Critical Examination of the Murji'ah Doctrine on the Separation of ‘Faith’ and ‘Deed’ with Emphasis on the Quranic Style of Rhetorical Taṣrīf

SUBJECT & OBJECTIVES: Despite the rich background of discussions on the relationship between Īmān (faith) and ‘Amal (deed) in Islamic theological, exegetical, and ethical texts, this relationship has rarely been explored from a linguistic and stylistic perspective—particularly through the lens of Taṣrīf (semantic diversification) in the Quran. Pre-modern scholarship on Islamic doctrinal movements, notably the Murjiʾa, has predominantly engaged in theological and content-based analysis of their central tenet: the conceptual decoupling of faith from religious deeds. However, the lack of research into the Quran’s rhetorical representation of this relationship opens a new lens for examining faith and deed as a conceptual and linguistic continuum within the divine text.METHOD & FINDING: This study employs an analytical-comparative methodology to critically examine the doctrinal separation of faith and deed. Numerous Quranic verses emphasize the inseparable connection between faith and righteous deed. These two concepts are frequently mentioned together within the Quran, leading to the conclusion that faith and righteous deed are interdependent in the Quranic perspective. Faith without deeds is merely a verbal claim, i.e., its true realization is only possible through righteous deeds. CONCLUSION: Employing an innovative method of linguistic inference based on the Quranic style of Taṣrīf, this study demonstrates that even through the analysis of verses from the perspective of Taṣrīf techniques, one can discern the fundamental interconnection and coherence between faith and deed. Moreover, examining the verses related to faith and deed in light of rhetorical Taṣrīf reveals new layers of this relationship—most notably, the elevated reflection of action over faith, showing that action is not merely a function of faith, but in certain contexts, it also serves as the very means through which faith is manifested, strengthened, and actualized.