as believers (mu’minīn) (49:9).6 It is, therefore, clear that such conduct is called an act of unbelief (kufr) simply as being an act of disobedience. This point has been explained by Ibn Athīr in his well-known dictionary of Ḥadīth, the Nihāyah. Writing under the word kufr, he says: “Kufr (unbelief) is of two kinds: one is denial of the faith itself, and that is the opposite of faith; and the other is denial of a far‘ (branch) of the furū‘ (branches) of Islām, and on account of it a man does not get out of the faith itself.” As already shown, the furū‘ of Islām are its ordinances, and thus the practical rejection of an ordinance of Islām, while it is called kufr, is not kufr in the technical sense, i.e. a denial of Islām itself. He also tells of an incident which throws light on this question. Azhari was asked whether a man (i.e., a Muslim) became a kāfir (unbeliever) simply because he held a certain opinion, and he replied that such an opinion was kufr (unbelief): and, when pressed further, added: “The Muslim is sometimes guilty of kufr (unbelief)”. Thus it is clear that a Muslim remains a Muslim though he may be guilty of an act of unbelief (kufr).

A Muslim cannot be called a Kāfir

The concluding portion of the paragraph makes it clear that a Muslim cannot properly be called a kāfir (unbeliever). Every evil deed or act of disobedience being part of kufr, even a Muslim may commit an act of unbelief. And the opposite is equally true, namely, that since every good deed is a part of faith, even an unbeliever may perform an act of faith. There is nothing paradoxical in these statements. The dividing line between a Muslim and a kāfir, or between a believer and an unbeliever, is confession of the Unity of God and the prophethood of Muḥammad — Lā ilāha ill-Allāh Muḥammad-un Rasūlu-llāh. A man becomes a Muslim or a believer by making this confession and as long as he does not renounce his faith in it, he remains a Muslim or a believer technically, in spite of any opinion he may hold on any religious question, or any evil which he may commit; and a man who does not make this confession is a non-Muslim or unbeliever technically, in spite of any good that he may do. It does not mean that the evil deeds of the Muslim are not punished, or that the good deeds of the non-Muslim are not rewarded. The law of the requital of good and evil is a law apart which goes on working irrespective of creeds,