1077 - 'Abd al-Malik informed me, saying: I said to Abu 'Abd Allah: "Do you distinguish between Iman (faith) and Islam?" He said: "Yes, and I say: I am a Muslim, and I do not make exception (istithna')." I said: "What is your evidence for this?" He replied: "The general body of the hadiths points to this." Then he said: "'The fornicator does not commit fornication while he is a believer, and he does not steal while he is a believer.'" And Allah the Almighty and Majestic said: {The bedouins say, 'We have believed.' Say, 'You have not believed; but say, 'We have submitted (aslamna).''} [Al-Hujurat: 14]. I said: "And in the Book of Allah it is also stated: {The believers are only the ones who have believed in Allah and His Messenger and then doubt not but strive with their properties and their lives in the cause of Allah. It is those who are the truthful. Say, 'Would you acquaint Allah with your religion while Allah knows whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth? And Allah is, of all things, Knowing.' They consider it a favor to you that they have accepted Islam. Say, 'Do not consider your Islam a favor to me. Rather, Allah has conferred favor upon you that He has guided you to the faith, if you should be truthful.'}" [Al-Hujurat: 15-17]. I said to Ibn Hanbal: "There are also other verses in the Book of Allah the Almighty and Majestic." Ibn Hanbal said to me: "Hammad ibn Zayd also used to distinguish between Iman and Islam." He said: "And Abu Salamah al-Khuza'i narrated to us, saying: Malik and Sharik said—and he mentioned their statement—the statement of Hammad ibn Zayd, he distinguished between Iman and Islam." 'Abd al-Malik said: "Ibn Hanbal said to me: A man said to me: 'If we had nothing else regarding Iman except this, it would be sufficient.'" I said to Abu 'Abd Allah: "So do you hold to the literal meaning of the Book along with the Sunan?" He said: "Yes." I said: "Then if the Murji'ah say: 'Islam is [merely] the statement'?" He said: "They equate all of this as one thing, and they make him (the person) both a Muslim and a believer as one thing, upon the faith of Gabriel, and as someone who has completed [the fullness of] faith." I said: "So is our argument against them based on this?" He said: "Yes."