Why were we tasked with the five outward forms? And why were we tasked with the esoteric obligations?

Know—may Allah grant you success in knowledge and acting upon it—that He (the Exalted) only burdened us with establishing the outward forms of these Five Worships among the Opposites [Adad] due to our need for Concealment [Tastur]. This is because if we do not manifest a Disguise [Talbis] upon them by establishing these outward forms—just as the Messengers manifested a disguise over our Core Secret [Sirr al-Samim] and our belief in their [the opponents'] disbelief and the corruption of their creeds—there would be a danger to us in our religion and our world. This is evidenced by the saying of the Exalted: {Indeed, if they come to know of you, they will stone you or return you to their religion, and then you will never succeed.} (Al-Kahf 20).

Furthermore, Allah (the Exalted) only mandated upon us those Inward Obligations—which are the faith in the inward meanings of the Five Worships and maintaining them in every manifestation of His manifestations and every law of the laws—because of our souls' need to be delivered, through the knowledge of their inward meanings and acting upon them, from Darkness into Light, as He informed us by His saying: {Allah is the ally of those who believe. He brings them out from darknesses into the light.} (Al-Baqarah 257).

And He (the Exalted) said: {And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.} (Al-Dhariyat 56).