Ibn Mas'ud reported God’s messenger as saying, “There was no prophet whom God raised up among his people before me who did not have from among his people apostles and companions who held to his sunna and followed what he commanded; then they were succeeded by people who said what they did not practise and did things they were not commanded to do. So he who strives against them with his hand is a believer, he who strives against them with his tongue is a believer, and he who strives against them with his heart is a believer. Beyond that there is not so much faith as a grain of mustard seed.”
Abu Huraira reported God’s messenger as saying, “If anyone summons others to follow right guidance, his reward will be equivalent to those of the people who follow him without their rewards being diminished in any respect on that account; and if anyone summons others to follow error the sin of which he is guilty will be equivalent to those of the people who follow him without their sins’ being diminished in any respect on that account.”
He also said that the people of the Book used to read the Torah in Hebrew and expound it in Arabic to the Muslims, so God’s messenger said, “Neither believe nor disbelieve the people of the Book, but say, ‘We believe in God and what has been sent down to us... 1 ’”
