Perfect Believer

[Mental Possibility]

Whoever believes in Allaah and His Messenger and does the obligations and avoids the sins is a Muslim, a mu'min (believer), and his belief is perfect. Whoever falls short of some of the obligations, like the five prayers, or falls into some of the sins, like drinking wine, is a Muslim, a mu'min (a believer), but his belief is deficient.

Imaam An-Nawawiyy said in the explanation of Sahiyh Muslim
about the hadiyth:
لا يزني الزاني حين يزني وهو مؤمن ولا يسرق السارق حين يسرق وهو مؤمن ولا يشرب الخمر حين يشربها وهو مؤمن
"The fornicator does not fornicate while being a believer, the thief does not steal while being a believer, and the drinker does not drink wine while being a believer",

that the precise scholars (al-muHaqqiquwn) said that it means that he does not do these sins while his belief is perfect. These are examples of expressions that negate something while the intended meaning is the negation of its perfection, just as it is said, "There is no knowledge except what benefits," and "There is no life except the life of the Hereafter."

It is necessary to interpret the hadiyth like this because of the hadiyth of Abuw Tharr:
من قال لا إله إلا الله دخل الجنة و إن زنى و إن سرق
"Whoever said, "No one is God but Allaah" (and died as a believer) shall enter Paradise, even if he fornicated and stole",

as well as the hadiyth:
بَايِعُونِى عَلَى أَنْ لاَ تُشْرِكُوا بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا وَلاَ تَسْرِقُوا وَلاَ تَزْنُوا وَلاَ تَقْتُلُوا أَوْلاَدَكُمْ وَلاَ تَأْتُوا بِبُهْتَانٍ تَفْتَرُونَهُ بَيْنَ أَيْدِيكُمْ وَأَرْجُلِكُمْ وَلاَ تَعْصُوا فِى مَعْرُوفٍ فَمَنْ وَفَى مِنْكُمْ فَأَجْرُهُ عَلَى اللَّهِ وَمَنْ أَصَابَ شَيْئًا مِنْ ذَلِكَ فَعُوقِبَ فِى الدُّنْيَا فَهُوَ كَفَّارَةٌ لَهُ وَمَنْ أَصَابَ مِنْ ذَلِكَ شَيْئًا ثُمَّ سَتَرَهُ اللَّهِ عز و جل فُهوُ إِلَى اللَّهِ إِنْ شَاءَ عَفَا عَنْهُ وَإِنْ شَاءَ عَاقَبَهُ

"Pledge your promise to me that you will not associate anything with Allaah, that you will not steal, fornicate, kill your children, fabricate slander from your hearts or disobey me in goodness that I have ordered. Whoever among you fulfills that, then his reward is on Allaah, and whoever among you falls into any of that and is thus punished in the present life, that will be relieved from him on Judgment Day. Whoever among you falls into any of that and is then covered by Allaah ^azza wa jall, then He is under the will of Allaah. If He willed, He will forgive him, and if He willed, He will punish him."

These two hadiyths, as well as what resembles them among the authentic hadiyths, as well as the saying of Allaah:

{(إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَنْ يُشْرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَلِكَ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ)}

<Allaah certainly does not forgive the association of partners with him, and He forgives whatever is less than that for whomever He wills>, and the Consensus of the People of Truth prove that the fornicator, thief, killer, and other major sinners who did not associate partners with Allaah did not blaspheme by committing those sins. If they died while insisting on the major sins, then they are under the will of Allaah. If He willed, He will forgive them and put them in Paradise without any previous torture, and if He willed He will torture them first, then put them in Paradise for dying as Muslims.