Exegesis of the saying of Allah the Exalted: "And they were not commanded except to worship Allah, being sincere to Him in religion, inclining to truth, and to establish prayer and to give zakah. And that is the religion of the upright."

The Shaykh : In the name of Allah.
Praise be to Allah, and I send prayers and peace upon the Messenger of Allah, and I bear witness that there is no god but Allah alone, with no partner, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger.
As for what follows:
This is the eighty-eighth session of the Open Door sessions, which take place every Thursday of every week. This is the sixth Thursday of the month of Dhul-Qa'dah in the year 1415. I think we should speak about what concerns the rituals, the rituals of Hajj, because its time is near. However, my brother Musa informed me that the exegesis of a verse from Surat al-Bayyinah was omitted, which is the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: .
So the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: That they worship Allah, being sincere to Him in religion. So what is worship? Worship is used in two meanings. The first meaning is the act of worshipping, so it is said: "This man worshipped Allah with worship." The second meaning is that by which one worships, so it is said: "Prayer is worship, and zakah is worship, and fasting is worship," and so on. According to the first meaning, the meaning of worship is the slave's humility before his Lord, Mighty and Majestic, out of love and magnification, by doing His commands and avoiding His prohibitions. According to the second meaning, worship is that by which one worships, and its meaning is what Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) mentioned in his saying: "It is a comprehensive name for everything that Allah loves and is pleased with, of words and deeds". So prayer is worship, and ritual purity is worship, and zakah is worship, and fasting is worship, and Hajj is worship, and dutifulness to parents is worship, and maintaining family ties is worship, and every deed that brings one closer to Allah the Exalted is worship. But Allah the Exalted mentioned that this command is accompanied by two things. The first is sincerity to Allah the Exalted, that a person intends by his worship the face of Allah and the Hereafter, not intending a worldly gain he will obtain, or a woman he will marry, or prestige that will honor him among people, or other worldly matters. So whoever intends other than Allah in his worship is an associate of partners with Allah, and his work is void. The evidence for this is the saying of Allah the Exalted: And in the authentic Qudsi Hadith, Allah the Exalted said: And in the authentic Prophetic Hadith, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) said: These are the proofs of the obligation of sincerity in worship.
And as for the second, it is following, meaning following the Shari'ah of Allah. The evidence for this is His saying, the Exalted: The Hanif is the one who turns away from what is other than the Shari'ah of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. It is derived from "hanf," which is the bending of the finger. So it is necessary to follow the Shari'ah. The evidence for that is the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family): And his saying: So in worship, sincerity and following are necessary.
And His saying, the Exalted: This is conjoined to His saying: meaning: They were not commanded except to establish prayer and to give zakah. They were specified because they are the greatest pillars of Islam after the two testimonies, and prayer is more emphatic than zakah. For this reason, abandoning prayer is disbelief, whereas stinginess with zakah is not disbelief.
That which is referred to is what was mentioned: the worship of Allah the Exalted in the manner described, sincerity and following, establishing prayer, and giving zakah. It is the religion of the upright, meaning the religion of the noble faith, because it is the Shari'ah of Allah with which His Messenger Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) came. This is the exegesis of this noble verse, and we hope that my brother Musa will include it with the previous exegesis.