by abandoning any single quality; that people differ in their faith, some having greater knowledge and stronger affirmation of Him than others; and that faith increases but does not decrease. This is the view of al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Najjār and his followers.

The seventh group, the Ghaylāniyyah, the followers of Ghaylān, claim that faith consists of the second knowledge of Allah, love, submission, and acknowledgment of what the Messenger brought and what came from Allah. This is because, according to him, the initial knowledge arises necessarily, so he did not count it as part of faith. All those whose views we have related—the Shimriyyah, Jahmiyyah, Ghaylāniyyah, and Najjāriyyah—deny that disbelievers possess faith or that they may be said to possess some faith, since, in their view, faith is indivisible.

He said: “The eighth group among the Murjiʾah, the followers of Muhammad ibn Shabīb, claim that faith consists of acknowledging Allah and knowing that He is One and that nothing is like Him; acknowledging and knowing His prophets and messengers and everything they brought from Allah that Muslims have expressly affirmed and transmitted from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, such as prayer, fasting, and similar matters over which they have no disagreement; and submitting to Allah, which means refraining from arrogance toward Him.

“They claimed that Iblīs knew Allah and acknowledged Him, and that he was a disbeliever only because he was arrogant; were it not for his arrogance, he would not have been a disbeliever. They also held that faith is divisible and that its adherents differ in degree; that a particular quality of faith may be an act of obedience and constitute part of faith, while the person possessing it is a disbeliever because he has abandoned another part of faith; and that a person is not a believer unless he possesses all of it. Every man who knows that Allah is One and has no equal