“Every amusement in which a man engages is futile, except shooting with his bow, training his horse, and jesting with his wife—for these are part of the truth.”

And he said:

“The Witr prayer is a rightful practice: whoever wishes may perform it as one rakʿah, whoever wishes may perform three, and whoever wishes five or seven.”

The same usage appears in other places in his speech. Of this kind is his statement, “The most truthful line ever uttered by a poet is the line of Labīd:
‘Lo, everything apart from Allah is vanity….’”

Similarly, the Exalted says:

“That is because Allah alone is the Truth, whereas whatever they call upon apart from Him is falsehood” (Qur’an 22:62).

And His saying:

“Such is Allah, your Lord—the Truth. So what is there after the Truth except misguidance?” (Qur’an 10:32).

It is plain that whatever is worshiped besides Him does in fact exist as a created entity, yet its worship is invalid, and therefore it is deemed false, because the intended object of that worship is nonexistent. For this reason the jurists say, “The act of worship has become null,” and, “The contract is void.” The Exalted has said:

“Do not nullify your deeds” (Qur’an 47:33).

Nullification (ibṭāl) is the opposite of upholding the truth (iḥqāq). The Exalted also says:

“Those who disbelieve and bar others from the path of Allah—He lets their deeds go astray; but those who believe, do righteous deeds, and believe in what has been sent down to Muhammad—and it is the Truth from their Lord—He will efface their misdeeds and set their state aright. That is because the disbelievers follow falsehood, while the believers follow the Truth from their Lord” (Qur’an 47:1–3).