Mujāhid, who said concerning the verse,

‘The Bedouins say, “We believe.” Say, “You have not believed; rather, say, ‘We have submitted.’”’

‘We have submitted for fear of being taken captive or killed.’”

However, this chain of transmission is disconnected: Sufyān did not live to meet Mujāhid.

Those who held that this Islam is like the Islam of the hypocrites, for which they receive no reward, argued: “Allah denied them faith, and anyone denied faith is a disbeliever.”

They also said: “Islam is faith: every Muslim is a believer, and every believer is a Muslim. Anyone who regards the gravely sinful as Muslims but not believers must consequently exclude them from the words of the Exalted:

‘O you who believe, when you rise for prayer,’

and His words:

‘O you who believe, when the call to prayer is made on Friday,’

and similar passages. For they are addressed as believers, not as Muslims; anyone who is not a believer is therefore not included.”

The answer to this is as follows: those early scholars who said that such people had passed out of faith into Islam did not say that no faith whatsoever remained in them. Rather, that is the position of the Khawārij and the Muʿtazila.

Those of Ahl al-Sunnah who expressed this view say that the gravely sinful will be brought out of the Fire through intercession, and that they possess faith by virtue of which they will be brought out of the Fire. Nevertheless, they are not unreservedly called believers, because faith in its unqualified sense is that by which a person merits reward and entry into Paradise, and these people do not possess such faith.

They are, however, included in addresses to believers, because such addresses encompass anyone who has entered into faith, even if he has not perfected it. Indeed, he is addressed precisely so that he may do what completes his faith. How, then, could he have completed it before being addressed? Otherwise, we would have established that the commanded act was part of faith before the address, whereas it only became part of faith after they were commanded to perform it. Thus, the address, “O you