Are the two alike? All praise is due to Allah! Nay, most of them do not know. (16:75) It also provides humans the desire to ponder this issue, such as in the following holy verse: قُلْ هَلْ يَسْتَوِي الَّذِينَ يَعْلَمُونَ وَالَّذِينَ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ (39:9) Say: Are those who know and those who do not know alike?
(39:9) It also provides the concepts of good and evil, justice and inequity, honesty and lying, and miserliness and altruism as well as other concepts: وَلَا تَسْتَوِي الْحَسَنَةُ وَلَا السَّيِّئَةُ Not alike are the good and the evil.
(41:34) By discussing such concepts, the Holy Qur’an aims at arousing man’s natural and sentimental perceptions, because these perceptions represent the foundations of ethical behavior, which is defined and depicted by the Holy Qur’an in detail and which we call rational good and evil .
When the (‘a) directed their followers to adhere to this doctrine of Divine justice, which has become one of the fundamentals of their sect, they intended to establish an ethical basis in the spiritual and mental structure of their followers. They instituted a sort of psychological and spiritual immunity to protect their followers against supporting or keeping silent with regard to grave ethical deviations, like the ascription of inequity and aggression to Almighty Allah.
Distinction between Islam and Faith The Holy Imams (‘a) distinguished a Muslim from a believer on ethical grounds, as is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an: قَالَتِ الْأَعْرَابُ آمَنَّا ۖ قُلْ لَمْ تُؤْمِنُوا وَلَٰكِنْ قُولُوا أَسْلَمْنَا وَلَمَّا يَدْخُلِ الْإِيمَانُ فِي قُلُوبِكُمْ ۖ وَإِنْ تُطِيعُوا اللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُ لَا يَلِتْكُمْ مِنْ أَعْمَالِكُمْ شَيْئًا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفُورٌ رَحِيمٌ إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ثُمَّ لَمْ يَرْتَابُوا وَجَاهَدُوا بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنْفُسِهِمْ فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ ۚ أُولَٰئِكَ هُمُ الصَّادِقُونَ The dwellers of the desert say, “We believe.” Say, “You do not believe but say, ‘We submit’ and faith has not yet entered into your hearts.
And, if you obey Allah and His Messenger, He will not diminish aught of your deeds. Surely, Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. The (true) believers are only those who believe in Allah and His Messenger then they doubt not and struggle hard with their wealth and their lives in the way of Allah. They are the truthful ones. (49:14-15) Accordingly, declaration of Islam in utterance of the two statements of belief (i.e.