the Quran conveyed by the messengers—as the heretics do—whoever denies and rejects some of these meanings shares in that condition to the extent of his denial and rejection, even if, in another respect, he has a share of faith in some of them. A person may thus combine a branch of faith with a branch of hypocrisy, as the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said in an authentic hadith:

“Whoever possesses four traits is a thorough hypocrite, and whoever possesses one of them has a trait of hypocrisy until he abandons it: when he speaks, he lies; when he is entrusted with something, he betrays that trust; when he makes a covenant, he breaks it; and when he disputes, he behaves wickedly.”

In the two Sahīh collections, Abū Hurayrah reported that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Faith has seventy-odd branches. The highest is saying, ‘There is no god worthy of worship except Allah,’ and the lowest is removing