when one is able to perform them. As for outward actions left undone because of inability, the person concerned is judged like one who performs them. The heart’s speech and actions thus fall into three categories:
First, that which is itself a good deed or a sin.
Second, that which is not sinful in itself until acted upon—namely, a sin one is able to commit, as explained above.
Third, that which, in the case of inability, is equivalent to a good deed or sin actually committed, but is not equivalent to it when one has the ability, as explained above.
The first category concerns the foundations of faith: affirmation and denial, love and hatred, and what follows from these. Reward and punishment, elevated ranks and the lowest depths, result from the presence of these matters in people’s hearts, even when they find no outward expression.
Indeed, the hypocrites outwardly utter righteous words and perform righteous deeds, yet their punishment and their being in the lowest depth of the Fire are due to the diseases in their hearts. Although this may sometimes be accompanied by hatred of speech and action, their punishment is not confined to that slight hatred; rather, that hatred is an indication, as the Most High says:
“And if