and so do his deeds. This occurs in everyone who reads the Quran reflectively, unlike someone who reads it heedlessly. Moreover, whenever a person does something he has been commanded to do, he recalls that command and affirms it. At that moment, an affirmation arises in his heart of which he had previously been heedless, even though he had neither disbelieved nor denied it.

The eighth point:

A person may disbelieve and deny certain things without knowing that the Messenger taught or commanded them. Had he known this, he would not have disbelieved or denied them. Rather, his heart is firmly convinced that the Messenger speaks only the truth and commands only what is right. Then he hears the verse or hadith, reflects upon it, has its meaning explained to him, or comes to understand it in some other way. He then believes what he previously disbelieved and recognizes what he previously denied. This is a new affirmation and a new faith through which his faith increases. Before this, he was not a disbeliever, but ignorant.

Although this resembles the case of general and detailed belief—where the heart has neither denied nor affirmed any particulars, neither recognized nor rejected them, so that detailed understanding follows general belief in a heart free of preconceptions—many people, including people devoted to learning and worship, hold numerous detailed beliefs in their hearts that contradict what the Messenger brought, without knowing that they contradict it. Once they learn this, they retract them.

Anyone who introduces an erroneous statement into religion or performs an erroneous deed while believing in the Messenger—or who, if he knew what the Messenger said and believed it, would not depart from it—falls into this category. Every person who introduces a religious innovation while intending to follow the Messenger falls into this category. Thus, someone who knows what the Messenger brought and acts upon it is more complete in faith than someone who has erred concerning it. Someone who comes to know what is correct after having erred, and then acts upon it, is more complete in faith than someone who has not done so.