhat imprecise; had he said “as monotheists,” as he did earlier, it would have been clearer.

If Allah so wills, He may carry out His threatened punishment against them, yet they will not dwell in Hell forever. This is the creed of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah, and it is the authentic doctrine—unlike the Khārijites, who claim that such people will inevitably enter the Fire and remain there eternally.