Imam Khomeini in this regard has undertaken a series of detailed discussions in his famous book "An exposition on Forty Hadith".
According to Imam Khomeini, without adhering to the apparent teachings of Islam it is not possible that the light of the Divine Knowledge could descend upon his/her heart, and the wisdom of the invisible, and the mysteries of the holy law be revealed to him/her.
That is, a believer or truth seeker should adopt a behavior that is in accordance with the codes of religious law, which would acknowledge him as a real human being, a rational man.
The faithful peson's gait and manner should be an imitation and copy of the Prophet’s life, Imam Khomeini emphasized.
The faithful person must, in appearance, follow the Prophet (PBUH) as a model in his manner and actions, in his abstinences and his choices. This is quite possible, since it is in the powers of ordinary servants of God seemingly to act in the way of that great leader of human beings.
You should know that no path for the realization of divine existence can be undertaken unless one familiarizes himself with the apparent or overt form of Shari’ah.
Unless a person fully acquaints himself with the knowledge of the Shari’ah laws and follows them faithfully, the higher values of morality cannot be attained by him/her.
After attaining this stage, the truth unveiled for him/her and enlightenment bestowed upon his/her heart, a person would act with greater observance of the manifest forms of religion.
This falsifies the claims of pseudo spiritualists, who say that the inner perfection can only be acquired by relinquishing outer accomplishments, or, that after acquiring inner excellences, necessity of observing outward forms does not remain obligatory.
This is a mistaken conception born of ignorance about the stages of worship and the different grades of human progress.
Will and Resolution
Some of our revered scholars (may God grant them longevity) also state that resolution is the essence of humanity and criterion of human freedom.
The next stage, after the stage of contemplation and ponderance through which an individual striving to progress on the spiritual path has to pass, is the stage of resolution.
(This is a different thing from volition, which al-Shaykh al-Ra’is Ibn Sina, in ‘al-‘Isharat’ alludes to as the initial stage of ‘irfan).
The differences in human gradation are actually indicative of the discrepancy of the stages of human resolution. The resolution which is required for this particular stage is synonymous with laying the foundation of a good life, a resolution to purge life from sin, and to perform all obligatory (wajib) acts, and a resolution to compensate for the days lost (in sinfulness), and finally resolve to behave as a rational and religious person ought to.