Concluding testament of Mullā Ṣadrā Shīrāzī’s “The Wisdom of the Throne” (al-ḥikma al-ʿarshīya)
...This is why (the Prophet)-may God's blessing and peace be with him-said: "An hour's reflection is better than seventy years of [purely formal] worship." And he said to the best of his people and the Gate of the City of his knowledge: "0 Ali! Since mankind seek to come near to their Creator through all kinds of piety, bring yourself close to Him through all kinds [of activities] of the Intellect, so that you may arrive There before all of them."
From this (saying) you may surmise that the aim of the bodily acts of worship and particular religious prescriptions, such as performing the ritual prayer, fasting, and others, is only (to be attained) through the purification of the heart and the refinement of the innermost self, by sincere inner purpose in (performing) them and by inward thought-inasmuch as they are really service of the Truly Real Object of Worship and drawing near to the Absolute God, not the motions of the limbs and the agitation of the tongue! God-may He be exalted!-said: True piety is not that you turn your faces toward the East and the West. Rather, the truly pious man is he who has true faith in God and the Last Day ...(2:177)·
Finally, the worst of all hindrances to true religion and the greatest obstacle on the path of those journeying toward God is that they may respond to the call of those scholars who are "learned" (only) in evil, and that they may follow the misleading opinions and misguided writings of such men. For the deception of those (travelling in the Way of God) by these so-called "learned men" and legal scholars and their so-called "wisdom" is the same as deluding the thirsty man with a mirage (24:39), and thereby turning him away from the Fountain of the Waters of Life. (This is) just as He-may He be exalted!-said: And if you were to obey most of those who are on the earth, they would lead you far astray from the Path of God. For they follow nothing but their own conjecture, and they are only guessing (6: 116). [Indeed most of them follow nothing but conjecture.] And conjecture is no substitute at all for the Truth! (10:36).
May God protect us and our brethren who have true faith against the evil of (all such) devils and those who lead astray! And may He illumine our hearts with the Lights of wisdom and certainty, by the right of Muhammad and his immaculate Family-may God's peace be with them all!
~Trans. by James Winston Morris, THE WISDOM OF THE THRONE: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra https://libgen.rs/book/index.php?md5=898D384F97308C9C297A84E39D2231D1
