the Jahmiyyah and those of the Ash‘ariyyah who follow them; or assent of both heart and tongue, as the Murji’ah maintain; or of the tongue alone, as the Karrāmiyyah maintain; or assent through the heart, speech, and deeds—for all of these fall within the meaning of assent according to the scholars of hadith, as Shaykh al-Islām and others explained (*).

It has also been said that faith is, rather, acknowledgment: assent applies only to a report, whereas acknowledgment applies to both a report and a command, as in His words:

“Do you acknowledge this and accept My covenant on that basis?” They said, “We acknowledge it.”

Moreover, qarra and āmana are close in meaning. Faith means entering into security, while acknowledgment means entering into acknowledgment. Accordingly, the spoken declaration is an acknowledgment, and acting upon it is also an acknowledgment.

In the Quran, faith is used in two senses, involving a foundation and an obligatory branch. The foundation is what lies in the heart, distinct from deeds. Hence the distinction between them in His words:

“Those who believe and do righteous deeds.”

The sense encompassing both occurs in His words:

“The believers are only…”

“Those who believe do not ask your permission.”

It also occurs in the hadith of “al-hayyā” and that of “the delegation of ‘Abd al-Qays.”

Faith comprises an indispensable foundation; an obligatory element whose absence diminishes it in a manner that makes a person deserving of punishment; and a recommended element whose absence deprives a person of a higher rank. Thus, with respect to faith, people include those who wrong themselves, those who take a middle course, and those who are foremost. The same applies to Hajj, the body, a mosque, and other entities, deeds, and attributes.

Among its various components are those whose loss leaves it short of the highest perfection; those whose loss leaves it short of the required completeness, through neglecting obligations or committing prohibited acts; and those whose loss removes an essential pillar—namely, abandoning belief and speech, which the Murji’ah and Jahmiyyah claim alone constitute what is meant by faith. This resolves the misconceptions of the various sects.

Faith is rooted in the heart and perfected through outward deeds. Islam is the reverse: its foundation is outward, and its perfection lies in the heart.