And he was asked:

Which deserves greater priority: treating what Allah dislikes in your heart—such as envy, resentment, malice, arrogance, showing off, seeking acclaim, dwelling on one’s own deeds, hardness of heart, and other impurities and corruptions peculiar to the heart—or occupying oneself with outward deeds, such as prayer, fasting, and various acts of devotion, both voluntary and vowed, while these things remain in one’s heart? Give us your ruling; may you be rewarded.

He replied—may Allah have mercy on him:

Praise be to Allah. Some of these matters are obligatory upon a person, and what is more obligatory has greater merit and excellence. As Allah Most High said, according to what His Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, narrated from Him:

“My servant draws near to Me through nothing comparable to fulfilling what I have made obligatory upon him.”

Then He said:

“My servant continues to draw near to Me through voluntary deeds until I love him.”

Outward deeds cannot be righteous and acceptable except through the workings of the heart, for the heart is a king and the limbs are its soldiers. When the king becomes corrupt, his soldiers become corrupt. Hence the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Indeed, in the body there is a morsel of flesh: if it is sound, the whole body is sound; and if it is corrupt, the whole body is corrupt.”

Likewise, the deeds of the heart must affect the deeds of the body. If what takes precedence is what is more obligatory, whether it is termed