On niyyah #2
بسم الله الرحمان الرحيم
“And they were not commanded except that they should worship Allah sincere in His Religion, hunafaa’ and establish as-Salaah and give Zakaah: and that is the right religion ” [1]
This ayah specifically refers to the People of the Book as is understood from the context of the verse. But it can be used by us to derive some important points.
Points of Benefit:
1)We learn from this ayah that the first and foremost thing Allah سبحانه و تعالى commanded His slaves was sincerity in worshiping Him.
2)The first part of the ayah is similar to the third ayah in Surat ul-Baqarah,
In the first verse, Allah سبحانه و تعالى says that He did not command the people anything except to worship Him sincerely. And in the second one, Allah سبحانه و تعالى describes the people of Taqwa with the same characteristics in the very same order. Because having the correct belief in the Unseen is devoting worship to Allah 
alone. It is as if Allah سبحانه و تعالى commanded the people to become Muttaqin.
3) We also learn that sincerity is the first of the worship and it is a prerequisite for doing other acts of worship. This verse is also similar to the last verse in Surat ul-Kahf:
“So whoever hopes for the Meeting with his Lord, let him work righteousness and associate none as a partner in the worship of his Lord.”
The ayah mentioned on the top contains the righteous acts and also contains the command to not commit shirk.
4)The root word of hunafaa’ is haa’-noon-faa’ which linguistically means an inclination towards right religion. A haneef is the one who is inclined towards God and inclined away from [false deities] so considered upright.[2] In tafsir, this word has been given six meanings:
a)Followers (of the true religion)
b)The steadfast people said Muhammad Ibnu Ka’b رحمه الله
c)Sincere people said Khusif رحمه الله
d)The Muslims said adh-Dhahhaak رحمه الله
e)The Hujjaaj (i.e. the ones who have performed al-Hajj) said Ibnu ‘Abbas رضي الله عنهم And al-‘Atiyah al-‘Awfi رحمه الله said, “If al-Hanif and al-Muslim are used together, then al-Hanif means the one who has performed al-Hajj. But if al-Hanif is singled out then its meaning is al-Muslim.” And Sa’id Ibnu Jubayr رحمه الله said, “The Arabs would not name al-Hanif to except the one who did al-Hajj and was circumcised.”
f)They are the believers in all the Messengers said Abu Qulaabah رحمه الله3]
5)In the end, we also understand that for a religion to be correct, it needs to have these characteristics: a) Commandment of abstinence from polytheism b) Commandment of establishment of as-Salaah c) Commandment of giving Zakaah or charity.
And indeed Allah سبحانه و تعالى knows best
[1] Surat ul-Bayyinah:5
[2] HdO Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage
[3] An-Nakat wal-‘Uyun by al-Imam al-Mawardi
