2. A man's faith grows as he is able to confirm and submit to the command
of God which he comes across. This is especially so where he submits to commands
which go against his own personal predilections. A man's faith attains great
heights if instead of trying to twist and distort the commands of God and the
Prophet (peace he on him), he develops the habit of accepting and submitting
to all the commands of God and the Prophet (peace be on him); if he strives
to shape his conduct to the teachings which go against his personal opinions
and conceptions, which are contrary to his habits, interests and convenience,
which are not in consonance with his loyalties and friendships. For if he hesitates
to respond positively to God's command, his faith is diminished. One thus learns
that faith is not a static, immobile object. Nor is every, act of belief, or
unbelief, of the same quality. An act of belief may be better or worse than
another act of belief. Likewise, an act of unbelief may differ in quality from
another act of unbelief. For both belief and unbelief, are capable of growth
and decline.
All this concerns the essence of belief and unbelief. However, when belief and
unbelief are mentioned as a basis for membership of the Muslim community or
in connection with legal rights and responsibilities as necessary corollaries
of that membership, a clear line of demarcation has to be drawn between those
who believe and those who do not. In this respect the determination of who is
a believer and who is not will depend on the basic minimum of belief regardless
of quality of belief. In an Islamic society all those who believe will be entitled
to the same legal rights and will be required to fulfil the same duties regardless
of the differences in the quality of their faith. Likewise, all unbelievers
- regardless of the differences in the quality of their unbelief - will be placed
in the category of unbelievers disregarding the question whether their unbelief
is of an ordinary quality or an extremely serious one.