and likewise, faith is only realized by remaining faithful until death, and this cannot be known.

For this reason, Ibn Mas‘ūd said: “Why did he not entrust the former to Allah, just as he entrusted the latter?” This refers to the report cited as evidence: a man said in his presence, “I am a believer.” Ibn Mas‘ūd was told, “This man claims that he is a believer.” He replied, “Then ask him whether he is in Paradise or in the Fire.” They asked him, and he said, “Allah knows best.” ‘Abd Allāh then said, “Why did you not entrust the first matter to Allah, just as you entrusted the second?”

I say: Further evidence for the obligation to qualify one’s profession of faith may be drawn from ‘Umar’s statement: “Whoever says that he is a believer is an unbeliever; whoever claims that he is in Paradise is in the Fire; and whoever claims that he is learned is ignorant.” When the opponent argued that qualification is needed only for a future event whose occurrence is uncertain, he replied: “The answer is that there is indeed a future event here whose occurrence is uncertain: dying in faith. The parts of faith are interconnected, so it is like a single act of worship.”

I say: In essence, this position holds that faith denotes an act of worship extending from the moment one enters it until one dies upon it. If it is invalidated, its beginning is shown to have been invalid—as when one loses ritual purity at the end of prayer, has intercourse at the end of Hajj, or eats at the end of a day of fasting. The unqualified designation “believer” implies fulfilling faith in its entirety, just as do the designations “one who prays,” “one who fasts,” and “one who performs Hajj.” This, then, is the basis of al-Qādī’s reasoning.

After this discussion in al-Mu‘tamad, he addresses the related “question of one’s state at death”: in the case of a believer whom Allah knows will die an unbeliever—and vice versa—do Allah’s pleasure and anger, love and hatred, relate to the person’s present state or to the state in which he dies? This question is connected to whether His pleasure and anger are eternal or arise anew.