that they should worship Allah while dedicating the religion exclusively to Him: praying purely for Allah’s sake, giving charity purely for Allah’s sake, fasting purely for Allah’s sake, performing Hajj purely for Allah’s sake, helping people purely for His sake—indeed, in every righteous deed we are to be sincere to Allah alone.

“And establish the prayer,” that is, perform it uprightly in the most perfect manner; “and give the zakat,” meaning they hand it over to those who are entitled to it; “and that is the upright religion” (Q 98:5)—the faith of the sound, straight community.

A person who is truly sincere to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, harbors no ostentation in his heart, for through his worship he seeks nothing but the Face of Allah, His reward, and the abode of the Hereafter.

Allah the Exalted also says, “O you who believe! Do not nullify your charities with reminders of generosity or injury” (Q 2:264). In other words, when you give a poor person charity, do not keep reminding him of it by saying, “I gave you this, I did that,” for such reminders erase the reward. Likewise, do not harm him—by domineering over him or deeming yourself above him—for that too cancels the reward.

“[Like] the one who spends his wealth only to be seen by people and does not believe in Allah and the Last Day” (Q 2:264). The point of evidence is the phrase “the one who spends his wealth to be seen by people,” seeking their praise so that they will say, “How abundant his charity is,” and the like, “and he does not believe in Allah and the Last Day.”

Allah, Glorified and Exalted, also says, “They show off to the people and remember Allah but little” (Q 4:142). This is one of the traits of the hypocrites: when they rise for prayer they do so lazily, without energy, love, or yearning; they rise sluggishly. Moreover, they pray only to impress people—Allah’s refuge is sought. For this reason the prayers most burdensome to them are the night prayer (‘Isha) and the dawn prayer (Fajr), because