and recommended acts. It remains a complete Hajj without the recommended acts, but is deficient when obligatory acts whose omission is compensated for by a sacrifice are left out.
The Lawgiver (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) does not deny a person’s faith for omitting something recommended, but for omitting something obligatory: the person has neglected what is required for faith’s perfection and completeness, not merely something recommended. The terms “perfection” and “completeness” may refer to either obligatory or recommended perfection. Thus, some jurists distinguish between a complete ritual bath and one that fulfills the minimum requirements. Accordingly, when the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) says:
“There is no faith in one who is not trustworthy,”
and:
“A person who commits unlawful sexual intercourse is not a believer while committing it,”
or makes similar statements, this is because something obligatory within faith is absent, not because its recommended perfection is absent.
Faith has constituent parts, and people differ in their degree of faith, just as they do in Hajj and prayer. Hence, he (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said:
“Those with a speck’s weight of faith in their hearts, and those with a barley grain’s weight of faith, will be brought out of the Fire.”
When, however, the term “faith” is used with a qualification—as in the words of Allah Most High:
“Indeed, those who believe and do righteous deeds,”
and His words:
“Those who believed and were mindful of Allah,”
and the words of the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace):
“Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, and resurrection after death,”
and similar expressions—it may be said that faith encompasses these matters, and that conjoining them to it is an instance of conjoining the particular to the general, as in the words of Allah Most High:
“and His angels, His messengers, Gabriel and Michael,”
and His words:
“And when We took from the prophets their covenant, and from you, and from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, son of Mary.”