According to a famous tradition, ‘our actions are judged by our intentions. The intention here is the equivalent of what is generally called spirit. It means that although there are many actions that in form appear to be morally acceptable, it is to the spirit of these acts rather than their external form that Islam attaches fundamental importance. From a Hadith, we learn that Prophet Muhammad, speaking of the Muslims of the future, predicted that only the external form of Islamic actions would survive. That is to say, the actions of the Muslims of the future would be lacking in inner spirit, and only the outer form of their religious observances would persist. People will remain ignorant of the true spirit of Islam so long as they are conversant only with its forms and attach importance only to the externals. It is easy to understand how extremism, or ghulu, stems from this flawed perception. In the early days of Islam, the spirit was alive and was accorded full attention. However, external rituals became more critical when degeneration prevailed among the later generations. It is a frequent occurrence.