zakah an upright religion, and called that religion Islam. Whoever fails to pay zakah has therefore abandoned part of the upright religion—which Allah has declared to be the religion in His sight, namely Islam.

He said:

This group, which distinguishes between Islam and faith, is also specifically reported to hold that faith consists of words and deeds, and that prayer and zakah are part of faith. Allah has called both of them religion and has stated that the religion in His sight is Islam. Thus, Allah has described Islam in the same terms as faith, and faith in the same terms as Islam. Reports from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, convey the same meaning. Whoever claims that Islam is merely a verbal profession and that deeds are not part of it has contradicted the Quran and Sunnah. There is no difference between him and the Murji’ah, who claim that faith is a profession without deeds.

The reply is:

His statement that Allah has made prayer and zakah part of religion, and that the religion in His sight is Islam, is sound and agrees with the hadith of Gabriel. His refutation of those who exclude deeds from Islam is likewise sound. However, his statement that Allah has described faith in the same terms as Islam, and Islam in the same terms as faith, is not correct. Allah only said:

“Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam.”

He never said that the religion in the sight of Allah is faith. This religion is, however, part of faith; being part of something does not make it identical to the whole. Faith is rooted in the heart’s knowledge, assent, and affirmation. Deeds follow this knowledge and assent and are inseparable from them; a servant is not a believer without both.

Islam, by contrast, is purely a matter of deeds together with a verbal profession. Knowledge and assent are not part of what the term itself denotes, although it necessarily entails some measure of assent, for there can be no action without knowledge. It does not, however, necessarily entail the faith that Allah and His Messenger have set out in detail, as Allah Most High says:

“The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger, then do not doubt, and strive with their wealth