from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—indeed, what is necessarily known to belong to Islam, the religion of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—is that people in Medina during his lifetime fell into “three categories”: believers; disbelievers who openly professed their disbelief; and hypocrites who outwardly professed Islam but inwardly were disbelievers. In accordance with this division, Allah mentioned these three categories at the beginning of Sūrat al-Baqarah, revealing four verses describing the believers, two describing the disbelievers, and ten-odd verses describing the hypocrites.

Thus His words, exalted is He:

“Guidance for the righteous,”

“Who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them,”

“And who believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you, and are certain of the Hereafter,”

“Those are upon guidance from their Lord, and it is they who are successful,”

describe the believers.

His words:

“Indeed, those who disbelieve—it is all the same to them whether you warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe,”

and the following verse describe the disbelievers who die in disbelief.

His words:

“And among the people are those who say, ‘We believe in Allah and the Last Day,’ but they are not believers,”

and the ensuing verses describe the hypocrites, continuing until He sets forth two parables for them: one involving fire and the other water. Likewise, He uses these two to set forth a parable for the believers in His words, exalted is He:

“He sends down water from the sky, and the valleys flow according to their measure,”

and the remainder of the verse.