(The tenth point): Even if we suppose that faith linguistically means affirmation, it is well known that faith does not mean affirming everything, but rather something specific: what the Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has conveyed. Faith in the Lawgiver’s speech would therefore be more specific than faith in ordinary language. It is well known that a specific category includes qualifications not found throughout the general category. For example, if we take one species of animal—namely, the human being—it possesses both the general characteristic and a characteristic peculiar to it. Together, these are not identical to the general characteristic alone. Thus, the affirmation that constitutes faith must, at the very least, be a particular kind of affirmation in the general sense. It therefore does not have the same scope, and this entails no alteration or distortion of the language. Rather, faith in the Lawgiver’s speech combines the general with the specific, just as a human being is described as both an animal and rational.

(The eleventh point): The Quran contains no mention of faith that is both unqualified and unexplained. Rather, the term “faith” in it is either qualified or unqualified but explained.

The “qualified” is exemplified by His words:

“They believe in the unseen,”

and His words:

“But none believed Moses except some of his people’s offspring.”

The “unqualified but explained” is exemplified by His words, exalted is He:

“The believers are only those whose hearts tremble when Allah is mentioned,”

to the end of the verse; and His words:

“The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger, then do not doubt, and strive with their wealth and their lives in the cause of Allah. It is they who are truthful,”

and similar passages; and His words:

“But no, by your Lord, they will not believe until they make you judge concerning that over which they dispute among themselves, then find within themselves no discomfort over what you have decided and submit fully,”

and other such verses. Wherever faith is mentioned without qualification in the Quran, He makes clear therein that a person cannot be a believer unless deeds accompany affirmation. Thus, He has made clear in