They bolster their view with vague, general statements reported from certain shaykhs, or with the slips of others. Yet this is a fundamental principle—indeed, one of the greatest issues that those who travel the path to Allah, seeking His Face, must take to heart. Neglect of it has allowed such degrees of disbelief, wickedness, and open sin to creep into some circles that only Allah knows their extent, until those people become helpers in the tyranny and aggression of the earthly powers—men of oppression and arrogance—who direct their hearts to aiding whomever they fancy among the high-handed and corrupt. They imagine that, because they possess certain “states” through which they can exert influence, they are counted among the friends of Allah.
The heart, to be sure, wields an influence far greater than that of the body; but if the heart is sound, its influence is sound, and if it is corrupt, its influence is corrupt. Thus the effects produced by spiritual states may at times be beloved to Allah and at other times detested by Him. The jurists have even discussed the obligation of retaliation against someone who murders by hidden, non-physical means, ruling that qiṣāṣ is due in such a case. Yet these people appeal to their inner experiences and to the universal decree, and they reckon that any mere breach of ordinary causation—whether an unveiling is granted them or an effect conforms to their wish—is a mark of divine honor. They do not realize that, in reality, it is a humiliation, and that true honor lies in steadfast uprightness.
Allah has not honored His servant with any blessing greater than enabling him to conform to what He loves and is pleased with—namely, obeying Him and His Messenger, befriending His friends, and opposing His enemies. Such are the friends of Allah about whom He has said in Sūrah Yūnus: “Indeed, the friends of Allah shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve.” If a person complies only with what Allah has made obligatory, he belongs to the rank of the moderate; but if he complies both with what is obligatory and with what Allah loves of voluntary acts, he belongs to those who are brought near. Every obligation is beloved, though not everything beloved is obligatory.
As for the trials with which Allah tests His servant—an extraordinary event, some other phenomenon, or a hardship—these are not, in themselves, signs of the servant’s honor or disgrace before his Lord. Some people attain felicity through them when they obey Allah regarding them, while others are ruined because they disobey Him. Allah the Exalted has said in Sūrah al-Fajr: “As for man, when his Lord tests him and honors him and bestows bounty upon him, he says, ‘My Lord has honored me.’ But when He tests him and restricts his provision, he says, ‘My Lord has humiliated me.’ No indeed!”
Accordingly, people with respect to such matters fall into three categories:
- Those whose ranks are raised by the extraordinary when they employ it in obedience.
- Those who, by employing it in disobedience—like Balaam and others—expose themselves to Allah’s punishment.
- Those for whom it is no more than a neutral, permissible affair.
The first group are the true believers who follow their Prophet—the master of the children of Adam—whose miracles served only as proof establishing Allah’s religion, or as an aid enabling him to obey Allah. Because of the din and confusion that have arisen over this issue, the Messenger of Allah—peace and blessings be upon him—forbade people from plunging headlong into it.