1590 — Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Basir informed us. He said: Ahmad ibn Ja'far informed us. He said: Idris ibn Abd al-Karim al-Muqri' narrated to us: A man from the people of Khurasan asked Abu Thawr about faith: What is it? Does it increase and decrease? Is it merely speech, or speech and action, or affirmation and action? Abu Thawr answered him as follows:

Abu Thawr said: “May Allah have mercy on you and forgive us and you. You asked about faith: what is it? Does it increase and decrease? Is it speech alone, or speech and action, or affirmation and action? ⦗932⦘ I shall inform you of the views of the various groups and their differences.

Know—may Allah have mercy on us and you—that faith is affirmation in the heart, speech upon the tongue, and action by the limbs. For there is no disagreement among the scholars regarding a man who says: ‘I bear witness that Allah is One, that all which the messengers brought is true,’ and affirms all the prescribed laws, but then says: ‘My heart has not accepted any of this, nor do I believe it.’ Such a person is not a Muslim. Likewise, if he says, ‘The Messiah is God,’ and denies the matter of Islam, then says, ‘My heart has not accepted any of that,’ he is a disbeliever by openly declaring this, and is not a believer.

Since a person is not a believer merely through verbal affirmation when it is not accompanied by affirmation in the heart, nor merely through affirmation in the heart when it is not accompanied by verbal affirmation—until he affirms it in his heart and professes it with his tongue—then, when there is affirmation in the heart and profession by the tongue, he is a believer according to them. Yet according to some of them, he is not a believer until action accompanies affirmation; thus, when these matters are combined, he is a believer.

Since they rejected the notion that faith is a single thing, saying that it consists of two things according to some of them and three things according to others, we held that a person is a believer only through that which they all agree upon from among these three matters. For when he brings together all three, they all testify that he is a believer. Thus, we hold to that upon which they agree: affirmation in the heart, profession by the tongue, and action by the limbs.

As for the group which claims that action is not part of faith, it is said to them: What did Allah intend from His servants when He said to them, ‘Establish prayer and give zakah,’ other than affirmation of this, or affirmation together with action? ⦗933⦘ If they say, ‘Allah intended affirmation but did not intend action,’ then whoever says that Allah did not intend His servants to pray or give zakah has disbelieved according to the scholars. But if they say that He intended from them both affirmation and action, it is said: If He intended both matters from them together, why do you claim that one may be a believer through one of them to the exclusion of the other, when He intended both of them?

Consider: if a man were to say, ‘I perform everything that Allah has commanded, but I do not affirm it,’ would he be a believer? If they say, ‘No,’ it is said to them: If he says, ‘I affirm everything Allah has commanded, but I do not perform any of it,’ would he be a believer? If they say, ‘Yes,’ it is said to them: What is the difference, when you have claimed that Allah intended both matters together? If it is permissible for a person to be a believer through one of them while abandoning the other, then it would likewise be permissible for him to be a believer through the other—by acting while not affirming it. There is no difference between the two.

If someone objects, saying: ‘If a man embraces Islam and affirms all that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, brought, is he a believer by this affirmation before the time for any action has arrived?’ It is said to him: We apply this designation to him only because he affirms that action is incumbent upon him, by stating that he will perform it when its time comes. At that time, he is not required to make the affirmation of all that by which he becomes a believer. But if he says, ‘I affirm it, yet I shall not act,’ we do not apply the designation of faith to him. What we have explained here is sufficient, and we ask Allah for success.”