And when He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned His uniqueness in creation and command, which necessitates His uniqueness in worship, He directed towards acquiring spiritual knowledge and true sciences. He commanded this appropriate necessity for that knowledge, which is supplication, that is the essence of worship. He said: ﴿Call upon your Lord﴾, meaning: the One who constantly bestows kindness upon you, a supplication of worship and submission. ﴿In humility﴾, meaning: in outward submission, ﴿and in secret﴾, meaning: and in inward submission. And He praised His servant Zakariya, peace be upon him, saying: ﴿When he called upon his Lord with a supplication in secret﴾ [Maryam: 3]. This means: combine the outward submission with the inward submission, meaning: be sincere in your worship to Him. Indeed, He loves those who are sincere because His uniqueness in being called upon is appropriate for the position of the glory of Lordship. The humility in this attribute is appropriate for the position of the humiliation of servitude. This is the intended purpose of supplication, not the alteration of eternal knowledge. This is the intended purpose of all acts of worship, for the servant does not call upon except that he has brought to mind his own humiliation, weakness, and need, and from his Lord, knowledge, ability, and sufficiency. This is the intended purpose of all acts of worship. Therefore, supplication is the essence of worship. This statement encompasses all that is intended to be achieved and obtained from the conditions of supplication, such that there is nothing more to add to it. Whoever acts contrary to that has exceeded the limit. To this, He hinted at His reasoning by saying: ﴿Indeed, He does not love the transgressors﴾, meaning: those who exceed what they have been commanded in supplication and otherwise. They said: the meaning is that whoever neglects this, Allah does not love him, meaning: He does not reward him at all nor bestow kindness upon him. The verse, in its interlocking nature, indicates the omission of its opposite from its beginning, and its beginning indicates that it was omitted before the end: and do not abandon sincerity, lest you become transgressors.