by twenty years, from the time revelation first came to him in Mecca, when he called people to profess faith.” He went on to say:

“When confronted with this argument, one of them was compelled …” He later continued: “Faith is not the whole of religion. Rather, religion consists of three parts: faith is one part, obligatory duties another, and voluntary deeds another.”

I say: What this person said is indeed the position of these people. Abū ‘Ubayd said:

“This is contrary to what the Book declares. Do you not hear His words:

‘Indeed, the religion with Allah is Islam’?

He also said:

‘Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him.’

And He said:

‘I have approved Islam as your religion.’

He thus declared that Islam is religion in its entirety, whereas these people claim that it is one-third of religion.”

I say: They only said, “Faith is one-third”; they did not say, “Faith is one-third of religion.” However, they distinguished between what the term “faith” denotes and what the term “religion” denotes. Allah willing, we shall discuss what each of these terms denotes. Some of them are reported to say that neither prayer nor zakah is part of religion, making no distinction between the terms “faith” and “religion.” Others say that both are part of religion, distinguishing between the terms “faith” and “religion.”

Al-Shāfi‘ī, may Allah be pleased with him, held ‘Atā’ ibn Abī Rabāh in high esteem and would say, “Among the Successors, none adheres more closely to hadith than he does.” Likewise, Abū Hanīfah said, “I have never seen anyone like ‘Atā’.” Al-Shāfi‘ī took this argument from ‘Atā’.

Ibn Abī Hātim narrated in The Virtues of al-Shāfi‘ī:

“My father narrated to us: Maymūn narrated to us: Abū ‘Uthmān ibn al-Shāfi‘ī narrated to us: I heard my father say to al-Humaydī one night, ‘One cannot argue against them—meaning