and guy ropes, with a pole inside. The tent is like Islam: its pillars consist of outward deeds and actions of the limbs, represented by the guy ropes that hold the sides of the tent in place. The pole at the centre of the tent is like faith, without which the tent cannot stand. The tent thus needs them, for it can neither stand nor remain firm without both. Likewise, Islam, consisting of deeds of the limbs, cannot stand without faith; and faith, consisting of deeds of the heart, is of no benefit without Islam, which is righteous deeds.

Furthermore, Allah has made the opposite of Islam and faith one and the same. Were they not like a single thing in ruling and meaning, they would not have the same opposite. He says:

“How will Allah guide a people who disbelieved after their belief?”

And He says:

“Would he command you to disbelieve after you have become Muslims?”

Thus, He made disbelief the opposite of both.

He said:

Likewise, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, described faith and Islam as belonging to the same category. In the hadith of Ibn ʿUmar, he said:

“Islam is built upon five.”

In the hadith narrated by Ibn ʿAbbās concerning the delegation of ʿAbd al-Qays, they asked him about faith, and he mentioned these same characteristics. This shows that there is no inward faith without outward Islam, nor any outward, manifest Islam without inward faith, and that faith and deeds are inseparable companions: neither benefits without the other.

He said:

As for the Prophet’s distinction between faith and Islam in the hadith of Gabriel, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, this distinguishes the detailed account of the heart’s deeds and convictions—in accordance with the meanings we have described, which require these to be convictions—from the detailed account of the deeds of the limbs, which call for actions