This is the mainstay of those who defend the Jahmiyyah’s position on “the question of faith.” The majority, among Ahl al-Sunnah and others, offer several responses to this.

The first is the position of those who dispute his claim that faith is synonymous with affirmation in the Arabic language, maintaining instead that it means acknowledgment or something else.

The second is the position of those who say: Even if its linguistic meaning is affirmation, affirmation can take place through the heart, the tongue, and the other bodily faculties, as the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“The private parts confirm that or belie it.”

The third is to say: It is not affirmation without qualification, but a particular affirmation subject to qualifications with which the term is coupled. This neither transfers the term to a new meaning nor alters it, for Allah has not commanded us to have faith without qualification, but rather a particular faith that He has described and explained.

The fourth is to say: Even if it means affirmation, complete affirmation residing in the heart necessarily entails the obligatory deeds of the heart and the bodily faculties. These are necessary consequences of complete faith, and the absence of a necessary consequence proves the absence of that which entails it. We also say that these necessary consequences are sometimes included within what the term denotes and sometimes fall outside it.

The fifth is the position of those who say: The term retains its linguistic meaning, but the Lawgiver has attached additional rulings to it.

The sixth is the position of those who say: The Lawgiver used it in its figurative sense; thus, it is literal in the terminology of the revealed Law, but figurative in ordinary linguistic usage.