In Poem 22 of Chapter 20 of Mokhtar Nameh, Attar of Nishapur critiques spiritual lukewarmness and hypocrisy. The poem addresses an individual who is neither fully committed to faith nor entirely entrenched in disbelief, oscillating in a state of insincerity. Attar asserts that religious obedience performed with pretense is tantamount to sin, emphasizing that authenticity—whether as an outright sinner or a liberated ascetic—is preferable to hypocritical devotion. This reflects the Sufi emphasis on absolute sincerity and the rejection of superficial religiosity.