“And what is Islam?”
He replied, “To submit your heart to Allah, and for the Muslims to be safe from your tongue and hand.”
He asked, “Which form of Islam is best?”
He replied, “Faith.”
He asked, “And what is faith?”
He replied, “To believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, and resurrection after death.”
He asked, “Which form of faith is best?”
He replied, “Migration.”
He asked, “And what is migration?”
He replied, “To abandon evil.”
He asked, “Which form of migration is best?”
He replied, “Jihad.”
He asked, “And what is jihad?”
He replied, “To fight the disbelievers when you encounter them, without misappropriating spoils or showing cowardice.”
Then the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, “Then there are two deeds that are the best of deeds, except for those of someone who does their like”—he repeated this three times—“an accepted Hajj or an umrah.”
His words, “They are the best of deeds,” mean after jihad, because he said, “Then there are two deeds.”
In this hadith, he thus made faith a particular category within Islam, with Islam broader in scope. Likewise, he made migration a particular category within faith, with faith broader in scope, and jihad a particular category within migration, with migration broader in scope.
Islam means worshipping Allah alone, without any partner, devoting religion sincerely to Him. This is Allah’s religion, and He accepts no other religion from anyone, whether among the earlier or later generations. Since messengers have been sent to us, worshipping Him can only be through what His messengers commanded, not through what contradicts it, for that is disobedience. Allah made Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the last of the messengers. Thus, no one is a Muslim unless he testifies that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and Messenger. It is through this declaration that a person enters Islam.
Whoever says, “Islam is the declaration,” intending this meaning, has spoken the truth. There must then be a commitment to the outward deeds commanded by the Messenger, such as the five pillars. Whoever neglects any of these has his Islam diminished