At a glance
Contested: This record includes matters on which scholars differ. The speaker's views are labelled as his, and other views are marked where no cited source yet exists.
Summary
At the end of "the proof that faith increases and decreases" Abu Dawud gathers reports that deny faith to one who commits certain grave sins or call an act unbelief, and al-Khattabi explains how scholars read them, noting that the Kharijites cite them wrongly. 1
The reports
- Ibn 'Umar: "Do not turn after me into unbelievers, striking one another's necks." 2
- Ibn 'Umar: "Whatever Muslim calls another Muslim an unbeliever: if he is one, so be it; otherwise he himself is the unbeliever." 2
- 'Abd Allah ibn 'Amr: "Four traits make whoever has them a pure hypocrite… when he speaks he lies, when he promises he breaks it, when he makes a pact he betrays it, and when he quarrels he is wicked." 2
- Abu Hurayra: "The adulterer is not a believer while he commits adultery, the thief is not a believer while he steals, the drinker is not a believer while he drinks wine; and repentance remains open afterwards." 1
- Abu Hurayra: "When a man commits adultery, faith leaves him and is over him like a canopy; when he stops, faith returns to him." 3
Al-Khattabi's reading
- "The adulterer is not a believer": scholars read it in two ways: as a prohibition in the form of a statement — let him not commit adultery or steal, these being acts unbecoming to believers — or as a threat meant to deter rather than to take effect, like "there is no faith in one who has no trustworthiness" and "he is no Muslim whose neighbour is not safe from his harm", all of it in the sense of deterrence or denial of excellence and perfection, not of the reality of faith. 3 He adds a third reading from the "canopy" report that Abu Dawud gives in the same chapter. 3
- "Do not turn after me into unbelievers": he gives two readings: "men covered in weapons", from takaffara "to cover oneself with one's weapon", the root sense of kufr being covering; or "do not become factions striking one another's necks", like unbelievers who are enemies of one another. 2 He relays from Ibrahim ibn Firas that he asked Musa ibn Harun about it and was told: these are the apostates whom Abu Bakr fought. 2
Not covered here
The Mu'tazili doctrine of "the position between the two positions", and the Kharijite view from their own sources, have not yet been added.
Opinions on the question
The question: How to read the reports that deny faith to one who commits a grave sin, and 'do not turn after me into unbelievers' and 'whoever calls a Muslim an unbeliever', in the Book of the Sunna of Abu Dawud.
First opinion · Sunni tradition (the museum's frame)Main reference
The denial of faith here is a prohibition or a threat denying perfection, not reality
Held by: Abu Sulayman al-Khattabi
More opinions (1)
Other viewOther opinion
The Kharijite reading as al-Khattabi reports it: sin takes one out of faith
Connections
- Mentions
- Khawarij
People and things also explored
Ibadiyya· al-Farq bayn al-Firaq· al-Fisal fi al-Milal wa-l-Ahwa' wa-l-Nihal· Kitab al-Sunna (al-Khallal)· Battle of Nahrawan· Khawarij· al-Khirit ibn Rashid al-Naji· Harun al-Sari al-Bajali
Sources
- Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 5 , p. 44-45
- Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 5 , p. 44
- Sunan Abi Dawud with al-Khattabi's Ma'alim al-Sunan — prepared and annotated by 'Izzat 'Ubayd al-Da''as and 'Adil al-Sayyid, Dar Ibn Hazm, vol. 5 , p. 45
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Does a grave sin take a person out of faith?”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/questions/is-the-grave-sinner-still-a-believer/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-11-04.
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