his fate. Some people report that they regarded such people as inhabitants of Paradise, but this misrepresents their position.

Nevertheless, their calling such a person a believer is an innovation they introduced in opposition to the Quran, the Sunnah, and the consensus of the early generations of the Muslim community. This heinous innovation, unlike their other doctrines, was peculiar to the Karrāmiyyah.

The majority of the early and later scholars said: Rather, those described as having Islam but not faith are not necessarily inwardly unbelievers; they possess some measure of Islam that is accepted.

They say that Islam is broader than faith: every believer is a Muslim, but not every Muslim is a believer. Regarding the Prophet’s saying (may Allah bless him and grant him peace):

“No one who commits unlawful sexual intercourse is a believer while doing so; no thief is a believer while stealing; and no one who drinks wine is a believer while drinking it,”

they say that such a person passes out of faith into Islam. They drew a circle representing Islam, with a smaller circle representing faith inside it, and said: When someone commits unlawful sexual intercourse, he passes out of faith into Islam, but this does not take him out of Islam into unbelief.

The evidence for this is that Allah, blessed and exalted is He, says:

“The Bedouins say, ‘We believe.’ Say, ‘You have not believed. Rather, say, “We have submitted,” for faith has not yet entered your hearts. If you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not diminish the reward of your deeds in the least.’ Indeed, Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”

“The believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger, then never doubt, and strive with their wealth and their lives in the cause of Allah