declaring him a disbeliever as a matter of conviction? That is indeed graver than killing him, for every disbeliever may lawfully be killed, whereas not everyone who may lawfully be killed is a disbeliever. Someone who calls people to a religious innovation may be put to death for misleading people and spreading corruption, yet Allah may still forgive him in the Hereafter because of the faith he possesses. For it is established by mass-transmitted texts that anyone with an atom’s weight of faith in his heart will be brought out of the Fire.

Muslim narrated in his Sahīh, through Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, that Ibn ʿAbbās said: While Gabriel was sitting with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, he heard a creaking sound above him. He raised his head and said, “This is a gate of heaven that has been opened today; it has never been opened before today.” An angel descended through it, and Gabriel said, “This is an angel who has come down to earth; he has never descended before today.” The angel greeted the Prophet and said, “Rejoice in two lights you have been given, which no prophet before you was given: the Opening of the Book and the closing verses of Sūrat al-Baqarah. You will not recite any part of them without being granted it.”

Also in Sahīh Muslim, Saʿīd ibn Jubayr narrated that Ibn ʿAbbās said: When the verse was revealed,

“Whether you disclose what is within yourselves or conceal it, Allah will call you to account for it” [Sūrat al-Baqarah 284],

it filled their hearts with a distress unlike anything they had ever felt before. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Say: ‘We hear and obey.’” Allah then instilled faith in their hearts and revealed:

“Allah does not burden any soul beyond its capacity. It will have the good it has earned