Hanzalah bin Abu Sufyan narrates: I heard Ikrimah bin Khalid narrating this hadith to Tawus. A man asked Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with him): Why do you not participate in jihad? Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: I heard the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) say:“Islam is built upon five things: Bearing witness that there is no god but Allah, establishing prayer, giving zakat, fasting in Ramadan, and performing Hajj to the House of Allah.”

(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) These two narrations, in which there is a specific context to the wording, because the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned faith and then mentioned four characteristics for it, then he mentioned Islam and mentioned five characteristics for it. This is the situation about which we have already stated in our books that the Arabs, in their idiom, mention something along with a specific number, and by mentioning that specific number, it is not meant that anything beyond that number is negated. Similarly, the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) did not mean that faith consists only of those matters mentioned in the narration transmitted from Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him). Because the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) has mentioned in other narrations many other things as being part of faith, which are not mentioned in these two narrations transmitted from Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) and Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), which we have just mentioned.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: Once the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was sitting among the people. During this time, a man came walking to him and said: O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)! What is meant by faith (iman)? The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) replied: It is that you believe in Allah, His angels, His messengers, the meeting with Him, and that you believe in being resurrected after death. He asked: O Messenger of Allah! What is meant by Islam? The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) replied: It is that you do not associate anyone with Allah, you establish the obligatory prayers, you pay the obligatory zakat, and you fast in Ramadan. He asked: O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)! What is meant by ihsan (excellence)? The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) replied: It is that you worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not see Him, then (know that) He sees you. He asked: O Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him)! When will the Hour (Day of Judgment) come? The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) replied: The one who is being asked does not know more about it than the one who is asking. However, I will tell you about its signs: When a slave woman gives birth to her master, and when you see barefoot, naked people (become) rulers (these will be among the signs of the Hour). There are five things whose knowledge is only with Allah. (The command of Allah, the Exalted, is): "Indeed, the knowledge of the Hour is only with Allah." (Then the whole verse was recited.) Then that man left. The people searched for him but did not find him. So the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "That was Jibreel (Gabriel), who came so that he could teach the people their religion."

Hakeem bin Muawiyah narrates from his father: He said, "O Messenger of Allah! By the One Who has sent you with the truth, I have come to you at a time when I had already sworn by the number of my fingers that I would never come to you. With what have you been sent?" The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "With Islam." He asked, "What is Islam?" The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, "That you humble your heart for Allah Almighty and you turn your face towards Allah Almighty, and you establish the obligatory prayers and you pay the obligatory zakat. These two are brothers, helping each other. Allah Almighty will not accept the repentance of any servant who commits shirk after accepting Islam."

Sayyiduna Abu Huraira (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: The Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "A Muslim eats with one intestine, and a disbeliever eats with seven intestines."

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: A disbelieving man became a guest of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). By the order of the Prophet (peace be upon him), milk from a goat was milked for him and he drank it. Then milk from a second goat was milked and he drank that as well, until he drank the milk of seven goats. Then in the morning, he accepted Islam. By the order of the Prophet (peace be upon him), milk from one goat was milked for him and he drank it. Then by the order of the Prophet (peace be upon him), milk from a second goat was milked for him, but he could not finish it. (At this point) the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Indeed, a believer drinks in one intestine, and a disbeliever drinks in seven intestines."

Aamir bin Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas narrates from his father: The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gave some gifts to certain people. He did not give anything to one of them. I said: O Messenger of Allah! You have given to so-and-so and so-and-so, but you have not given anything to that person, even though he is a believer. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: Is he a believer or a Muslim? He said this three times.

Zuhri says: We understand this to mean: By Islam is meant verbally reciting the testimony of faith, and by Iman is meant acting upon it.

Sayyiduna Miqdad bin Aswad (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: He said, "O Messenger of Allah! What is your opinion regarding a situation where I confront a disbeliever and he fights with me, and he strikes my hand with a sword and cuts it off, then (when I overpower him) he goes behind a tree to save himself and says: 'I accept Islam for the sake of Allah.' After he says this, should I kill him?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not kill him." I said, "O Messenger of Allah! He cut off my hand, and after cutting off my hand he said this. Should I kill him?" The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Do not kill him, because if you kill him, he will be in your place where you were before you killed him, and you will be in his place where he was before he uttered the word (of Islam)." (Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) The statement of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "Do not kill him, because if you kill him, he will be in your place where you were before you killed him," means that you will be killed in retribution (qisas), because before he accepted Islam, it was permissible to shed his blood, but when you killed him after he accepted Islam, you will reach a state where you will be killed in retribution for him. This hadith does not mean that killing a Muslim necessitates such disbelief that takes a person out of the religion, because Allah the Exalted has said: "O you who believe! Retaliation (qisas) is prescribed for you in the case of those killed."

Sayyiduna Muawiyah bin Hakam Sulami (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates: I had some goats which were grazed by my slave girl towards "Uhud" and "Jawaniyah." One day I arrived there and found out that a wolf had taken one of the goats. I am also a human being, and I became angry just as people become angry, so I struck her with my fist. Then I presented myself before the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: Should I not free her? The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Bring her to me. I brought her to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked: Where is Allah? She replied: In the sky. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked: Who am I? She replied: You are the Messenger of Allah. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: Free her, for she is a believer.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates this statement of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him: "Faith has a little more than sixty branches." (The narrator is in doubt, perhaps these are the words:) "A little more than seventy branches, the highest of which is saying 'La ilaha illallah' (There is no god but Allah), and the lowest is removing something harmful from the road, and modesty is also a branch of faith."

