Al-Kāfi 2, narration 59

Translation

4. Muhammad ibnYahya has narrated from Ahmad ibn Muhammad from Ali ibn al-Hakam from Sufyan ibn al-Simt who has said the following: “Once a man asked Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) ‘What is the difference between Islam and belief?’ The Imam then did not answer. Again he asked and the Imam did not answer. They then met each other on the road while the man was about to leave. Abu ‘Abd Allah (a.s.) said, ‘It seems as if you are about to leave.’ He said, ‘Yes, I am about to leave.’ The Imam then said, ‘Come home for a meeting.’ He met the Imam and asked him about Islam and belief and about the difference between the two. The Imam said, ‘Islam is what people have publicly accepted, such as that no one deserves to be worshipped except Allah, Who has no partners. That Muhammad (a.s.) is His servant and His Messenger, that it is obligatory to perform prayer, pay al-Zakat (charity), to perform Hajj of the House and fast in the month of Ramadan. This is Islam.’ The Imam (also) said, ‘Belief is recognition of this issue (that the Imam possesses Divine Authority). In such a condition, if one affirms the other principles of Islam but does not recognize this issue (that the Imam possesses Divine Authority) he is a Muslim but is lost.’”

Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — published with the edition, reproduced verbatim.