If, in this report, Ahmad meant that Islam consists solely of the two testimonies of faith, so that whoever utters them is a Muslim, then this is one of the positions reported from him. Another report states that a person is not a Muslim until he pronounces them and prays; if he does not pray, he is a disbeliever. A third states that he is also a disbeliever if he abandons zakah. A fourth states that he becomes a disbeliever by withholding zakah if he fights the ruler over it, but not if he does not fight him. It is also reported from Ahmad that if someone says, “I pay it myself, but I will not hand it over to the ruler,” the ruler has no right to kill him. Likewise, there is a report from him that a person becomes a disbeliever by abandoning fasting and by abandoning pilgrimage if he resolves never to perform it.

Clearly, according to the view that abandoning the pillars constitutes disbelief, Islam cannot consist merely of uttering the declaration of faith. Rather, what is meant is that by uttering it, a person enters Islam. This is correct: he is acknowledged as a Muslim, but no testimony is given concerning the faith in his heart. No conditional qualification is made regarding Islam in this sense, because it is something publicly known. Islam in the sense of fulfilling the five pillars as commanded, however, does admit of conditional qualification. Thus, the Islam regarding which no conditional qualification is made consists solely of pronouncing the two testimonies of faith, for this neither increases nor decreases, and so admits of no such qualification.

People have adopted three positions concerning what the term Islam denotes. Some say that it is faith, and that the two are different names for the same thing. Others say that it is the declaration of faith. Both these positions have a basis that we shall explain. The correct starting point, however, is what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, explained when he was asked about Islam and faith: he defined Islam in terms of outward deeds, and faith as belief in the five fundamentals. When we speak of Islam and faith together, we may not give an answer different from that given by the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace.

When the term faith is used on its own, however, it includes Islam. When Islam is mentioned on its own, a person may, alongside his Islam, also be a believer—this is undisputed—and this