For Ibn Mas‘ūd was far above such a misunderstanding. What he meant was: “Ask him whether he will be in Paradise if he dies in this state.” It was as though he had said: “Ask him whether, in this state, he would be among the people of Paradise.” When the man replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best,” he said: “Why did you not leave the first matter to Allah, just as you left the second?”

His meaning was: your hesitation shows that you do not attest that you have fulfilled your obligations and refrained from what is forbidden. Anyone who attests to this about himself thereby attests that he will be among the people of Paradise if he dies in that state.

For this reason, those who qualify their profession of faith not because of their present state, but because of the state in which they will die, do not affirm with certainty that Allah accepts a penitent’s repentance, just as they do not affirm with certainty that Allah Most High will punish a sinner. If they were certain that He accepted someone’s repentance, they would have to be certain that this person would enter Paradise. Yet they do not affirm that any particular person among those who face the qiblah will enter either Paradise or the Fire, except someone whose fate is explicitly established by a scriptural text.

When told, “Paradise is for whoever sincerely repents of all sins,” they reply, “Even if he were to die in this state of repentance, one could not affirm with certainty that he would enter Paradise.” They do not qualify their statements concerning present states; rather, they assert categorically that a believer is a believer whose faith is complete. In their view, however, the faith that counts before Allah is the faith with which a person dies. Thus, if they were certain that someone died a believer, free of sin, they would be certain that he would enter Paradise. This is why they do not affirm with certainty that repentance is accepted: otherwise, they would have to affirm with certainty that the person would enter Paradise.

The leading scholars of the early generations, by contrast, refrained from affirming that someone would enter Paradise only because they could not be certain that he had fulfilled what was commanded and avoided what was forbidden, or that he had sincerely repented. Otherwise, they did affirm with certainty that Allah accepts the repentance of whoever sincerely repents.

The essence of the matter is that the same designation may be denied or affirmed according to the judgments associated with it. Its affirmation or denial with respect to one judgment does not necessarily entail the same with respect to all other judgments. This occurs in