If the heart is what counts, do outward acts still matter?

Outward acts still matter: outward form has no value without inner significance, but that does not make outward action worthless.

The Qur'an commands to 'perform Salah and give alms' and at the same time the Muslims are to 'be patient' and 'be thankful'. Of course, as Muslims we must follow all the commandments; the Qur'an censures the one who 'does not pay the due share of alms' and also condemns the one who is 'prideful' or 'contemptuous'. We are to follow all the commandments of Allah; there is no picking and choosing.

The Messenger ﷺ said: "The true emigrant is a person who leaves behind everything that Allah has forbidden" [Sahih al-Bukhari 6484]. The hadith proves that external form is of no value unless it is accompanied by inner significance.

Thus, the true object of our deeds is their inner significance or reality. From the hadith above it is evident that the migrant is the one who abandons all that is contrary to the pleasure of Allah.

Nonetheless, no one should assume from the above hadith that external actions are without value. The proper way to approach the matter is to realise that Allah has created for every inner meaning a corresponding external form and without that form the acquisition of inner significance is impossible.

The Qur'an says, "Successful indeed are the believers; those who humble themselves in the prayers." [Qur'an, al-Mu'minun 23:1-2] Thus, humility in prayer is subject to performing the prayer. If someone does not even pray, how could he claim humility?

Similarly, knowledge without action has no reward. If a man knows how to pray, knows the direction of the Qiblah and the rules of purification, but does not perform the prayer, how would he expect its reward when he has not performed the action? Thus, the attributes of an action lay in the performance of that action.