—then such grief is forbidden. Otherwise, the most that can be hoped for is that its bearer is simply absolved of blame for the grief itself. Yet if the grief leads to a weakening of the heart and preoccupies it so that one fails to do what Allah and His Messenger have commanded, that person is censured from this angle even though he may be praised from another.

By contrast, love for Allah, reliance upon Him, sincerity toward Him, and the like are sheer good. They are commendable and beloved for every Prophet, the truly sincere, the martyrs, and the righteous. Whoever claims that these spiritual stations are meant for the common folk but not for the elite is in error—if by that he intends to exempt the elite—for no believer ever leaves these stations; only a disbeliever or a hypocrite does. Some people have made such statements; we have already shown their error and that it springs from a long-standing failure to grasp these stations, but this is not the place to elaborate.

People’s shares in these stations differ: some are specific, others general. Thus the elite have their particular degree and the masses theirs. As an example, some say: “Tawakkul (reliance) is defending oneself in the quest for daily provision, whereas the elect do not defend themselves.” They also assert: “The mutawakkil seeks, by his reliance, some object of concern, while the ʿārif (gnostic) sees matters as already settled and therefore seeks nothing.”

The answer is that tawakkul is broader than reliance upon Allah for worldly interests alone. The mutawakkil entrusts to Allah the soundness of his heart and his religion, the safeguarding of his tongue and his intention—matters that mean more to him than anything else. For this reason he addresses his Lord in every prayer, saying, “It is You we worship, and You we ask for help.” Likewise, Allah says: “So worship Him and rely upon Him” (Hūd 11:123), and: “Upon Him I rely, and to Him I turn” (Hūd 11:88; al-Shūrā 42:10). In many verses He couples worship with reliance, for together they encompass the entire religion.

Thus some of the early scholars said: “Allah gathered the contents of all the revealed books in the Quran, the knowledge of the Quran in the mufassal (the short Surahs), the knowledge of the mufassal in the Opening of the Book, and the knowledge of the Opening in His words: ‘It is You we worship, and You we seek for help.’” These two comprehensive phrases embrace everything that pertains to the Lord and to the servant, exactly as stated in the authentic hadith found in Sahih Muslim, narrated by Abu Hurayrah: the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said that Allah, exalted be He, declares:

“I have divided the Prayer between Myself and My servant into two halves: half of it is for Me and half for My servant, and My servant shall have what he asks.

When the servant says: al-ḥamdu lillāhi rabb al-ʿālamīn (All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds), Allah says: ‘My servant has praised Me.’

When he says: ar-raḥmān ar-raḥīm (the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful), Allah says: ‘My servant has extolled Me.’

When he says: māliki yawm ad-dīn (Master of the Day of Judgment), Allah says: ‘My servant has magnified Me.’

When he says: iyyāka naʿbudu wa iyyāka nastaʿīn (It is You we worship, and You we seek for help), Allah says: ‘This verse is between Me and My servant, and for My servant is whatever he asks.’

When he says: ihdinā aṣ-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm, ṣirāṭ alladhīna anʿamta ʿalayhim ghayri l-maghḍūbi ʿalayhim wa lā ḍ-ḍāllīn (Guide us to the straight path—the path of those You have blessed, not of those who incur wrath, nor of those who are astray), Allah says: ‘These are for My servant, and for My servant is whatever he asks.’”