the prayer. We made it for mankind like clothes. If one leaves it, he becomes naked; can he be upright..." for one of you to be naked, walking in the markets. All the obligations are binding upon the People of the Outward [Ahl al-Zahir], made mandatory upon them in the form of burdens and shackles, and deeds which Allah does not accept since they were ignorant of Allah and not gnostics of Him. Yet they are [also] mandatory upon the People of the Inward [Ahl al-Batin] and [those with] knowledge of Allah (Glory be to Him) in the form of discipline [Ta'dib], dissimulation [Taqiyya], and the establishment of the outward. So whoever abandons them and neglects their establishment according to this meaning has transgressed a limit among the limits of Allah and neglected an obligation among His obligations—which is the mandatory Taqiyya and the commanded discipline—unless he is among those who preceded us in that, who possess a station such as Abu al-Khattab and Yahya ibn Umm al-Tawil and others among the People of the Ranks.

It was also narrated in the book (Realities of the Secrets of Religion), in the chapter on the obligation of Taqiyya, the concealment of faith, and the establishment of outward deeds, as follows: Muhammad told me from Abu Ali, from Abdullah ibn al-Ala, from Idris al-Kafrtuni, from Hashim, from al-Mufaddal,