سورة الأنعام

Ali ibn Ibrahim (may Allah have mercy on him): What is meant by the outward [aspect] of sin is [open] acts of disobedience, and what is meant by the inward [aspect] is shirk (polytheism) and doubt in the heart. And this statement of Allah the Blessed and Exalted, بِمَا کَانُواْ یَقْتَرِفُونَ [with what they earned], means: what they used to do.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): So, as far as you are able, remember Allah abundantly at every hour of the night and day, for Allah has commanded that He be remembered, and Allah too remembers the believer who remembers Him. Know that Allah does not remember His believing servants except one whom He remembers with good. So drive yourselves to strive in worship, for nothing of good is attained from Allah except through striving in His obedience, and through abstaining from what He has forbidden in the outward and inward of the Quran. Allah says: وَ ذَرُوا ظاهِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَ باطِنَهُ [And abandon open and secret sin], and know that whatever Allah has ordered you to abstain from, He has forbidden it. And follow the traditions and commands of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him and his family) and his way (sunnah), and act upon it.

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) wrote to one of his friends who had written to the Imam (peace be upon him) about the condition of a group who were with him — a group who ascribed themselves to the call [of Islam] but transgressed the limits, considered forbidden things lawful, and cast aside the outward [religious rulings]. So Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) wrote to him: "...I inform you that whoever chooses the religion of Allah with this attribute that you have written and are asking me about, he is, in my view, openly a mushrik (polytheist) with Allah, and no one may doubt this. Have they not heard the word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: 'Say: My Lord has only forbidden shameful deeds, whether open or hidden'? And the word of Allah the Mighty and Majestic: وَ ذَرُوا ظاهِرَ الْإِثْمِ وَ باطِنَهُ [And abandon open and secret sin]. The outward of the forbidden and its inward — all of it is forbidden; and the outward of the lawful and its inward — all of it is lawful. Allah has made the outward a proof and guide to the inward, and the inward a proof and guide to the outward; each of them affirms the other and strengthens, reinforces, and confirms it. So whatever is blameworthy in its outward, its inward is blameworthy; and whatever is praiseworthy in its outward, its inward is praiseworthy."

Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him): Haytham al-Tamimi said: Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) said: "A group believed in the outward and disbelieved in the inward, and it did not benefit them at all. Some came after them and believed in the inward and disbelieved in the outward of the Quran; they too do not benefit at all. Faith in the outward is not valid without the inward, nor is faith in the inward valid without the outward."