I say: The inseparability of the two has already been discussed in full, although what one denotes is not identical to what the other denotes.

More than one scholar has reported the consensus of the people of the Sunnah and hadith that faith consists of speech and deeds. Abū ‘Umar ibn ‘Abd al-Barr said in al-Tamhīd:

“The scholars of jurisprudence and hadith unanimously agree that faith consists of speech and deeds, and that deeds require intention. In their view, faith increases through obedience and decreases through disobedience, and all acts of obedience constitute faith. The exception is what has been reported from Abū Hanīfah and his followers, who held that obedience is not called faith. They said that faith consists only of assent and affirmation; some of them also included knowledge.”

He mentioned the evidence they cited … then went on to say:

“As for the other jurists, whether adherents of reasoned opinion or transmitted reports, in the Hijaz, Iraq, Syria, and Egypt—including Mālik ibn Anas, al-Layth ibn Sa‘d, Sufyān al-Thawrī, al-Awzā‘ī, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Ishāq ibn Rāhawayh, Abū ‘Ubayd al-Qāsim ibn Sallām, Dāwūd ibn ‘Alī, al-Tabarī, and those who followed their path—they said:

“Faith consists of speech and deeds: speech of the tongue, namely affirmation; conviction in the heart; and deeds performed by the limbs, with sincerity and genuine intention.

“They said that everything through which Allah, Mighty and Majestic, is obeyed, whether obligatory or voluntary, is part of faith. Faith increases through acts of obedience and decreases through sins. In their view, those who commit sins are believers whose faith is incomplete because of their sins; their faith becomes deficient through their commission of major sins. Consider the words of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

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

“And the remainder of the hadith. He meant a person whose faith is complete; he did not mean to deny all faith to someone who commits such an act. This is demonstrated by the consensus that adulterers, thieves, and wine drinkers—provided they pray facing the qiblah and profess Islam—inherit from their believing relatives who are not