Another Chapter on the Same Issue That Islam Is Before Belief

“Abd al-Malik ibn A’yan and I wrote to Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) asking him, ‘What is belief?’ He then wrote to us. ‘You, may Allah grant you favors, have asked about belief. Belief is affirmation, with the tongue, that is established in the heart and by the deeds of the body. Beliefs are from each other. Belief is a house. So also, Islam is a house. Rejection (of Islam) is a house. Sometimes a servant (of Allah) is a Muslim before he becomes a believer but he cannot become a believer before becoming a Muslim. Therefore, Islam is before belief and it shares belief. Whenever a servant (of Allah) commits one of the major sins or one of the minor sins that Allah, the Most Majestic, the Most Holy, has prohibited he is out of belief and belief falls off of him but the name ‘Muslim’ still applies to him. When he repents and asks forgiveness he returns to the house of belief. Nothing takes him out to rejection but rejection of what is lawful, such as saying to what is lawful, ‘It is unlawful’ or saying lawful to what is unlawful and living thereby (such attitude) as a religion. In such a case one is out of Islam and belief and is in rejection. It is like one’s entering the Sacred Mosque then the Holy Ka’ba wherein he invents an act of heresy. He then is taken out of the Holy Ka’ba and the Sacred precinct and is decapitated and that turns him to hell (for his act of defiant and treachery).”’

“I asked the Imam about belief and Islam, inquiring, ‘Is there a difference between Islam and belief?’ The Imam said, ‘I can give an example.’ I said, ‘Please do so.’ He said, ‘The case of belief and Islam is like the Holy Ka’ba and the Sacred precinct. One may have entered the Sacred precinct but not the Holy Ka’ba. One cannot enter the Holy Ka’ba before entering the Sacred precinct. One may become a Muslim but he may not yet be a believer. However, one cannot become a believer before becoming a Muslim.’ I (the narrator) then asked, ‘Can one go out of belief to anything?’ He said, ‘Yes.’ I asked, ‘What then does one become?’ He said, ‘One may go out to Islam or rejection (disbelief).’ He then said, ‘If a man enters the Holy Ka’ba and his urine comes out he is taken out of the Holy Ka’ba but he will not be taken out of the Sacred precinct. He washes his cloth and purifies and then he is not stopped from entering the Holy Ka’ba. However, if a man enters the Holy Ka’ba and urinates therein out of animosity he is taken out of the Holy Ka’ba and the Sacred Mosque and is decapitated.’”