my Hereafter, the place to which I shall return—or, in another wording, in which my return takes place—and make my life an increase in every good, and make my death a relief to me from every evil.

He began with religion: “Set right for me my religion, which is the safeguard of my affairs,” for through it a person fortifies himself against evil and against his enemies. The sounder a person’s religion becomes, the more securely he is protected from every harm. The rectification of religion lies in sincerity to Allah and in following the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Whoever associates partners with Allah, his religion is unsound. Whoever prays out of ostentation, gives charity out of ostentation, fasts out of ostentation, recites the Quran out of ostentation, remembers Allah out of ostentation, seeks knowledge out of ostentation, or fights out of ostentation—every such deed is corrupt, and we seek Allah’s refuge. It will be rejected, for in a divine hadith Allah, Exalted is He, says: “I am the One who has no need of partners. Whoever performs a deed in which he associates someone else with Me, I leave him and his association.”

Likewise, the innovator has no protection; he is not safeguarded from evil. Rather, the very thing he has fallen into is evil itself. The Messenger ﷺ said, “Every innovation is misguidance, and every misguidance is in the Fire.” Hence, even if an innovator remembers Allah, glorifies Him, praises Him, or performs prayer in a manner not legislated, his act is rejected. Satan may beautify a form of worship for someone so that his heart softens, he becomes humble, and he weeps, yet it will not benefit him if it is an innovation; on the contrary, it will be thrown back at him. Have you not seen the Christians? They enter their churches, weep, and display a humility even greater than