Moreover, the ḥadīth also points to the fact that the designation “Islam” is not identical with “īmān” (faith). The scholars have long differed on this question, yet the correct view is that of the great majority of the early generations, who distinguish between the two because both the Qur’an and the Sunnah indicate as much. The Exalted says: “The Bedouins say, ‘We have believed.’ Say: You have not believed; rather say, ‘We have submitted,’ for faith has not yet entered your hearts” (Q 49:14). Likewise, the Ḥadīth of Gabriel that separates Islam from īmān is well known and widely transmitted.

Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah—may Allah have mercy on him—said in his book al-Īmān (p. 305, Islamic Office ed.):

“Referring the issue of Islam and īmān back to Allah and His Messenger shows that, although the reality denoted by each of the two names is obligatory and no one will enter Paradise unless he is both a believer (muʾmin) and a Muslim, the truth of the matter is what the Prophet ﷺ clarified in the Ḥadīth of Gabriel. He made the religion and its adherents three levels: the first is Islam, the middle is īmān, and the highest is iḥsān. Whoever attains the highest has necessarily attained the level beneath it: the muḥsin is a muʾmin, and the muʾmin is a Muslim, whereas a Muslim is not necessarily a muʾmin.”

Whoever wishes a detailed, rigorously researched discussion of this issue should consult that book, for it is the best work authored on the subject.

A report that corroborates the foregoing ḥadīth is the statement:

“The two sons of al-ʿĀṣ are believers: Hishām and ʿAmr.”

156 — “The two sons of al-ʿĀṣ are believers: Hishām and ʿAmr.”

It was recorded by ʿAffān ibn Muslim in his collection of ḥadīths (fol. 238/2): “Hammād ibn Salamah narrated to us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr narrated from Abū Salamah, from Abū Hurayrah”—marfūʿ (attributed to the Prophet). Aḥmad (2/354) and Ibn Saʿd (4/191) likewise transmitted it through the route of ʿAffān with the same chain.