and to abstain from everything he has forbidden and censured.

It must also be made clear that he is a Messenger, not a deity; that he is no liar, but rather a servant who is not to be worshipped and a Messenger who is never to be rejected—may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him.

Likewise, he should be told that these two testimonies are the key to Islam, and for that reason no act of worship is valid unless it is accompanied by the testimony that there is no deity worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.

Among the lessons of this ḥadīth is that the most important matter after the two testimonies is prayer, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “If they comply with that, then inform them that Allah has made five prayers obligatory upon them in every day and night.”

An additional benefit is that the witr prayer is not obligatory, because the Prophet (peace be upon him) did not mention it; he mentioned only the five daily prayers. This is the preponderant view among the scholars. Some scholars have held that witr is obligatory, while others have qualified their view, saying: if a person regularly prays at night, witr becomes obligatory for him; otherwise, it is not. The correct opinion is that it is never obligatory, for had it been so, the Messenger (peace be upon him) would have made it clear.

Another benefit of this ḥadīth is that zakat is obligatory; it is a mandated duty in Islam, the third pillar of the religion and the second obligation after the declarations of faith. Hence he said, “Inform them that Allah has ordained for them a charity to be taken from their wealthy.”

The ḥadīth also indicates that zakat is due on the wealth itself, not merely as a personal liability. The sound position is that it attaches to the wealth, while still maintaining a connection to the individual’s liability, and several legal rulings flow from this, among them: