What is your opinion regarding the excuse of sinners for abandoning sins, claiming that faith is in the heart?

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The Shaykh :

The bedouins say, "We have believed." Say, "You have not [yet] believed; but say [instead], 'We have submitted,' for faith has not yet entered your hearts.

قالت الأعراب آمنا قل لم تؤمنوا ولكن قولوا أسلمنا ولما يدخل الإيمان في قلوبكم

[Al-Hujurat 49:14]

This indicates that the locus of faith is the heart. And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

Taqwa (mindfulness of Allah) is here

التقوى ها هنا

pointing to his chest. So faith and taqwa (mindfulness of Allah), both are in the heart. But if it were true that there is something of faith in a person's heart—meaning taqwa, faith, and taqwa—then the limbs would be sound, by the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him):

There is a piece of flesh in the body if it becomes good (reformed) the whole body becomes good but if it gets spoilt the whole body gets spoilt

ألا وإن في الجسد مضغة إذا صلحت صلح الجسد كله وإذا فسدت فسد الجسد كله

Sahih al-Bukhari 52

So we say, my brother, your faith is deficient as long as you persist in sin. We do not say that you are not a believer in an absolute sense, but we say that your faith is deficient. So fear Allah and complete it, because faith, according to the people of the Sunnah and the community, increases with obedience and decreases with sin.

Source alathar.net

The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.

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