among Muslims that he is an unbeliever, then that act is one of the ordinances of faith. If it is obligatory, the person who neglects it is described as having acted sinfully: it is said of him, “He has sinned,” but he is not labelled sinful or called “a sinner.” Major sins do not remove a person from faith so long as he has not disbelieved.

Whoever neglects obligations such as prayer, fasting, and Hajj through denial, rejection, and contempt for them is an unbeliever in Allah. His disbelief is due only to that contempt, rejection, and denial. But if he neglects them without considering such neglect lawful, being preoccupied and procrastinating, saying, “I shall pray shortly—once I have finished my diversions and my work,” then he is not an unbeliever if he intends to pray some day, at some time or other; nevertheless, we deem him sinful.

Abū Muʿādh claimed that anyone who killed a prophet or slapped him became an unbeliever—not because of the slapping or killing itself, but because of his contempt, enmity, and hatred toward him. He also claimed that a person guilty of major sins who is described as sinful is neither an enemy of Allah nor an ally of Allah. All the Murjiʾah say that no unbeliever has any faith in Allah.

The eleventh group of the Murjiʾah consists of the followers of Bishr al-Marīsī. They say that faith is assent, because the linguistic meaning of faith is