(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) In this narration, the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, indicated that which is obligatory upon all addressed people in all circumstances, and he declared it the highest level of faith. Then the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, indicated that which is supererogatory (nafl) for the addressed people at all times, and he declared it the lowest level of faith. This indicates that everything that is made obligatory upon all addressed people in all circumstances, and everything that is made obligatory upon some addressed people in some circumstances, and everything that is supererogatory for the addressed people in all circumstances, all of these are parts of faith. As for the doubt regarding one of the two numbers, this doubt occurred to the narrator Suhail bin Abu Salih in this narration. Mu'ammar narrated it from Suhail in this way, and Sulaiman bin Bilal narrated it from Abdullah bin Dinar from Abu Salih as a marfu' hadith. The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "Faith has seventy and some branches," and he mentioned this without any doubt. We have set aside the narration transmitted by Sulaiman bin Bilal at this place, and sufficed with the narration transmitted by Suhail bin Abu Salih. The reason for this is: so that we may clarify that the doubt in the wording of the narration is not part of the speech of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, but rather it is the speech of Suhail bin Abu Salih, as we have mentioned.

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah, may Allah be pleased with him, narrates this statement of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him: "Faith has more than sixty branches, and modesty is a branch of faith."

(Imam Ibn Hibban, may Allah have mercy on him, says:) Sulaiman bin Bilal has narrated this tradition in a summarized form; he did not mention the highest and the lowest branches. He sufficed with mentioning only sixty instead of seventy, whereas in the narration, seventy and some branches are also transmitted. And this is such a narration that is detailed and authentic; there is no doubt about its authenticity. The narration transmitted by Sulaiman bin Bilal is brief and not detailed. As for the word "bid‘" (and some), it is a noun that applies to any one of the parts of numbers, because the basis of calculation is on three things: numbers, divisions, and composition. As for numbers, they are from one to nine. As for divisions, they are tens, hundreds, and thousands. As for composition, it is whatever is besides what we have mentioned (that is composition). I kept researching the meaning of this narration for a long time. The reason is this: our religion is that whatever the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, has said, he has said it for some benefit. And in your way, there is nothing whose meaning is unknown. So I started counting the good deeds from faith, and they were much more than this number. Then I turned to the Sunnah and started counting all those good deeds which the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, counted as parts of faith, and they were seventy and some less than that. Then I turned to the speech of the Lord between the two covers (i.e., the Qur'an), I read every verse carefully and counted every good deed which Allah Almighty mentioned in relation to faith, and they were also seventy and some less than that. Then I combined the book with the Sunnah and omitted those things that were repeated among them, so everything that Allah Almighty counted as a part of faith in His Book, and every good deed which the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, counted as a part of faith in his Sunnah, they were nineteen branches. Neither more nor less than that. So I realized that the meaning of this narration of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is: seventy and some branches of faith are transmitted in the Book and the Sunnah. So I have mentioned this issue completely, along with the mention of the branches of faith, in the chapter of the description of faith and its branches. I hope that this will suffice for the person who reflects, and now I do not need to mention this discussion here again. The evidence that there are parts regarding the branches of faith is the statement of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, which is transmitted in the narration from Abdullah bin Dinar: "Faith has seventy and some branches, the highest of which is to testify that there is no god but Allah." So the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned one part of the branches of faith, which is obligatory upon all addressed people in all circumstances, because the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, did not say: that I am the Messenger of Allah, or to believe in the angels, His books, His messengers, or in Paradise, or in Hell, and other such things are among the parts of this branch. Rather, the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, sufficed with only one part among them. He said: Its highest branch is "to testify that there is no god but Allah." This indicates that all these parts belong to this branch; all of them are part of faith. Then he made a conjunction and used the word "wa" (and) and said: The lowest of them is to remove something harmful from the road. So the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, mentioned one part of its branches, which is voluntary, and for all addressed people at all times, it is considered voluntary, and this indicates that all the parts that belong to this branch, and among all the branches between these two mentioned parts, each part is mentioned in these two narrations, which are the highest and the lowest ranks of faith. All of these are part of faith. As for the statement of the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him: "Modesty is a branch of faith," these are such words whose application to something is by way of allusion to its cause. Its form is such that it is an instinct that exists in a person; some people have more of it, and some have less. So this is clear evidence that faith increases and decreases. The reason is: all people are not at the same level regarding modesty, so when it is impossible for people to be equal in one level of faith, then it is correct that the one who has more of it, his faith will be more, and the one who has less of it, his faith will be less. So his faith will be deficient, and modesty, in its existence, is such a thing that becomes a barrier between a person and that which distances him from his Lord and is related to forbidden things. So it is as if the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, has considered abandoning forbidden things as a branch of faith, and for this, he has used the word modesty, as we have mentioned earlier.