1747 — Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Sahl narrated to us. He said: Ahmad ibn Ja‘far ⦗1033⦘ ibn Salam narrated to us. He said: Umar ibn Muhammad ibn Isa narrated to us. He said: Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn … narrated to us. He said: Abu Abd Allah—that is, Ahmad ibn Hanbal—narrated to us. He said: Ibrahim ibn Shammas narrated to us. He said: I heard Jarir ibn Abd al-Hamid say:

“Faith is speech and action, and faith increases and decreases.” He was asked, “How do you describe yourself?” He replied, “I say: I am a believer, if Allah wills.”

He said: Fudayl ibn Iyad was asked about faith while I was listening, and he replied: “In our view, faith has an inward and an outward aspect: affirmation by the tongue, acceptance in the heart, and action.”

He said: I heard Ibn al-Mubarak say: “Faith is speech and action, and its degrees vary.” He said: I heard al-Nadr ibn Shumayl say: “Faith is speech and action.”

Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad, the grammarian, said: “If you say, ‘I am a believer,’ then what remains?”

He said: I asked Baqiyyah and Ibn Ayyash, and they both said: “Faith is speech and action.”