Sidq

Sidq — truthfulness — is al-Ghazali's crown virtue in this book: the complete correspondence between inner reality and outer expression across all dimensions of the self. The person of sidq believes what they profess, feels what they claim to feel, says what they actually think, and does what they say they will do. There is no gap between their public face and their private reality. Al-Ghazali presents sidq as the natural fruit of sustained ikhlas: when the intention has been purified to the point where one is performing only for God, there is no longer any incentive to manage one's appearance for anyone else — and the gap between inner and outer begins to close. Sidq is ultimately the fruit of being witnessed only by God.

As understood in the classical tradition of Imam al-Ghazali and the scholars of his school.