And when he negated faith from them, and it may be that a person is mistaken about himself [thinking] that he is a believer, while it is not so, he informed about the believer in a manner of restriction, mentioning his apparent and hidden signs, which are the mothers of virtues: knowledge, chastity, and courage. He said in response to one who asked: Who is the one who has believed? He shifted from his answer to the description of the steadfast, encouraging the adoption of his description and indicating that the one who informs about himself with the sign of his faith does not mean except that he is steadfast: ﴿Indeed, the believers﴾ meaning: those deeply rooted in faith, which is the life of the hearts. Al-Qushayri said: And the hearts do not live except after the slaughter of the souls, and the souls do not die but rather they live. ﴿Those who have believed﴾ meaning: they have affirmed, acknowledging ﴿in Allah﴾ believing in all of His attributes of perfection ﴿and His Messenger﴾ witnessing his message. And this is the knowledge which is understanding, and its goal is wisdom. And this affirmation here indicates that the negation in what was said is the perfection, not the absolute, otherwise it would have been said: "Indeed, those who have believed."

And when this is great and steadfastness upon it is greater, and it is the essence of wisdom, he pointed to the great merit of steadfastness by saying: ﴿Then﴾ meaning: after attaining this great rank, ﴿they did not doubt﴾ meaning: they did not dispute the original nature in deliberately causing doubt and did not bring about doubt at any time after faith. So they remain, throughout the passage of time and the occurrence of trials, described after the doubt as fresh and new. And perhaps he expressed it in the form of causation as an indication of excusing the thoughts of the self, which a person cannot repel its origin and hates it to the utmost and strives to repel it. So if the self is blamed, it walks with it and persists until it becomes firmly established.

And when he mentioned the hidden signs in a comprehensive manner for all financial and physical acts of worship, he said: ﴿And they strove﴾ meaning: they engaged in striving with all that the self ought to strive in, affirming what they claimed with their tongues of faith ﴿with their wealth﴾ and that is chastity ﴿and their selves﴾ is broader than intention and others, and that is courage. He prioritized wealth due to its scarcity at that time among the Arabs ﴿in the way of Allah﴾ meaning: the path of the greatest King by fighting the disbelievers and other acts of worship that require wealth and self, not those who refrain and say: Our wealth and our families have occupied us. Al-Qushayri said: Allah made faith conditional upon the qualities he mentioned, and he mentioned with the word "Indeed" which is for affirmation, necessitating exclusion and contradiction. So whoever separates faith from its conditions that He has established for it, his words are rejected. And faith for the servant is security, so a faith that does not provide security for its possessor is more deserving of being opposed.

And when he made them known by mentioning their leadership in a restrictive manner, this produced another restriction that certainly cut off the ambitions of those who claim it, in a way that praises them with what greatly enhances the praise of it among them, encouraging them in a similar state. He said: ﴿Those﴾ meaning the high-ranking ones who have attained the equality of morals and justice in religion with all the fundamental virtues ﴿They are﴾ specifically ﴿the truthful﴾ in their words and actions. As for others, they are liars.