and other believers.

And His words:

“Maintain the prayers, especially the middle prayer.”

And His words:

“They were commanded only to worship Allah, devoting their religion sincerely to Him, inclining to the truth, and to establish prayer and give zakah.”

Prayer and zakah are themselves acts of worship. Thus, His words, “believed and did righteous deeds,” are like His words:

“They were commanded only to worship Allah, devoting their religion sincerely to Him, inclining to the truth, and to establish prayer and give zakah.”

For He intended, first, that worship should be devoted to Allah alone, not to anyone else. He then commanded prayer and zakah so that it would be known that these are two obligatory acts of worship, and that sincere worship in general does not suffice without them. Likewise, He mentions faith first because it is the indispensable foundation, then mentions righteous deeds because they too are indispensable to the completeness of religion. Thus, no one should suppose that mere faith unaccompanied by righteous deeds suffices.

Likewise, His words:

“Alif, Lām, Mīm. This is the Book about which there is no doubt, a guidance for those mindful of Allah, who believe in the unseen, establish prayer, and spend out of what We have provided for them; and who believe in what has been sent down to you and what was sent down before you, and are certain of the Hereafter. Those are upon guidance from their Lord, and those are the successful.”

It has been said that the latter are the People of the Book who believed in what was sent down to him and what was sent down to those before him, such as Ibn Salām and others like him, and that they constitute a category distinct from those previously mentioned, who believe in the unseen.

It has also been said that these are all those mentioned earlier, who believed in what was sent down to him and what was sent down before him. They are the very ones who believe in the unseen, constituting a single group. The conjunction is used only because the two descriptions differ, as in His words:

“Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High, who created and proportioned, and who