The early generations and the leading scholars generally, however, hold that people’s faith is not equal but varies in degree, and that the faith of the earliest forerunners is more complete than that of those guilty of major sins.

The disagreement rests on two fundamental questions. The first is whether deeds are included in faith as such. Deeds unquestionably vary in degree, so those who include them in faith as such affirm that faith varies in degree.

Those who do not include deeds in faith as such must address the second question: does the faith within the heart vary in degree? Those who deny such variation have supposed that the heart contains nothing that unquestionably admits of degrees—such as love of Allah, fear of Him, hope in Him, reliance upon Him, and similar things that they may exclude from mere assent. Yet assent itself also varies in degree in several respects.

One is that assent to what the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, brought may be general or detailed; the details fall within the general. The assent of someone who knows the Quran and its meanings, and the hadith and its meanings, and affirms all this in detail is not like that of someone who affirms that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, but does not know or understand most of what he brought.

Another is that firmly established assent, consciously held in mind, is more complete than knowledge whose attainment is sought while one is heedless of it.

Another is that assent itself varies in its very nature. Assent vindicated by proof—indeed, attested by concrete realities—and cleared of every harm and conjecture until it reaches the highest ranks, the ranks of certainty, is not like assent shaken by doubts, diverted by desires, and toyed with by