and whether a hypocrite, if he performs ablution, has discharged an obligation. This is a disputed question that applies to all prescribed rulings.
Our position is that all people, believers, unbelievers, and hypocrites, are subject to obligation and are addressed by both the foundational principles and the particular rulings of revealed Law. On the Day of Resurrection they will be called to account for both. This is why the hypocrite is in “the lowest depth of the Fire,” which is its inward part.
The hypocrite is punished by the Fire “that rises over the hearts” [al-Humazah 104:7]. In this world he observed the outward form of the prescribed ruling by uttering the testimony, openly affirming the truth of the messengers, and performing outward acts, while inwardly hypocrites have not an atom’s weight of faith. By this much they are distinguished from unbelievers and are called hypocrites. God Most High said, “God will gather the hypocrites and the unbelievers together in Jahannam” [al-Nisa 4:140]. Here He mentions the abode. The hypocrites are punished in the lowest part of Jahannam, and unbelievers have punishment above and below.
(Faith and the Protection of Its Place from the Fire)
God has arranged ranks and levels of punishment in the Fire of Jahannam for particular acts committed by particular bodily members, according to a known measure that they do not exceed. The Fire has no access at all to the place of a believer’s faith. He therefore has no share in the Fire “that rises over the hearts.”
Even if faith departs from him there, its care permeates its place in the human being. It departs from him only to protect him and to avert from him
Notes
Translator’s note TN1358-1: The legal question concerns whether obligation and accountability extend beyond those who actually believe, including those who outwardly profess belief. The author applies his answer to both the foundations of revealed Law and its particular rulings. His next distinction concerns where faith resides and where the inward Fire can reach.
