“…so have you detected any slip?”

Ḥārith answered, “I adjure you by Allah: was it not the case that, in the Prophet’s ﷺ lifetime, people were divided into three groups—one who was a believer both inwardly and outwardly, one who was a disbeliever both inwardly and outwardly, and one who was inwardly a disbeliever yet outwardly a believer? To which of these three do you belong?”

Ibn Masʿūd replied, “Since you have put me under oath by Allah, I am a believer both inwardly and outwardly.”

Ḥārith then said, “So why did you rebuke me when I declared that I am a believer?”

He answered, “Indeed, that is my slip; cover it for me. May Allah have mercy on Muʿādh.”

I later asked Abū Ḥanīfa—may Allah have mercy on him—“What of someone who says, ‘I am among the people of Paradise’?”

He replied, “He has spoken falsely, for he has no knowledge of that.”