are those who think themselves believers in the Scriptures and the messengers because these people have misled them about the foundations of their doctrine, or because they agree with some of them in their views but not with others. Most of these people incline toward the Rāfidah. Some affiliate themselves with Sufism, others with speculative theology, and others join the jurists in their schools of law.
People of this kind abound under ignorant regimes far removed from knowledge of Islam and adherence to it. They were numerous under the rule of the Daylamites, the Ubaydids, and others like them. Likewise, they abound under the rule of ignorant Turks and other such people who believe in the message in general without knowing the details of what the Messenger brought. For the ignorant among the Turks and others resemble this type more than any other. These people do not regard following the Messenger as obligatory for everyone on earth. They may, however, consider following him better than following anyone else, and so follow him as a recommended practice; or they may follow only some of what he brought, or not follow him at all. Even so, they acknowledge him and his followers.
One who believes in part of the message but not the rest is also a disbeliever, as Allah Most High says:
“Those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers and seek to make a distinction between Allah and His messengers, saying, ‘We believe in some and disbelieve in others,’ and seek to take a path in between.”
“They are truly the disbelievers, and We have prepared a humiliating punishment for the disbelievers.”
“But those who believe in Allah and His messengers and make no distinction between any of them—to them He will give their rewards. And Allah is Ever-Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
Allah Most High also says, addressing the People of the Book:
“Yet here you are, killing one another and expelling a group of your own people from their homes, joining forces against them in sin and aggression; yet if they come to you as captives, you ransom them