(8/139, Morocco edition): “They repented”—that is, they turned back from their former state, and such repentance necessarily includes faith.

Consequently, establishing the prayer is both conditioned upon and preceded by repentance, which already contains faith, for Allah mentioned repentance before prayer or zakah. This indicates that repentance is the fundamental basis for judging religious brotherhood.

Hence al-Tabari said in Jāmiʿ al-Bayān (18/86):

“The Exalted One says: If these idolaters—whom I commanded you, believers, to kill—turn away from their disbelief and polytheism to faith in Allah and His Messenger, submit to His obedience, establish the prescribed prayer and perform it with its proper limits, and give the obligatory zakah to those entitled to it, then they are your brothers in the religion Allah has enjoined upon you, namely Islam.”

What has preceded is further supported by a second point: Allah paired zakah with prayer. So, if someone repented and established the prayer but refused to pay zakah, would he not be our brother in religion, enjoying the same rights and bearing the same duties as other Muslims?

If it is said, “No; rather, he is indeed our brother in faith,” we reply: What proof is there in the verse for separating prayer from zakah when both are mentioned sequentially and on an equal footing immediately after repentance? ⦗13⦘