can be removed only by its opposite, namely disbelief, for disbelief is incompatible with faith, so a disbeliever does not become a believer. If faith were to cease, its reward would cease—not because a sin was present. Thus, any evil deed that does not nullify a deed does not nullify its reward. This is agreed upon among Muslims, even the innovators among the Khawārij and Mu‘tazilah. The Khawārij consider a major sin to entail disbelief, which is incompatible with faith. The Mu‘tazilah consider it to remove a person from faith, though it does not bring him into disbelief. Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamā‘ah hold that the foundation of his faith remains. Thus, all these groups agree that, while his faith remains, its reward is not nullified by any sin.

As for disbelief, although they agree that, while it remains, its punishment is not removed by any good deeds, this is because the absence of faith alone suffices to constitute disbelief; it need not consist in something positively present, as explained earlier. The punishment for disbelief is therefore for abandoning faith, even if it is accompanied by further punishments for the positive acts of disbelief committed.

Likewise, reports concerning the rewards of some commanded acts of obedience indicate that they avert and remove the punishment for forbidden acts of disobedience. Since the rewards for commanded good deeds, as a class, avert punishment for every sin, whereas the punishments for forbidden evil deeds, as a class, do not cancel the reward for every good deed, the superiority of performing commanded good deeds over abstaining from forbidden evil deeds is established.

Related to this are the reports concerning the virtue of “There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah” and how it extinguishes the fire of sins, such as the hadith of the card and other reports.