an unbeliever on account of sin in general. Yet if he weighs that verse against the Almighty’s words, “Indeed Allah does not forgive associating partners with Him, but He forgives whatever is less than that for whom He wills” (Qur’an 4:48), the truth becomes plain to him: the sinner does not leave the religion, though he remains under threat of the Fire. If Allah wills, He forgives him; if He wills, He punishes him. Expiations may reach him in this world, or the torment of the grave may purge those sins. The avenues of expiation are many: he may be tried by calamities, disciplined by worldly penalties, chastised in his grave, or his reckoning may be deferred until the Day of Resurrection—throughout which he remains subject to the divine will.

This is the doctrine of Ahl al-Sunnah wa-l-Jamāʿah, and it shows the difference between the branches (shuʿab) and the pillars (arkān) of faith. Whoever abandons one of the pillars becomes an unbeliever. Whoever rejects monotheism and associates partners with Allah is an unbeliever, for he has forsaken the first pillar. Whoever denies any of the Messengers is likewise an unbeliever, for he has abandoned a pillar of Islam. Whoever denies the angels becomes an unbeliever and exits the faith. The same applies to anyone who disbelieves in the Resurrection, or denies Paradise, Hell, the Bridge, the Balance, or anything that is soundly established concerning the Hereafter: by denying a pillar of faith he becomes an unbeliever. Equally, whoever rejects predestination and says, “Events arise on their own; nothing has been decreed by Allah—everything happens by chance,” as the extremists among the Muʿtazilites claim, also becomes an unbeliever, for he has repudiated divine decree. As for the one who neglects one of the branches, such a person