a son for Himself—the Most Merciful.’ Glory be to Him! Rather, they are honoured servants.”

“And they say, ‘The Most Merciful has taken a son.’”

“You have certainly made a monstrous assertion.”

“The heavens almost rupture at it, the earth splits apart, and the mountains collapse in devastation,”

“because they attribute a son to the Most Merciful.”

“It is not fitting for the Most Merciful to take a son.”

“There is no one in the heavens and the earth who will not come to the Most Merciful as a servant.”

“He has fully accounted for them and numbered them precisely.”

“And each of them will come to Him alone on the Day of Resurrection.”

“And the Jews say, ‘Ezra is the son of Allah,’” and the following verses.

Such passages are very numerous. Whoever loves their statements and actions is one of them: either a disbeliever or a wicked person, according to what he says and does. Whoever is the opposite is not one of them and incurs no punishment for refraining from such conduct. However, he is not rewarded merely for its absence. Rather, he is rewarded for his intention and resolve to refrain from it. This is preceded by knowing its ugliness and hating it for Allah’s sake. This knowledge, intention, and hatred are part of the faith for which he is rewarded, and constitute its lowest degree. As the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Whoever among you sees a wrong, let him change it with his hand,”

to the end of the hadith. Opposing it in the heart consists in hating and detesting it, which can only follow knowledge of it and its ugliness. After that comes opposing it with the tongue, and then with the hand. The Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“And that is the weakest degree of faith,”

concerning someone who sees a wrong.

But if he sees it without knowing that it is wrong and without detesting it, this faith is not present in his heart when the wrong occurs and he sees it, in circumstances in which he is obliged to hate it