a full grown believer. He has to learn the lessons of obedience and submission till they become ingrained in the heart, otherwise, till they are assimilated, and he has become changed in heart and disposition. 'The Arabs of the desert say, We believe. Say thou: Ye believe not; but rather say, We profess Islam; for the faith hath not yet entered into your hearts.' ¹ And in the performance of the duties of the believer, the mere outward act of obedience is not sufficient to justify the judgment that the observance has been properly performed. There must be an inward piety which is represented by these outward acts, of which they are but the outward embodiment and expression. Those who perform the outward acts, but have not the inward disposition, cannot find acceptance in God's sight. 'Say: Make ye your offerings willingly or by constraint; it cannot be accepted from you, because ye are a wicked people. And nothing hindereth the acceptance of their offerings, but that they believe not in God, and His Apostle, and perform not the (duty of) prayer but with sluggishness; and make not offerings but with reluctance. ' ²

For even sacrifice offered to God is but a symbol of obedience, and is not acceptable unless offered with a believing penitent heart. 'And they who respect the rites of God (perform an action) which proceedeth from piety of heart.' ³ Of the camels offered in sacrifice to God, we read in verse thirty-seven of the same Sura, ' Their flesh is not accepted of God, with their blood; but your piety is accepted of Him.'

Even in the performance of duties, such as almsgiving, it is the spirit of the giver, the self-sacrifice involved, which is what makes the deed of any value. 'Ye will never attain to righteousness, until ye give in alms of that which ye love . . . .' ² In another passage the preaching of Shoaib is quoted with approval. This preaching was a demand for a practical religion which manifests itself in just dealing between man and man, and an upright walk and behaviour. 'Fill the measure, and be not of those who minish; weigh with an exact balance, and defraud not men in their substance, and do no wrong on the earth by deeds of license, and fear Him who made you, and the races of old.' ²

Kindness, sympathy, and help to the needy and the helpless are demanded as evidences of a true faith in God, and a true desire to please Him; and these must be shown with no thought of worldly gain or advantage, but solely out of a desire to obtain His favour. 'They who fulfil their vows, and fear the day whose woes will spread far and wide, Who though longing for it themselves, bestowed their food on the poor, and the orphan and the captive, saying: We feed you for the sake of God, we seek from you neither recompense nor thanks; a stern and calamitous day we dread from the Lord.' ³ And again we read, 'But the God-fearing shall escape it—who giveth away his substance that he may become pure, and who offereth not favours to any one for the sake of recompense, but only as seeking the face of his Lord, the Most High: and surely in the end he shall be well content.' ⁴