he said: Muʿāwiyah ibn Ṣāliḥ narrated to me, from ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥah, from Ibn ʿAbbās: "believe": affirm the truth. (1)

269- Al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm narrated to me, he said: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj narrated to us, he said: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar narrated to us, from his father, from al-Rabīʿ: "believe": fear [God].

270- Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Ṣanʿānī narrated to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr narrated to us, from Maʿmar, he said: Al-Zuhrī said: Faith (Iman) is action. (2)

271- It was narrated to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar narrated to us, from his father, from al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Musayyab ibn Rāfiʿ, from Abū Isḥāq, from Abū al-Aḥwaṣ, from ʿAbd Allāh, he said: Faith (Iman): affirming the truth. (3)

And the meaning of Faith (Iman) among the Arabs is affirming the truth; thus, one who affirms the truth of something verbally is called a believer in it, and one who affirms his word through his action is called a believer. Among that is the statement of God, Glorified be His Praise: {And you will not be a believer in us, even if we are truthful} [Sūrat Yūsuf: 17], meaning: and you will not be one who affirms the truth of our statement. Fearing God may also enter into the meaning of Faith (Iman), which is affirming the verbal statement through action. Faith (Iman) is an all-encompassing word for acknowledging God, His Books, and His Messengers, and affirming that acknowledgment through action. Since that is so, what is most worthy of the interpretation of the verse, and most matching the description of the people, is that they be described with affirming the truth of the unseen in speech, belief, and action, since He, Glorified be His Praise, did not restrict them within the meaning of Faith (Iman) to one sense to the exclusion of another, but rather described them with it generally, without specifying any of its meanings to exclude it from their description by a report or by intellect.

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