And He, exalted is He, also says: “They were commanded only to worship Allah, devoting the religion exclusively to Him, turning away from all falsehood, to establish prayer and to give zakat; that is the upright religion.” [al-Bayyinah: 5]

Texts of this import are abundant in the Quran, in the hadith literature, and in the unanimous consensus of the Muslim community—especially among its scholars and people of faith—for to them this matter is the very axis around which the whole religion turns, as is truly the case.

We shall clarify this through several considerations, but first we present a preliminary introduction: