Can faith and disbelief, and the Sunnah and religious innovation, coexist in a servant?

Question:
May Allah reward you, Honorable Shaykh. This questioner asks: Is it possible for faith and disbelief, and the Sunnah and religious innovation, to coexist in a servant?

Answer:
You have heard in your studies of creed that faith and minor disbelief can coexist in a Muslim, but major disbelief cannot. Similarly, tawhid (the oneness of Allah) and minor shirk (associating partners with Allah) can coexist, but major shirk cannot coexist with tawhid. So, it is possible for these to coexist.
A person may have a partial adherence to the Sunnah, and he may have more actions in accordance with the Sunnah, but he may also have some religious innovations. There is no doubt that this becomes a defect; it becomes a defect, and it may gradually overwhelm the Sunnah. Therefore, the Salaf (the earliest generations) warned against religious innovations because they are like a spark that burns the religion bit by bit, growing larger. So they closed the door on religious innovations. It is not permissible for us to say that the Sunnah and religious innovation coexist in a person, because that opens the door to religious innovations and leads to laxity regarding them. Yes.