and its rulings, rights, obligations, and necessary implications. No one will ever be questioned except about it and its obligations, implications, and rights. Abū al-'Āliyah said: “The first and last generations will be asked two questions: What did you worship? And how did you respond to the messengers?”

The question of what they worshipped concerns the testimony itself. The question of how they responded to the messengers concerns the means and path leading to it: did they follow that path and respond to the messengers when they called them to it? Thus, everything comes back to it. A matter of such importance deserves the firmest resolve and the most tenacious hold, even if holding on to it is like grasping burning coals.

It must not be held tentatively with the fingertips or pursued merely as a secondary concern. Rather, it must be made the supreme pursuit, with everything else pursued only secondarily. Allah alone grants success; there is no god worthy of worship except Him and no Lord besides Him.