and in another narration:

“a dinar’s weight of goodness. Then He will bring out of the Fire whoever has a mustard seed’s weight of faith in his heart.”

Another narration reads “goodness.”

“And He will bring out of the Fire whoever has an atom’s weight of faith or goodness in his heart.”

These and similar reports, widely transmitted from the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, show that whoever possesses any faith and goodness, however little, will not remain in the Fire forever, and that faith is divisible and consists of parts. It is known with certainty that many of those who make these errors possess some measure of faith in Allah and His Messenger, for our discussion concerns precisely such people.

Moreover, many of the early generations erred concerning many of these matters, yet they agreed that such errors did not warrant declaring a person an unbeliever. For example, some Companions denied that the dead could hear the calls of the living; some denied that the Ascension occurred while the Prophet was awake; and some denied that Muhammad saw his Lord. Some also expressed well-known views concerning the caliphate and relative merit. Likewise, some made well-known statements concerning fighting others, cursing others, and declaring others unbelievers.

The judge Shurayh rejected the recitation:

“Rather, you marvel,”

saying, “Allah does not marvel.” When this reached Ibrāhīm al-Nakha‘ī, he said, “Shurayh is merely a poet, impressed with his own knowledge. ‘Abd Allāh had greater understanding than he did, and he used to recite:

‘Rather, you marvel.’”

Thus, he rejected an established recitation and denied an attribute indicated by the Quran and Sunnah. Nevertheless, the Muslim community agreed that he was one of its leading scholars. Likewise, some of the early generations denied