A continuation of the benefits of the saying of Allah the Exalted: ((And when the believers saw the confederates, they said, "This is what Allah and His Messenger promised us, and Allah and His Messenger spoke the truth." And it did not increase them except in faith and submission))

So this is a deficiency due to leaving off the action, and it necessitates an increase. Why? Because of the abundance of the action.
And thirdly: according to the sincerity in worship. The more sincere a person is to Allah in his worship, the more complete and stronger the increase in his faith becomes. For this reason, you find the difference when you worship Allah (Mighty and Majestic) with sincerity and when you worship Him in a state of heedlessness; you find the great difference in the effect on your heart, even though the worship is the same. So how much more so if you worship Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) with showing off and seeking fame? We ask Allah to protect us and you from that. It becomes even more severe in the lack of the heart being affected by this worship. Also, by following, considering the person's following of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The more a person increases in following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in his worship, the more his faith increases with that. Because when he increases in following the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him), he feels as if the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) is before him, following his trace. And this undoubtedly increases in faith.
The fifth is with regard to the state of the worker. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: This refers to the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), for they were stronger in faith than those who came after them and more steadfast. The upshot is that the increase in faith has several considerations, and among them is also the sixth: abandoning sins out of fear of Allah, for faith increases by that. We will come to it, if Allah wills, in the book on tawhid (the oneness of Allah), where that will be explained in a more complete manner. The important point is that the people of the Sunnah and the community say that faith increases and decreases. The Murji'ah said, "Faith does not increase or decrease". Why did they say that? "Because faith is in the heart, and righteous deeds have no share in faith, and what is in the heart does not vary." We believe in the sun, all of us, and our belief in the sun is on the same level; it does not vary. As Ibn al-Qayyim said about them, the people...
"People in faith are one thing, like a comb when the teeth are equal"
And this saying is undoubtedly an error, refuted by reality and the Shari'ah. And the Khawarij and the Mu'tazilah said "Faith does not increase or decrease; either it exists in full or it is completely absent" Because they say "The doer of a major sin is outside of faith, so either he is a disbeliever or he is in a position between two positions" So the Khawarij "say the doer of a major sin is a disbeliever, he has no faith at all" and the Mu'tazilah say "He has no faith, but we do not say he is a disbeliever, rather he is in a position between two positions" And whoever is not a doer of a major sin, the people are equal in faith, all of them on the same level. So those who do not see an increase in faith or its decrease are two groups: either the Murji'ah or the Wa'idiyyah, and they are the Khawarij, and who? The Mu'tazilah. And some of the people of the Sunnah, like Malik (may Allah have mercy on him), said "Faith increases, and we do not say it decreases, because the increase of faith is abundant in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, but there is no decrease, there is no mention of the decrease of faith" But his saying (may Allah have mercy on him) is weak, because in the Sunnah and faith is undoubtedly part of the religion, so it falls under this hadith. Also, increase and decrease are opposing matters, where if one is found, the other is negated, and it is not conceivable for one to exist without the other. For example, increase is not conceivable except by decrease. So we say to him, for example, you say that so-and-so has more faith than so-and-so, that means the one who has more is deficient, and nothing else is conceivable. And the correct view is that faith increases and decreases, and the causes of its increase and decrease are as we explained before.
And among the benefits of the noble verse is that people differ in submission and surrender, just as they differ in faith in increase and decrease, due to His saying: Because most of the believers are all submissive to the Shari'ah, but some submit with tranquility, expansion, acceptance, and love, and some submit in a manner less than that, and some come to the prayer, for example, seeing it as a blessing from Allah (Mighty and Majestic), and they come to it facing it, not turning away, active, with an expanded chest, loving it, waiting for the prayer after the prayer without impatience. And some people are the opposite; they come to the prayer, they do not miss it, but with slowness, heaviness, and lack of complete submission, is that not so? So people differ in submission, and for this reason He said: .
And among the benefits of the noble verse is that reflecting on the verses and the clarity of the verses for the servant increases in his faith and submission, due to His saying: meaning what they saw of the confederates in Allah in His Shari'ah. Who is asking?
The student: ...or that a person's faith is deficient?

The Shaykh : Yes, there is explicit evidence that faith decreases.
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Yes, but it is deficient with respect to men.
The student: ...

The Shaykh : Yes, it increases and decreases. The Messenger affirmed that it is a general decrease.
The student: It is degrees.
The Shaykh : No, absolutely not, it is not degrees. This decrease differs even with respect to women who are deficient. In it is the affirmation of the principle of decrease with respect to men, because they do not pray or fast. Then they themselves, as long as leaving off the prayer is a decrease, the more complete their performance of the prayer is, the more complete their faith is.
The student: ...

The Shaykh : No, meaning if a woman did not pray except four prayers, for example, she would be more deficient than one who prays five, because as long as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) made leaving off the prayer a decrease, leaving off part of the prayer would be more deficient.