to it.’ He then recited: ‘And this is My path, perfectly straight, so follow it. Do not follow other paths, for they will lead you away from His path.’”

In Sūrat al-An‘ām, Sūrat al-A‘rāf, and elsewhere, Allah Most High mentions the grounds on which He condemned the polytheists: they prohibited what Allah Most High had not prohibited, such as the bahīrah and sā’ibah; deemed lawful what Allah had forbidden, such as killing their children; and instituted a religion that Allah had not authorized. Allah Most High says:

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

This included forbidden things that they made into acts of worship, such as associating partners with Allah and committing indecencies, including circumambulating the House naked, and other such practices. The discussion of “the lawful and the unlawful” belongs elsewhere. Our concern here is “acts of worship,” so we say:

Among the acts of worship by which people seek nearness to Allah Most High are those that Allah and His Messenger love and approve of. These are either obligatory or recommended, as reported in the Sahīh from the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—who said, relating from his Lord, blessed and exalted is He:

“My servant draws near to Me through nothing like the performance of what I have made obligatory upon him. My servant continues to draw near to Me through voluntary acts of worship until I love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks