Before the prayer, before the fast, before any act we offer — there is one question that shapes everything: Do we know the One we are worshipping?
Islam builds everything upon this knowing. Before the limbs move, the heart must settle upon who it worships — and this is why the scholars, generation after generation, began their books and their students with tawḥīd: the oneness of Allah, and knowing Him by what He has revealed of Himself.
Knowledge before action
The scholars placed a chapter in their books titled "Knowledge comes before speech and action," drawing from the verse where Allah commands the Prophet ﷺ to first know, and then to seek forgiveness. Knowing Allah is the root from which every branch of worship grows.
"So know that there is no deity except Allah, and ask forgiveness for your sin." — Sūrah Muḥammad · 47:19
What it means to "know" Allah
To know Allah is to know Him through His names, His attributes, and His actions — as He described Himself and as His Messenger ﷺ described Him. This knowledge is not abstract; it changes how we hope, how we fear, and how we live.
A heart that recognises its Lord
When the heart truly recognises the Most Merciful, worship stops being a burden and becomes a longing. The believer who knows that Allah is السميع البصير — the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing — never feels alone, and never feels unseen.
This is the first station of the path, and it is never left behind. Every āyah we recite, every name of Allah we come to understand, deepens it. Begin here, sincerely and unhurried — and everything that follows, the prayer, the fasting, the character, will find its place.
