all of that, for it is the offering of one’s very life and the deliberate exposure of it to death. Hence it embodies the highest level of renunciation—one that entails giving up the whole world—as well as an inner striving against the self and an outward striving against the enemy. It is common knowledge that the Muslims’ jihad is greater than that of either the Jews or the Christians: the Jews contradicted Moses in the matter of jihad and disobeyed him, while the Christians wage no jihad at all for their religion.

Now, if we adopt the view that sees the prescribed acts of worship as a gentle means toward fulfilling the rationally obligatory duties, there is no doubt that the Muslims’ acts of worship—such as their prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage—are far more conducive to justice, which is the sum of all rational obligations, than the invented rites of others, for those innovations entail an injustice that conflicts with justice itself.

According to the school that rejects causal reasoning altogether and traces everything back to Allah’s will, the issue likewise returns to His pure volition and the servitude He demands of His creatures. In that case, the person whose worship is governed by Allah’s command as brought by the messengers is truly worshipping with what Allah has ordained, unlike the one whose devotions were merely devised by his elders without any messenger from Allah having brought them.

As for the fourth view, the very knowledge that Allah has commanded a deed itself entails obedience to Him—and that applies only to those acts of worship He has actually prescribed, namely, the acts of worship practiced by the Muslims.