The same applies to his statement in the authentic hadith:

“No man knowingly claims descent from someone other than his father without committing disbelief.”

And in another hadith:

“Whoever disowns his lineage, however tenuous the connection, has disbelieved in Allah.”

Among the passages of the Quran whose wording was abrogated was:

“Do not disown your fathers, for disowning your fathers is disbelief on your part.”

The rights of parents are coupled with Allah’s right in such statements as:

“Be grateful to Me and to your parents; to Me is the final return.”

And:

“Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him and that you be good to your parents.”

A person’s father is the source from which he was created, and his child is among his earnings, as Allah says:

“Neither his wealth nor what he earned will avail him.”

Denying one’s parents is therefore a branch of disbelief. By denying that from which his Lord created him, he has denied his Lord’s creation of him. In the language of those before us, the Lord was called “Father,” so this involves disbelief in Allah in this respect. Yet this is not like denying the Creator altogether. We shall discuss the remaining hadiths, if Allah wills.

The purpose here is to state a “comprehensive principle” upon which an understanding of the scriptural texts can be built, and by which people’s disputes can be referred back to the Book and the Sunnah. People have disputed extensively over various aspects of what faith and Islam denote, because these two terms occur so frequently and are discussed so much. The more a term is discussed—being used without qualification in one place, with one qualification elsewhere, and with another qualification in yet another place—the more this can cause aspects of its meaning to become unclear. Then, the more widely it is heard, the greater the number of people who become confused about it.

One reason for this is that a person hears some instances of its use but not others. What he hears may be qualified in a way that confines it to a particular meaning, so he assumes that it has that same meaning wherever else it occurs. Thus, whoever pursues his study until he knows the full range of its uses and understands the source of