It is plain from their manner of preaching that they have completely turned away from the foremost foundation—or, to put it bluntly, the most crucial concern—among the matters I listed earlier: sound creed, correct worship, and upright conduct. They have ignored the work of reform with which the Messenger ﷺ began—indeed, with which every prophet began. Allah the Exalted made this priority explicit when He said, “We sent to every nation a messenger [proclaiming], ‘Worship Allah and shun false gods’” (al-Nahl 36).

Thus, they pay no heed to this essential principle, the very first pillar of Islam—as every Muslim knows—the principle to which the first of the noble messengers, Noah ﷺ, devoted nearly a thousand years of calling. Everyone is aware that earlier religious laws did not contain the detailed rulings on worship and dealings that are found in our religion, for ours is the final, consummating dispensation. Yet Noah remained among his people for nine hundred and fifty years, dedicating his time and chief concern to calling them to pure monotheism. Nevertheless, his people rejected the call, as Allah ﷻ relates in the definitive Revelation: “And they said, ‘Do not abandon your gods; do not abandon Wadd, nor Suwaʿ, nor Yaghuth—”