of obedience are, without exception, acts of obedience and means of drawing near to Allah only when accompanied by faith. Without faith, they constitute neither obedience nor a means of drawing near to Him. Thus, acts of obedience are named after the foundation without which they cannot qualify as obedience or as means of drawing near to Allah. The meaning of this is clear, and it is in this sense that we should understand the statement of those among Ahl al-Sunnah who say that faith consists of profession with the tongue, sincerity in the heart, and action with the limbs. The same applies to the reported explanation of Allah Most High’s words:

“Allah would never let your faith go to waste.” [al-Baqarah: 143]

That is, your prayers facing Jerusalem. Their prayers facing Jerusalem were accompanied by faith, and thus benefited them and earned them reward. What we have explained and cited therefore makes it clear that, since words and deeds of obedience can only properly be called acts of obedience when accompanied by faith, they cannot be said to be other than faith, since they cannot be separated from it. Nor can they be said to be faith itself—just as an eternal attribute cannot be said to be identical with the One it qualifies, nor to be other than Him.

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As for the statement of those among Ahl al-Sunnah who say that faith increases as deeds increase and decreases as deeds decrease, it admits of two interpretations. The first is that the reward for faith increases with obedience and decreases when obedience is abandoned. This means that the reward for faith is no longer accompanied by the reward for obedience when one abandons obedience for something permissible or sinful. Thus, the reward for faith while praying is not the same as its reward while sitting, nor is it the same as its reward while committing a sin.

This interpretation is supported by the report that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: “The adulterer is not a believer at the time he commits adultery, nor is the thief a believer at the time he steals.” That is, in that state he is not a believer receiving as much reward for his faith as he would receive if engaged in a permissible, recommended, or obligatory act. This is how the hadith should be understood, since it cannot rightly be said that a believer is stripped of faith while committing a sin.

It has also been said, in explaining this hadith, that faith is of two kinds: faith by which one is protected from remaining forever in