(1) This is the doctrine of the salaf, in agreement with the sharʿī evidences: faith (īman) comprises three pillars—confession by the tongue, conviction in the heart, and action by the limbs. As al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyad was asked about faith: “For us, faith, inwardly and outwardly, is affirmation by the tongue, acceptance by the heart, and practice by the limbs.” See al-Sunnah by Imam Aḥmad, p. 74. Imam Ibn Taymiyya states: “The early generations of our salaf did not separate faith from action: action is part of faith, and faith is part of action. … Whoever believes with his tongue, knows with his heart, and is sincere in his deeds, holds the ‘firmest handhold’ (al-ʿurwat al-wuthqā) from which there is no break. But whoever confesses with his tongue yet lacks conviction in his heart and sincerity in his deeds will be among the losers in the Hereafter. It is well known from many salaf and khalaf that they considered deeds as confirming one’s words.” Kitāb al-Īmān, p. 142. Among the salaf who held this view were the “three Imams”: Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Muḥammad ibn Idrīs al-Shāfi‘ī, and Mālik ibn Anas; as well as other authorities such as Sufyān al-Thawrī, al-Awzāʿī, Ibn Jurayj, and ‘Imrān ibn Rashīd. See Fatḥ al-Bārī by Ibn Ḥajar, vol. 1, p. 47. Their evidences from the Qur’an and Sunnah are numerous and need not be detailed here. Just as the salaf taught that these are the pillars of faith, they also affirmed its increase and decrease—its increase through obedience and its decrease through sin. As Imam al-Nawawī relates in his Sharḥ Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim on the authority of ‘Abd al-Razzāq, who heard from our sheikhs and companions—Sufyān al-Thawrī, Mālik ibn Anas, ‘Ubayd Allāh ibn ‘Umar, al-Awzāʿī, ‘Imrān ibn Rashīd, Ibn Jurayj, and Sufyān ibn ‘Uyaynah—saying: “Faith consists of word and deed, and it increases and decreases.” This was also the opinion of Ibn Mas‘ūd, Ḥudhayfah, al-Nakh‘ī, al-Ḥasan al-Basrī, ‘Aṭā’, Tawūs, Mujāhid, and ‘Abd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak. See Sharḥ Muslim, vol. 1, p. 146. Imam Ibn Taymiyya also records from Abū al-Dardā’ his statement: “Faith increases and decreases,” and his remark: “It is part of a person’s sound understanding to guard his faith and all that diminishes it; to know whether his faith is increasing or decreasing; and to know from which directions Satan’s whispers come.” See Kitāb al-Īmān by Ibn Taymiyya, p. 186. Those who opposed this view were the Murji’ah of various schools. Some held that faith is only verbal confession (the Karrāmiyyah and their followers), while others held that it is only knowledge of the heart—differing in their regard for deeds—yet all denied deeds as a pillar of faith and affirmed that faith only increases and never decreases. See Maqālāt al-Murji’ah in al-Milal wa-al-Niḥal by al-Shahrastānī, pp. 141–145; al-Firaq by al-Baghdādī, p. 202. However, the most extreme among the Murji’ah were the faction recorded by al-‘Ājrī, which claimed: “Whoever says ‘Lā ilāha illā Allāh’ (there is no deity but Allah), the commission of major sins or immoral acts neither harms nor benefits him; thus the pious and the wicked are equal.” See al-Sharīʿah by al-‘Ājrī, p. 147. These are the ones known for the saying: “Sin does not harm faith, just as obedience does not benefit unbelief.” See Lawāmi‘ al-Anwār al-Bahiyya by al-Safārīnī, vol. 1, p. 42; Nihāyat al-Iqdam fī ‘Ilm al-Kalām by al-Shahrastānī, p. 471. Thus, as you can see, their doctrine is a licentious position that promotes error and immorality and rejects the teachings of Islam. We ask Allah for well-being.