among them maintains that disbelief consists of many traits and may reside in the heart or elsewhere. Ignorance of Allah is disbelief and resides in the heart; the same applies to hatred of Allah and arrogance toward Him. Likewise, disbelieving Allah and His messengers, in the heart or with the tongue, is disbelief, as are denying them, rejecting them, and reviling them. Showing contempt for Allah and His messengers is also disbelief. Likewise, abandoning monotheism for belief in a duality, a trinity, or a still greater plurality is disbelief. The proponent of this view maintained that disbelief pertains to the heart and the tongue, but not to any other bodily member, and that the same applies to faith.

The proponent of this view also maintained that someone who kills or slaps the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, becomes a disbeliever not because of the killing or the slap, but because of contempt. Likewise, someone who abandons prayer, treating its abandonment lightly, becomes a disbeliever only by regarding its abandonment as lawful, not by abandoning it.

The proponent of this view maintained that anyone who regards as lawful something Allah has forbidden—whose prohibition the Messenger explicitly stated and upon which Muslims have unanimously agreed—is a disbeliever in Allah, and that regarding it as lawful is disbelief. The same applies to someone who utters a statement and holds a belief for which Muslims have unanimously agreed to declare a person a disbeliever; and every statement concerning which they have unanimously agreed