The benefits of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “So call upon Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, although the disbelievers may be averse.”

Among the benefits of these verses and those preceding them is the obligation of sincerity to Allah the Exalted in supplication, based on His saying: . Supplicating to other than Allah for what the one being supplicated to is not capable of is considered shirk (associating partners with Allah). It may be major shirk or minor shirk depending on the situation. Whoever supplicates to a grave commits major shirk. Whoever supplicates to someone else to carry his belongings or the like, when the other person is unable to carry them, is not committing major shirk; rather, it is either mere nonsense or minor shirk. Whoever supplicates to an absent person to rescue him from a severe situation commits major shirk, because this is called the shirk of secrecy, since a person cannot supplicate to an absent one unless he believes that he has control over the universe and acts while far away. This is different from someone who supplicates to a person nearby and says, “O so-and-so, carry this with me” or “help me with this,” because he is asking him to perform a tangible act.
Another benefit of these verses is the obligation of sincerity in worship to Allah, because we interpreted supplication as both supplication for asking and supplication of worship. It is obligatory to be sincere in worship to Allah. Whoever worships other than Allah independently has directed some type of worship to other than Allah, and thereby becomes a mushrik (one who associates partners with Allah) committing major shirk. For example, whoever prays to a person commits major shirk. Or whoever slaughters an animal for a person as a means of drawing near to him and honoring him commits major shirk that takes him out of the religion. However, if he performs the worship for Allah but sees it or hears it, he does not commit major shirk, but rather minor shirk, and his worship is rejected. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding what he narrated from his Lord: .
Then know that if showing off (riya') enters the heart, if it is before entering into the worship, it invalidates it from the root, because he entered into it with shirk. If it is during the worship, if it is at the end of it and the end is built upon the beginning, it is invalid. If it is not built upon the beginning such that the first part can be distinguished from the second, then what contains the showing off is invalid, and what preceded the showing off is valid. An example of the first case: if showing off enters him during the prayer in the second rak'ah, the entire prayer is invalid, because if the second rak'ah is invalid, the invalidity of the first rak'ah follows, since the prayer cannot be partially valid. An example of the second case: a man prepared one hundred sa' (a dry measure of about 3 kg) for charity, so he gave fifty sa' as pure charity, then showing off entered him regarding the remaining sa'. Here, the remaining sa' is invalid, but the first part is valid, because this worship, namely charity, can be partially valid and its end is not built upon its beginning. Even if it were something specified by the Shari'ah, such as feeding sixty poor people for expiation, and he fed thirty poor people with sincerity, then showing off entered him afterwards, the thirty fed before the last thirty would be sufficient. This is if he indulged in the showing off. However, if showing off entered him and he resisted it and kept striving to resist it, it does not harm him. This is based on the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): . And this person did not act or speak; rather, perhaps he did not even think about it, but showing off attacked him.
So now, whoever performs worship for other than Allah, meaning he worships other than Allah, his ruling is major shirk. And whoever performs worship for Allah but showing off enters it: if its end is built upon its beginning, meaning it cannot be partially valid...
Now, we have qualified this detail: if he indulges in the showing off and continues as a hypocrite, well, if he resists it, there is nothing on him and it does not harm him.
Among the benefits of this noble verse is opposing the disbelievers in sincerity to Allah and in action, based on His saying: . Based on this, it is obligatory for a person to perform what is obligatory even if others dislike it, and he should not show favoritism to anyone in this. For example, if a young man's father dislikes that his son prays with the congregation—as is the case now—should he flatter his father in this? No, he prays with the congregation even against his father's will, even if his father dislikes it.
And if the young man maintains ties with his relatives, such as his uncle or maternal uncle, and there is personal enmity between him and his father, so the father dislikes that his son maintains ties with relatives the father dislikes, should he maintain ties with them even if his father dislikes it, or not? Yes, he maintains ties with them even if his father dislikes it. But in this case, he conceals it from his father, meaning he keeps it from him that he maintained ties with them, so that the benefit is achieved without harm. There is a difference between concealment (mudarah) and flattery (mudahanah). Concealment is that a person does what is required of him while keeping it secret from the other person who dislikes it. Therefore, it is called concealment from "dar'" which means repelling. As for flattery, it is to agree with him in leaving what is obligatory to please him, derived from "dahn" (fat) because it softens. In any case, we say that branching from this benefit is that a person does what is required of him even if others dislike it, even if the one who dislikes it is his closest relative.