If a body is without a head, life cannot endure; likewise, without tawḥīd (monotheism) the religion cannot survive, for tawḥīd is the very head—once it is severed or removed, life ends and the body is ruined.

Its supporting pillar is the prayer. Without that pillar Islam cannot stand, just as a tent or pavilion collapses when it lacks its central pole. No house can remain upright without its main post; remove the post and the structure falls. In the same way, if the prayer is abandoned, Islam cannot stand. Hence the scholars have said that whoever neglects the prayer out of laziness is, according to the sounder view, deemed an unbeliever even though he admits it is obligatory, for acknowledging an obligation while failing to act on it is of no benefit. Accordingly, the leading authorities among the scholars have ruled that one who deliberately abandons the prayer—despite conceding its obligation—falls into disbelief, whereas anyone who actually denies its obligation is, by unanimous agreement of the Muslims, a disbeliever.

The highest peak of the religion—the camel’s hump of the matter—is jihad in the path of Allah. Jihad is proof of the vigor of Islam: whenever jihad exists in the path of Allah, it testifies to the strength of Islam, for jihad can arise only from robust faith and ample resources.