Shu'ab al-Iman (al-Bayhaqi) 274

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From the Prophet ﷺ, that he was asked about faith (al-īmān). He said: "Faith is that you believe in Allah, His angels, His books and His messengers, and that you believe in Paradise and the Fire, and the Scale, and that you believe in the resurrection after death, and that you believe in the divine decree (qadar), its good and its evil." He – meaning the questioner – said: "If I do this, am I a believer?" He said: "Yes." He said: "You have spoken truly." Al-Bayhaqī, may Allah have mercy on him, said: "In the verse that we wrote down there is evidence that the deeds of the disbelievers are weighed, because He said in another verse: {بِمَا كَانُوا بِآيَاتِنَا يَظْلِمُونَ} [al-Aʿrāf: 9], and wronging the signs of Allah is mocking them and refusing to submit to them. And He said in a verse: {فِي جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدُونَ} [al-Muʾminūn: 103] until He said: {أَلَمْ تَكُنْ آيَاتِي تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ فَكُنْتُمْ بِهَا تُكَذِّبُونَ} [al-Muʾminūn: 105]. And He said in a verse: {فَأُمُّهُ هَاوِيَةٌ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا هِيَهْ نَارٌ حَامِيَةٌ} [al-Qāriʿah: 10]. This threat, stated absolutely, applies only to the disbelievers. So when it is combined with His saying: {وَإِنْ كَانَ مِثْقَالَ حَبَّةٍ مِنْ خَرْدَلٍ أَتَيْنَا بِهَا} [al-Anbiyāʾ: 47], it is established that the disbelievers are questioned about everything in which they opposed the truth, in the fundamentals of the religion and its branches. For if they were not questioned about that in which they agreed with the basis of their religious practice, of the kinds of things they undertook, and were not held to account for them, these would not be counted in the weighing either. And if they are weighed at the time of weighing, that indicates that they are held to account for them at the standing of reckoning, and Allah knows best. This is according to the view of those who said that the disbelievers are addressed with the laws (sharāʾiʿ), and it is the correct view, because Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: {وَوَيْلٌ لِلْمُشْرِكِينَ الَّذِينَ لَا يُؤْتُونَ الزَّكَاةَ} [Fuṣṣilat: 6], so He threatened them for withholding zakah. And He informed about the criminals that it will be said to them: {مَا سَلَكَكُمْ فِي سَقَرَ قَالُوا: لَمْ نَكُ مِنَ الْمُصَلِّينَ، وَلَمْ نَكُ نُطْعِمُ الْمِسْكِينَ، وَكُنَّا نَخُوضُ مَعَ الْخَائِضِينَ، وَكُنَّا نُكَذِّبُ بِيَوْمِ الدِّينِ حَتَّى أَتَانَا الْيَقِينُ} [al-Muddaththir: 42]. So it is clear from this that the polytheists are addressed with belief in the resurrection, with establishing prayer and giving zakah, and that they are questioned about them, addressed with them, and requited for what they neglected of them, and Allah knows best. They differed about the manner of the weighing. Some held that the disbeliever may have done maintaining of family ties, comforting people, mercy to the weak, helping the distressed, defending the wronged, freeing a slave, and the like, which, if done by a Muslim, would be righteousness and obedience. So whoever among the disbelievers has such good deeds, they are gathered and placed in his scale, because Allah the Exalted said: {فَلَا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا} [al-Anbiyāʾ: 47], so his scale takes something, except that disbelief, when set against them, outweighs them. And Allah has forbidden Paradise to the disbelievers, so the recompense for his good deeds is that the punishment is lightened for him, and he is punished with a punishment less than another, as if he had not done any of these good deeds." And whoever said this argued with what

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