Piety: 3 We speak of piety to the Mahdi as a degree of faith. He said in its linguistic meaning: it is to guard against something, whatever it may be. It is said, "He guarded against the lion, and against the rain, and against all that can be guarded against," meaning, he took refuge from it.

As for the religious meaning, the pious person is he who obeys God's commands and avoids His prohibitions. And whoever does not obey God's commands and avoid His prohibitions is not called pious in religious law. Piety is not achieved by guarding against one command while persisting in disobeying other commands. Hence, the error of those who considered guarding against polytheism alone to be true piety is evident. Rather, it is necessary to guard against polytheism with the heart, and against sins with actions.

This concept of piety is based on the reality of the unity of religion. Religion is a unity that is not divided. He who refrains from one obligatory act is like he who refrains from all obligatory acts. And he who refrains from a rope is like he who refrains from the entire law. And he who attacks a speck of falsehood is like he who attacks all falsehood.

From this concept of piety, it becomes clear that it is a high degree of faith in which its elements are perfected, with faith in the heart along with what it necessitates in terms of action by the limbs.

Repentance: 4 Repentance is not a topic of faith, as the theologians have been accustomed to, but we mention it within this topic due to its relationship with the reality of faith according to the Mahdi. We have seen him qualify the commission of sins and indecencies with persistence in them, to the extent that the one who commits them deserves the name of a transgressor. This implies that committing a major sin without persistence (i.e., when it is followed by repentance) does not lead to transgression, or transgression does not remain after it.

Ibn Tumart, Risala fi Usul al-Fiqh: (21) Ibn Tumart, Kitab al-Qawa'id: (22)