—are the very things for which souls hanker in this world: authority, wealth, and women. Yet he turned away from accepting the world, even though it represents the fullest wish of all who pursue it, and he declared that it was simply impossible for him to abandon the duty laid upon him—to convey the message.

The Exalted also said:

“Indeed they were on the verge of luring you away from what We have revealed to you, so that you might invent something else about Us; and then they would have taken you as an intimate friend. Had We not made you stand firm, you were about to incline toward them a little. In that case We would have made you taste double punishment in life and double after death, and then you would have found for yourself no helper against Us. And they were close to stirring you up to drive you out of the land; but, were that to happen, they themselves would not remain after you except for a short while. Such has been the way of those messengers We sent before you, and you will never find any change in Our way.” (Al-Isrāʾ 73–77).