Faith and Its Relationship to Actions

The student raises the question of faith and action, one of the most practically significant theological questions in early Islam: what exactly constitutes faith (iman), and what is the status of a Muslim who commits a major sin? He has heard that some scholars hold that faith includes actions as part of its definition, so that a person who commits a major sin is no longer a believer (mu'min). He has also heard that the Khawarij position goes even further, declaring such a person an apostate subject to execution. On the other side, some people seem to hold that as long as a person says the testimony of faith, nothing they do can harm their faith. The student asks Abu Hanifa to clarify the correct position.

Abu Hanifa's response defines faith as the affirmation of the heart (tasdiq bi al-qalb) and attestation of the tongue (iqrar bi al-lisan). These two elements are essential components: the heart's sincere acceptance of the truth of the prophetic message, and the tongue's verbal declaration of that acceptance. Actions of the limbs are neither part of the definition of faith nor irrelevant to the believer's condition: they are the required consequence and expression of faith, but they are categorically distinct from faith itself. This definition reflects the Hanafi position against the Mu'tazilah and later the Ash'ari school, both of which include actions as part of the completeness of faith, and against those who reduce faith to mere verbal declaration without requiring heart-conviction.

On the question of the major sinner, Abu Hanifa holds the position that came to define mainstream Sunni theology: a Muslim who commits a major sin, even a grave one such as murder or fornication, remains a believer (mu'min) and does not exit the category of Islam. He is 'a sinner' (fasiq), not a kafir. This position is derived from the Quran itself, which addresses the killer of another believer as 'your brother' and speaks of blood money and reconciliation rather than declaring the killer to be outside the community of believers (4:92). The Kharijite position, which declares the major sinner an apostate, is rejected as contrary to the Quran, the Sunnah, and the understanding of the companions, who maintained that the category of sin and the category of faith coexist in the one individual.

Abu Hanifa also addresses the Murji'ah, those who 'defer' the judgment of the major sinner entirely to Allah and argue that sins have absolutely no effect on faith. While his position shares with the Murji'ah the view that major sin does not expel one from faith, it differs in insisting that actions do matter and that the sinner is accountable. The famous formulation attributed to Abu Hanifa is that faith 'does not increase or decrease,' meaning that the essential definition of faith as heart-affirmation and verbal attestation is not a quantity that grows larger with good deeds or smaller with sins. The sinner remains a believer, but he is a deficient believer whose conduct falls short of what his faith demands, and he is subject to punishment in this life through the hudud and in the next life unless Allah forgives him. This theological precision became a hallmark of the Hanafi school.