fundamentals and subsidiary matters have not drawn a valid distinction between these two categories. Rather, they have proposed three or four distinctions, all of them invalid.”

Some of them have said:

“Fundamental matters concern knowledge and belief, requiring only knowledge and belief, whereas subsidiary matters concern practice and require action.”

They said:

“This distinction is invalid. Some practical matters are such that denying them constitutes disbelief—for example, the obligation of the five daily prayers, zakat, and fasting the month of Ramadan, and the prohibition of unlawful sexual intercourse, usury, injustice, and indecencies.

“Conversely, there are matters of knowledge in which those who disagree incur no sin. Examples include the Companions’ disagreement over whether Muhammad saw his Lord; their disagreement concerning certain reports—whether the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, actually said something, and what he meant by it; their disagreement over whether certain words belong to the Quran; and their disagreement concerning certain meanings of the Quran and Sunnah—whether Allah and His Messenger intended such-and-such. Likewise, people disagree over the subtleties of speculative theology, such as the indivisible atom, the likeness of bodies, the persistence of accidents, and similar matters. Such disagreements do not warrant declaring anyone a disbeliever or an evildoer.”

They said:

“Practical matters involve both action and knowledge. If errors in these matters are forgiven, then errors in matters involving knowledge alone, without action, are all the more deserving of forgiveness.”