the iman, sidq, and ikhlas of the salaf vs. the kufr, kadhb, and nifaq of the khalaf...

I'm opening this thread to discuss the above little by little. I hope it's clear that I don't mean all of the salaf or all of the khalaf but just what was predominate, which accords with Quran and Hadith, that each generation would be worse than the last and many from the early muslims and few from the later would be amongst the sabiqun al awwalun. By kufr I mean concealed kufr, not open kufr.

To proceed:

Islam can be catergorised into 'Ilm, qawl, and 'amal.

'Ilm can create either of 2 reactions, iman or kufr (kufr here meaning concealed kufr, in intent).

Aqwal (statements) can be either of 2 types sidq or kadhb (kadhb can be further distinuished into kadhb or wording and intent, the latter being talbis (deciet) using true statements out of context to cause others to misunderstand them).

A'mal can be done with either ikhlas or nifaq. Ikhlas is oneness of purpose and when in line iman and sidq it will be directed to Allah rather than other deities. Nifaq is portraying oneself as having a pure motive when the motive is actually other than what is being portrayed (duplicitous intentions).

(to be continued, insha'allah...)