Is disbelief by belief alone, or by belief, speech, and action?

The questioner : Based on this, I direct my question to you: Is disbelief by the heart alone, or is it by the heart, tongue, and action? In other words, is disbelief by belief alone, or by belief, speech, and action? Inform us with knowledge, may Allah reward you.

The Shaykh : What I understand in this matter is that the original state is disbelief of the heart. However, there are words and actions that may issue from a person that indicate what is settled in his heart of disbelief. But we do not see a necessity to combine that he disbelieves with his heart and with something of his action. They may coincide, or they may differ. In the sense that it is not true of the hypocrite that he disbelieved with his heart and his action, for by his action he is a Muslim. Therefore, the clear Qur'an came in this regard regarding the Bedouins. What appears to me is that there is no necessity to reconcile, and even to question, whether disbelief is by the heart and action? It may be so, but it is not required that action be coupled with the disbelief of the heart, because the original state is the disbelief of the heart. So I do not know if there is something that clarifies this for me, so that I may appreciate such a question.

The questioner : Perhaps I will clarify this.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : With a word from Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) that clarifies what I want to reach.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : In it, Ibn al-Qayyim clarifies that faith is speech and action. Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) says, "Faith is speech and action. Speech is the speech of the heart and the tongue, and action is the action of the heart and the tongue. The explanation of this is that whoever knows Allah with his heart but does not affirm with his tongue is not a believer, as He said about the people of Pharaoh: . These people had the speech of the heart, which is knowledge and awareness, but they were not thereby believers. Therefore, whoever says with his tongue what is not in his heart is not thereby a believer, but is among the hypocrites. Likewise, whoever knows with his heart and affirms with his tongue is not thereby a believer, not merely by that, until he comes with the action of the heart of love and hatred, loyalty and enmity. He loves Allah and His Messenger, he is loyal to the awliya (close friends of Allah), and he is hostile to their enemies. He submits his heart to Allah alone and obeys the following of His Messenger, his obedience, and adherence to His Shari'ah outwardly and inwardly. And if he does that, it is not sufficient for the perfection of his faith until he does what he was commanded to do. These four pillars are the pillars of faith upon which its structure is built." The point from Ibn al-Qayyim's word is the necessity of the action of the heart. A person may affirm Islam, then mock the verses of Allah and His messengers, while he is settled in his heart with the affirmation of the verses of Allah and His messengers, but he mocks them. This is the action of the heart. It was incumbent upon him to revere Allah and His Messenger along with the affirmation. So by the lack of this pillar, he has disbelieved in the Great Allah, because the pillars of faith, as we have now learned from Ibn al-Qayyim, are speech of the heart and tongue, and action of the heart and limbs. So the action of the heart is a pillar. This mocker of the verses and messengers, even if some of them are affirming, has lost this firm pillar of the actions of faith. Therefore, disbelief is not by denial alone, nor is it by the lack of affirmation. And perhaps a person falls into disbelief while he is affirming, as Iblis the accursed was affirming, but he was arrogant about prostrating as his Lord commanded, and our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He). And likewise, Pharaoh was affirming: . So this is the summary: a person may be affirming and yet fall into disbelief due to the absence of the action of the heart from him, so he mocks the verses of Allah and His messengers while he affirms Islam, and the action of the heart of reverence, magnification, and loyalty to Allah and His messengers has been absent from him. And this approach, to the extent of my knowledge, is the approach of the Murji'ah. I mean that disbelief is by denial alone. Therefore, it was incumbent upon us to know disbelief according to the Murji'ah, so that it becomes clear to the listeners that the Salafis do not follow this approach, meaning the approach of the Murji'ah in declaring someone a disbeliever. And if faith according to the Murji'ah, with the differences among their sects, as we spoke about previously, is clarified for us, then it is easy and simple to know disbelief according to the Murji'ah. So the Murji'ah

The Shaykh : Excuse me, the words of Ibn al-Qayyim, in reality, one must pause at them for a moment. You know that there is faith, affirmation, and knowledge.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : And you also know that knowledge and disbelief can coexist.

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : But do disbelief and faith coexist at the same time? And I mean by faith here the original that the hadiths speak about regarding the people of the Fire who are punished according to their desert due to their distance from Islam practically. When intercession comes, it brings out whoever had the weight of an atom of faith in his heart. Does this weight of faith meet with disbelief?

The questioner : The faith intended in this hadith is the correct faith. And even if it is an atom, if faith, or I mean affirmation, meets with hatred for Allah and arrogance regarding the commands of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), then this arrogance, without doubt, contradicts this faith and erases it from the heart. Therefore, the Murji'ah confined disbelief to denial by the heart, and they thought, as the Shaykh al-Islam says, that whoever the Lawgiver declared a disbeliever, He did so only because of the absence of the affirmation of the heart by the Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He). And it is known that denial by the heart has no way of being known or revealed. Therefore, the disbelief of a person is not realized at all, as Ibn al-Wazir says, except by a specific text regarding a specific person. And the Salaf declared a disbeliever whoever says this statement. Iblis the accursed is a disbeliever by the text of the Qur'an, and he was not denying, but was defiant toward Allah and arrogant. So Iblis, without doubt, had affirmation in his heart, and yet he disbelieved by the text of the Noble Book. And likewise, Pharaoh and his people, as our Lord said: . And He also said: . So the harm of the people of Moses to him, while they know that he is the Messenger of Allah by the text of the Noble Book, this harm, which results from the lack of reverence for the Messenger and lack of loyalty to him, without doubt contradicts this affirmation.