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52chapter oneThose who assent to God—first type of faith— al-isl§m—the first share ofmercy;Those who believe in His Apostle—second type of faith— al-Êm§n—the secondshare of mercy.4. Divine reward is given to both types of believers:Those who believe in God and the Hereafter (the muslimån) willreceive God’s reward, and those who in addition believe specificallyin the Book revealed in Arabic (the mu"minån) will berewarded twice:And when it is recited to them, they say: “We believe therein, forit is the truth from our Lord: indeed we have been Muslims (bowingto God’s will) from before this.” Twice will they be given theirreward, for that they have persevered… ( Al-Qaßaß 28:53–54)5. The term al-Êm§n is always linked to a relationship with a specificmessenger:Whenever it is said in the text that someone ‘believed’ (§mana)in a specific messenger, it implies that this person followed thismessenger as a disciple, novice, or member of a specific religiouscommunity:And when Our Decree came, We saved Hud and those whobelieved with him, by a mercy of Ours… (Håd 11:58, MF)And when Our Decree came, We delivered Shu#ayb and thosewho believed with him by a mercy of Ours… (Håd 11:94, MF)The Book calls ‘those who believed in Moses’ Jews, members ofthe Jewish community. It calls ‘those who believed in Jesus’al-naߧr§ (Christians), either because they supported and protected(naßarå) Jesus and became his followers (anߧruhu), orbecause they were from the city of Nazareth ( al-n§ßira)—ineither case they were members of the Christian community.When the text mentions ‘those who believed in MuÈammad(ß)’, they are referred to as the ‘believers’:O Prophet! Allah is Sufficient for you and so are the believers[ al-mu"minÊn] who follow you. ( Al-Anf§l 8:64) 466. Al-Êm§n is a specific type of piety:There exists three types of piety. The first type is the piety ofal-isl§m, expressed as belief in Allah, the Hereafter, and ‘doing46See also Al-M§"ida 5:23; Al-\ujur§t 49:15.

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