the scholastic theologians, the jurists, the Sufis, and others besides them.

The fourth view:
It is the position of the early generations of the Muslim community and its leading imams. They hold that the very knowledge of Allah Most High and love of Him are objectives in their own right; that Allah, exalted be He, is worthy of love and worship in and of Himself—there is no god but Him—and that nothing else may be loved and worshipped for its own sake. They further affirm that He, glorified is He, loves His servants who love Him, is pleased with them, rejoices at the repentance of the penitent; and that He detests and loathes the unbelievers, becomes angry with them, and censures them. All of this contains far-reaching wisdoms and countless causal factors whose full exposition would be too lengthy for this discourse, having been set out elsewhere; the aim here is merely to note that, on this point, the Muslims surpass all others in beneficial knowledge and righteous action.

Once the various doctrines regarding the aims of worship are understood, people also differ about the qualities of those acts. Some imagine that whatever is most strenuous for the soul and most suppressive of its desires is superior; this is the view of many of