sins, together with the renunciation and similar practices associated with these—such practices vary greatly. Nevertheless, all forms of prayer share the heart’s devotion and worship directed to the one worshipped, while fasting, in its various forms, involves abstaining from the pleasures of food, drink, and sexual intercourse. Likewise, forms of ritual worship vary according to the places one journeys to and what is done there and along the way. Yet all these forms share the general character of worship—the heart’s devotion through love and reverence—and renunciation—turning away from bodily desires and the adornments of worldly life. These are the two general categories to which prayer and fasting respectively belong.

The second category:

Acts of obedience pertaining to religion, including acts of worship, all other prescribed duties, and prohibitions. These include worshipping Allah alone, without partner, with sincerity, reliance upon Him, supplication, fear, and hope, together with the accompanying faith in Allah, His angels, His Books, His messengers, and resurrection after death. They also include the prohibition of associating partners with Him, worshipping anything besides Him, and believing in jibt, meaning sorcery, and tāghūt, meaning idols, and similar things.

It is this category that the messengers urged people to observe and emphatically enjoined, and it is the foremost objective of their call. The first category, by contrast, is evident in its nature and benefit through straightforward reasoning; in the realm of action, it is comparable to self-evident knowledge.