and that righteous deeds are part of faith, and that it is permissible to qualify one’s profession of it by saying, “if Allah wills”—contrary to the Murji’ah. Yet he accused me of Murji’ism more than once! In doing so, he turned the Prophet’s instruction upside down: “Follow up a bad deed with a good deed, and it will erase it…” I said: How much today resembles yesterday!
A man once said to Ibn al-Mubarak: “What do you say about one who commits adultery and drinks wine: is he a believer?” He replied, “I do not exclude him from faith.” The man said, “At your old age, you have become a Murji’i!” Ibn al-Mubarak replied, “The Murji’ah would not accept me! I say that faith increases and decreases, whereas the Murji’ah do not say this. The Murji’ah say, ‘Our good deeds are accepted,’ but I do not know whether even a single good deed of mine has been accepted. How much you need to take a writing tablet and sit with the scholars!” It was narrated by Ibn Rahawayh in his Musnad (3/670–671).
I say: The similarity between these two unjust accusations lies in sharing with the Murji’ah some of what they maintain: in my case, my view that one who abandons prayer out of laziness is not to be declared a disbeliever; and in Ibn al-Mubarak’s case, his view that one who commits a major sin is not to be declared a disbeliever. Had I wished to respond to him in kind, I would have accused him of Kharijism, since the Kharijites declare disbelievers those who abandon prayer and the remaining four pillars! “I seek refuge in Allah from being among the ignorant.” *
3055—“Indeed, some people will emerge from the Fire, burned therein except for the areas around their faces, until they enter Paradise.”
Ahmad narrated it (3/355): Abu Ahmad al-Zubayri narrated to us: Qays ibn Sulaym al-‘Anbari narrated to us; Yazid al-Faqir narrated to me; Jabir ibn ‘Abd Allah narrated to us, saying: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said … and he then cited it.
Muslim (1/122–123) and Abu ‘Awanah (1/180) also narrated it through this route, and it includes a story.