“Imagining or reflecting on unbelief is not unbelief, and picturing or reflecting on misguidance is not misguidance. For imagination, conceptualization, picturing, and reflection are different from confirmation by reason and acceptance by heart; they are voluntary to certain degree. It is hard for the free will to control them so that we should be answerable for them.

Confirmation and acceptance are deliberate, for they depend on certain criteria and intentional reasoning. In addition, just as the former are not the same mental activities as confirmation and acceptance, neither are they the same as doubt and hesitation. However, they may pave the way to doubt if they are repeated unnecessarily and become established. If people continually support the opposing side on the pretext of objective reasoning or fairness, they may favor it involuntarily and thereby fall into danger. Gradually their state of mind becomes fixed and they become officious advocates of Satan or the enemy.”¹⁾

“There are levels of knowledge in the mind that can be confused with one another and whose results are different. One first imagines something, then conceives of it, and clothes it in a form.

Afterwards, one reasons and reflects on this thing, then confirms it, and then has full conviction of it. Then they fully support it; then they become committed or devoted to it.

Your commitment is different, and so is your support, each of which results in a different state or attitude:

Steadfastness arises from commitment or devotion, while adherence comes from support or advocacy. Compliance proceeds from conviction and partiality from reasoning, while no ideas are formed at the level of conception.

If you remain at the level of imagination, the result will be sophistry. A beautiful, scenic description of falsehood and deceptive things will both injure and mislead simple minds.”²⁾

“Humanity’s very nature, so long as it remains unspoiled, affirms the Qur’an’s truth, for only its light can satisfy a person’s conscience and place his or her heart placed at rest.”³⁾

“… the wisdom and purpose of human beings being sent to this world is to recognize the Creator of the universe, to believe in Him, and to worship Him. The essential duty of a person, inherent in their nature, and the obligatory responsibility upon them, is the knowledge of God and belief in God, and to affirm His existence and oneness with clear insight and certainty.”⁴⁾

“The nature of unbelief that shows hostility and wages war against the truths of Islam is denial, ignorance, and negation. Although it outwardly appears as affirmation and existence, in reality, its essence is non-existence and denial. Faith, on the other hand, is knowledge, affirmational, positive, and judgment-based. Even each negative aspect of it [i.e., faith] is, in fact, a title and veil of a positive truth.

If those who combat faith try—with great difficulty—to affirm and accept their negative beliefs in the form of affirming non-existence and accepting non-existence, then such unbelief can, in a sense, be considered an erroneous knowledge and a mistaken judgment. Otherwise, if what they engage in is merely the easy act of non-acceptance, denial, and lack of affirmation, then it is absolute ignorance and devoid of judgment.

In conclusion, there are two kinds of unbelieving beliefs:

The first kind does not concern itself with the truths of Islam. It consists of a self-contained false affirmation, a corrupt belief, a mistaken acceptance, and a tyrannical judgment. This type lies outside our discussion. It does not concern us, nor do we concern ourselves with it.

The second kind is in opposition and contention with the truths of. This also divides into two:

One is non-acceptance: simply not affirming the truths. This is ignorance, judgment-less, and easy to adopt. This too is outside the scope of our discussion.

The other is the acceptance of non-existence: to affirm in one’s heart the non-existence of those truths. This is a judgment, a belief, and a commitment. And because of this commitment, the person is compelled to prove their negation.”⁵⁾

“The Unity of Divinity has also been interpreted as the confirmation and conviction that whatever our Prophet taught and conveyed to us is true, while the Unity of Lordship means the fulfilling of all Divine commands with the utmost sensitivity and refraining from whatever has been forbidden.”⁶⁾

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