Chapter: Refutation of Those Who Declare a Sinner to Be an Unbeliever

I asked: “Suppose a man were to say, ‘Anyone who commits a sin is a disbeliever.’ How is his claim to be overturned?”

He is answered: Allah, exalted is He, says,

“Dhu’l-Nūn (Jonah) when he went off in anger and thought that We would not put him to hardship; then he cried out in the darknesses, ‘There is no deity except You; glorified are You! I have indeed been among the wrongdoers.’” ⦗Q 21:87⦘

Thus, he was a wrongdoer yet still a believer—neither an unbeliever nor a hypocrite.

Likewise, the brothers of Joseph said,

“Father, seek forgiveness for our sins; truly we were in error.” ⦗Q 12:97⦘

They were sinners, not disbelievers.

Allah, exalted is He, also said to Muhammad—peace and blessings be upon him,

“that Allah may forgive you your earlier and later sins.” ⦗Q 48:2⦘

He did not say, “your unbelief.” And when Moses killed the man, the very act constituted a sin, not unbelief.