is a command for them to say this, whereas a hypocrite is not commanded to do anything. Then He says:

“If you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not diminish the reward of your deeds in the least.”

Yet obedience to Allah and His Messenger does not benefit a hypocrite until he first believes. Ahmad ibn Hanbal and others cited this verse as evidence that one qualifies a profession of faith by saying “if Allah wills,” but not a profession of Islam, and that those guilty of major sins leave faith and enter Islam.

Al-Maymūnī said:

“I asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal his opinion about saying, ‘I am a believer, if Allah wills.’ He replied, ‘I say, “A believer, if Allah wills,” and I say, “A Muslim,” without qualification.’ I asked Ahmad, ‘Do you distinguish between Islam and faith?’ He replied, ‘Yes.’ I asked him, ‘What evidence do you cite?’ He recited:

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

He also mentioned other things.”

Al-Shālanjī said:

“I asked Ahmad about someone who says, ‘I regard myself as a believer in terms of legal rulings and inheritance, but I do not know my standing before Allah.’ He replied, ‘He is not a Murji’ite.’”

Abū Ayyūb Sulaymān ibn Dāwūd al-Hāshimī said:

“Making the qualification is permissible. If someone says, ‘I am truly a believer,’ without saying ‘in Allah’s sight’ and without adding the qualification, that is permissible in my view, and he is not a Murji’ite.”

Abū Khaythama and Ibn Abī Shayba held the same view. Al-Shālanjī mentioned that he asked Ahmad ibn Hanbal about someone who persists in major sins and pursues them with all his effort—that is, he strives to commit sin—yet has not abandoned prayer, zakat or fasting: “Is someone in this condition considered persistent in sin?”

He replied:

“He is persistent in sin, as in his saying:

‘The adulterer does not commit adultery while he is a believer.’

He leaves faith and enters Islam. Likewise, his saying: ‘Nor is he a believer when he drinks wine, nor