“Whoever among you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand. If he cannot, then with his tongue; and if he cannot, then with his heart. That is the weakest level of faith.” In another narration: “Beyond that there is not a mustard seed’s weight of faith.”

This makes clear that if the heart has no hatred for the evils that Allah hates, it is devoid of faith. Hatred and love are deeds of the heart. It is well known that Iblīs and those like him know that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has forbidden these things, yet they do not hate them. Rather, they call others to what Allah and His Messenger have forbidden.

Furthermore, those who follow the view of Jahm and al-Sālihī have explicitly stated that reviling Allah and His Messenger, professing the Trinity, and uttering any words of disbelief do not constitute inward disbelief, but are merely outward evidence of disbelief. They hold that someone who reviles and insults in this way may nevertheless inwardly know Allah, affirm His oneness, and believe in Him. When they are confronted with proof from a scriptural text or scholarly consensus that such a person is a disbeliever both inwardly and outwardly, they say: “This implies that such conduct necessarily entails inward denial, and that faith necessarily excludes it.”

They should be told: We have two established facts. (The first) is necessarily known from the religion, and (the second) is necessarily known from reflection on our own selves. As for the first, we know that anyone who willingly reviles Allah and His Messenger without compulsion—indeed, anyone who willingly utters words of disbelief without being compelled, or mocks Allah, His verses, and His Messenger—is