and this is submission and obedience, whereas faith includes affirmation and assurance, which are something additional—then what do you say of someone who does what Allah commands and refrains from what He forbids, sincerely devoting himself to Allah Most High, both outwardly and inwardly? Is he not a Muslim inwardly and outwardly, and one of the people of Paradise? If so, since only a believing soul enters Paradise, he must be a believer.

We reply:

We have mentioned more than once that he must possess the faith required of him, for if he failed to fulfil what was obligatory, he would be liable to the threatened punishment. Yet some aspects of faith may not be obligatory for him, either because the command did not apply to him or because he was incapable of fulfilling it. This is all the more so because faith and Islam as described in the hadith of Gabriel were not obligatory at the beginning of Islam. Nor were they imposed upon the earlier nations who followed the prophets and are among the people of Paradise, even though they were believers and Muslims. This is despite Islam being Allah’s religion, besides which He accepts no other, and His religion for the earlier and later generations alike.

Islam means worshipping Allah alone, without partner, in accordance with His commands. His commands may vary even within a single revealed law, let alone between different revealed laws. Thus, belief in something may form part of Islam at one time but fall outside it at another. Praying towards the Rock, for example, was part of Islam when Allah commanded it, but ceased to be part of Islam when Allah forbade it.

It is well known that the five duties mentioned in the hadith of Gabriel were not obligatory at the outset. Rather, fasting, Hajj, and the prescribed obligations of zakat only became obligatory in Medina, while the five daily prayers were only