by them, just as Qubā Mosque is visited from Madinah. No one may undertake a journey specifically to visit it, because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, forbade undertaking such journeys except to the three mosques.

This is because the religion rests upon two foundations: that none be worshipped except Allah alone, without partner, and that He be worshipped only as He has prescribed, not through religious innovations. As the Most High says:

“So whoever hopes to meet his Lord, let him do righteous deeds and associate no one in the worship of his Lord.”

For this reason, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, would say in his supplication:

“O Allah, make all my deeds righteous, make them sincerely for Your sake, and let no one else have any share in them.”

Commenting on the words of the Most High, “To test you as to which of you is best in deeds,” al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyād said: “The most sincere and the most correct.”

He was asked: “Abū ‘Alī, what does ‘the most sincere and the most correct’ mean?”

He replied: “If a deed is sincere but not correct, it will not be accepted. If it is correct but not sincere, it will not be accepted, until it is both sincere and correct. Sincerity means that it is done for Allah, and correctness means that it accords with the Sunnah.”

Allah Most High has said:

“Or do they have partners who have ordained for them a religion that Allah has not authorized?”

The purpose of all acts of worship is that all devotion should be for Allah alone. Allah is the One worshipped and petitioned, the One who is feared and hoped in, asked and worshipped. All devotion belongs sincerely to Him, and to Him all those in the heavens and the earth have submitted, willingly or unwillingly. The Quran is full of this. As the Most High says:

“The revelation of this Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the All-Wise.”