—peace and blessings be upon him—offer the funeral prayer for them and seek forgiveness for them until he was forbidden to do so. Unbelief was given as the reason for this prohibition. This establishes that the funeral prayer may be offered, and forgiveness sought, for anyone not known to be an unbeliever inwardly, even if he practises an innovation or has committed sins. If the imam or people of knowledge and religious commitment refrain from offering “the funeral prayer” for someone who openly practises innovation or wickedness, as a deterrent, this does not make it unlawful to pray for him or seek forgiveness for him. Indeed, concerning those for whom he declined to offer the funeral prayer—the one who misappropriated war booty, the one who killed himself, and the debtor who left no means of repaying his debt—the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Offer the funeral prayer for your companion.”

It is also reported that he would privately seek forgiveness for a man, even though he publicly refrained from doing so to deter others from following that man’s course, as related in the report concerning Muhallam ibn Jaththāmah.

In the Quran and Sunnah, those who outwardly profess Islam fall into only two categories: believers and hypocrites. The hypocrite is in the lowest depths of the Fire, while the other is a believer. His faith may, however, be deficient, so that the unqualified designation does not apply to him, or his faith may be complete. This will be discussed, Allah willing, when addressing Islam and faith and the designations applied to sinful members of the Muslim community. The point here, however, is that no one is to be deemed an unbeliever inwardly merely because of a sin he commits or an innovation he introduces—even if he calls others to it—unless he is a hypocrite.

As for someone who believes in his heart in the Messenger and what he brought, but has mistakenly adopted certain innovations through misinterpretation, he is not an unbeliever at all. The Khawārij were among the most conspicuous in their innovation, their fighting against the Muslim community, and their declaring it unbelieving. Yet none of the Companions deemed them unbelievers—neither ʿAlī ibn Abī Tālib nor anyone else. Rather, they passed judgment