do you say that this entails synonymy? If you said, “You do not submit to us,” instead of “You do not believe us,” the meaning would be sound. But why do you say that this is what the word mu’min (“one who believes”) means?

When Allah says, “Establish prayer,” someone could instead say, “Complete prayer,” “Persist in prayer,” “Commit yourselves to prayer,” or “Perform prayer,” and the meaning would be sound. Yet this does not establish the meaning of “establish.” To say that one expression is synonymous with another is to say that it conveys that very meaning.

Furthermore, it may be said that the two expressions are not synonymous, for several reasons:

(First: When one accepts a speaker’s report as true, one says saddaqahu (“he believed him”), not āmanahu or āmana bihi. Rather, one says āmana lahu (“he believed him”), as in His statement:

“So Lot believed him.”

And His statement:

“But none believed Moses except some young people from his own people.”

Pharaoh said:

“You believed him before I gave you permission!”

They said to Noah:

“Should we believe you when the lowest of people follow you?”

And Allah Most High said:

“Say: He listens for your good; he believes in Allah and believes the believers.”

They also said:

“Should we believe two men like ourselves, while their people are our slaves?”

And He said:

“If you do not believe me, then leave me alone.”

If it is objected, “But one can say, ‘You do not believe us,’ using musaddiq with lanā,” the answer is: The preposition lām can accompany an expression that normally takes a direct object when its grammatical governing force is weakened—either because it follows its object, because it is an active participle or verbal noun, or because both factors are present.

Thus one says, “So-and-so worships Allah, fears Him, and is mindful of Him.” When using the active participle, however, one says, “He is a worshipper of his Lord, mindful of his Lord, and fearful of his Lord.” Likewise, one says, “So-and-so dreads Allah,” and then, “He is one who dreads his Lord,” using lām with the active participle.

When the verb is used but placed after its object, its governing force is strengthened by lām, as in His statement:

“In their inscription were guidance and mercy for those who stand in awe of their Lord.”

Yet He also said:

“So stand in awe of Me alone.”

Here He made the verb transitive