and Allah, Allah will set right what lies between him and other people; and whoever works for his Hereafter, Allah will take care of his worldly affairs.” Ibn Abī al-Dunyā related this in Kitāb al-Ikhlās (The Book of Sincerity).
Thus, when the heart is sound through faith, the body becomes sound through Islam, which is itself part of faith. This is indicated by his words in the hadith of Gabriel:
“This is Gabriel; he came to teach you your religion.”
He thus identified religion as Islam, faith, and excellence (ihsān). It is therefore clear that our religion encompasses all three, but consists of three degrees: a Muslim, then a believer, then one who attains excellence. As Allah Most High says:
“Then We gave the Book as an inheritance to those We chose from among Our servants. Some of them wrong themselves, some follow a middle course, and some are foremost in good deeds, by Allah’s permission.”
Both those who follow a middle course and those foremost in good deeds enter Paradise without punishment, unlike those who wrong themselves. Likewise, whoever outwardly observes Islam, together with belief in the heart, but does not fulfill the inward faith required of him is liable to the threatened punishment, as will be explained, Allah willing.
Excellence is more comprehensive in its content than faith, but applies to a narrower group of people. Faith, in turn, is more comprehensive in its content than Islam, but applies to a narrower group of people. Thus, excellence includes faith, and faith includes Islam; those who attain excellence form a narrower group than the believers, and the believers form a narrower group than the Muslims.
The same distinction is made regarding messengership and prophethood. Prophethood is included within messengership, while messengership is more comprehensive in its content but applies to a narrower group of people. Every messenger is a prophet, but not every prophet is a messenger. Prophets therefore constitute the broader group, while prophethood itself is part of messengership. Messengership encompasses prophethood and more, whereas prophethood does not encompass messengership.