The Quran strikes the cords of the heart in such a deep, emotional, and effective way, after removing from it the hard layers of sins and evil deeds that engulfed it for so long. However, the Quran does not do that to introduce new "information" about Allah (swt), but for the sake of "belief in Allah"!

There is a great difference between introducing information about an issue, and belief in that issue! Information, however alive, new, and flashy it may be at a given time, would loose its glitter with time, become obliterated and eventually dies! It would not continue to radiate the attractive light it used to give away at the beginning of its introduction! Moreover, information is always subject to being contained within the intellect, becoming intellectual issues far removed from reality. The intellect would keep going about it in apparently endless vicious circles, whereas the human behaviour continues its path without being affected, let alone changed, by those intellectual issues!

Belief is however something very different. It is based on that information, yes! However, it uses that information as a launch pad from which belief is launched, rather than remaining there! Belief is movement! Belief is energy! It is a movement that circulates in the heart, moving it with various emotions, radiating from it living, vibrant, and proactive feelings that never loose momentum, never wears out, and never dies!

Belief is an energy exploding within the whole self, moving its tiniest elements. Its effects are felt within and outside oneself, in terms of action and behaviour, thoughts and feelings! It acts in the same way that the effects of electric and magnetic energy are felt through the rotating motor and radiating light bulb!

What the Quran builds up in the hearts is belief in Allah, not just intellectual knowledge of Allah! The Quran calls those who know Allah in a way of belief: "Those who know," and describes them as being, "Men of understanding."

"Shall he then who knows that what has been revealed unto you from your Lord is the truth be like him who is blind? However, it is only the men of understanding that pay heed. Those who fulfil the Covenant of Allah and break not that Covenant; Those who join that which Allah has commanded to be joined, who fear their Lord, and those who dread the terrible reckoning. And those who remain patient, seeking their Lord’s Pleasure, who perform prayers, and spend out of that which We have bestowed on them, secretly and openly, and defend evil with good, for such there is the best abode." (Ar Ra’d 13:19-22)

This "Belief" in Allah is the main topic of the whole Quran, and is of course the primary topic of "Faith". When the Quran was being revealed over thirteen years of the Makky era, discussing nothing but faith, the main concentration was no doubt on belief in Allah, as it is the First and Primary part of faith, followed by building the whole of Islam afterwards, in terms of organizations, legislations, and directives.

The Quran consolidates this belief in the heart by linking that heart with Allah in all its conditions, because it links all conditions and the whole existence with Allah! The human heart, at any given moment and in any given condition, must be linked with something in this life! And with something in this existence!

So, if the whole life and the whole existence are firmly linked at every moment and in every condition with Allah, then the human heart becomes linked with Allah through that channel: Fear and hope, or hope and fear!

Birth and death are in the hand of Allah! Sustenance is in the hand of Allah, whether sustenance is money, status, health, children, or any kind of sustenance, all are in the hand of Allah!

Current events with benefit or harm are all in the hand of Allah! The concealed and invisible is firmly within the knowledge of Allah, because it is made and set by Allah!

All this in this lifetime! Then comes resurrection and accountability in the hand of Allah! Reward and punishment in the hand of Allah!

So, is there anything that is related to the human heart at any given moment that is not in the hand of Allah? Is there any moment of the life of this heart in this world or in the Hereafter that is beyond the knowledge of Allah? Or outside the kingdom or destiny set by Allah?

The human heart therefore lives its whole life with Allah, when that heart hopes or fears! When it loves or hates! When it is in its reality or imagination! When it pioneers what is within the senses and when it looks at what is beyond the senses! When it is alone and when it is in-group! When it performs rituals of worship and when it goes about struggling on earth!

This is the seed of belief that the Quran puts in the heart to bring its fruit on the road! The road of belief!

This is the seed that the Quran nourishes and cares for with even more strikes on the cords of the heart! Drawing the human attention to the immensity of this universe, to its miraculous accuracy! To giving life and bringing death! To the current events and planning behind the events! To showing the immense power of Allah that nothing goes beyond its domain in Heaven and earth! To the knowledge of the concealed and invisible!

This seed grows with continuos care into a plant with fruits! From the seed comes worshipping Allah and obedience to Allah! The fact that the human heart really feels the divinity of Allah and His exclusive right to be worshipped, this fact results in the heart feeling the real servitude to the God that the heart came to really know! That the heart came to know in all His attributes. True servitude towards true divinity and exclusive right to be worshipped!

The heart of a believer would feel all the dignity in the world in its true servitude to Allah! In as much as the heart submits itself to Allah, and surrenders its lead to Allah, that heart would feel the joy, pleasure, and happiness, as well as awareness of the whole universe!

With all this feeling, the heart comes nearer to Allah and becomes overwhelmed with divine light that penetrates every atom of its existence! It is then that the hearts feels the true reality of life!

However, these feelings of servitude, and the resulting feelings of security, pleasure and satisfaction of the heart are not the final goal, nor the final decision! In fact that is where most of the mystics stop. They arrive along the road of "raising the spirit" to beautiful and transparent levels of existence, no doubt, but the road should not really end there! Without action that translates these feelings into day-to-day behaviour in every aspect that Allah Commands, these spiritual feelings will fall short of reaching the ultimate goal of worship!

There must be obedience to Allah! This is the fruit! The fruit of worshipping Allah! The fruit of belief in Allah!

Obedience to Allah in what He commands and what He forbids! Obedience in worshipping obligations, obedience in legislative obligations, obedience in obligations of struggle and Jihad on earth! All equally implemented and obeyed!

Without this obedience, the feelings remain suspended, without weight on earth! Worship would remain unfulfilled in reality!

"I created humans and Jinn for nothing else except to worship Me." (Az Zariyat 51:56)

Worshipping cannot be fulfilled without obedience! Moreover, obedience would not be fulfilled until it is manifested in action and behaviour, not just in feelings!