and others like them who entered Christianity yet failed to carry out its obligations; instead, they selected from it whatever suited their desires. Consequently, their unbelief and the censure that follows it are more severe than that of people who are less evil than they, for the Fire has levels just as the Garden has degrees.

Moreover, when Allah, exalted is He, prescribes something for His servants, He does not prescribe it ‘in pursuit of His good pleasure’; rather, it is the servants who do what they do in pursuit of Allah’s good pleasure.

Again, to single out monasticism by claiming that He prescribed it ‘in pursuit of Allah’s good pleasure,’ to the exclusion of everything else, is an unwarranted distinction. Even with regard to the matters He did prescribe in the first place, He never said that He prescribed them in pursuit of His good pleasure—so how could that be said of monasticism?

As for the claim of those who say, “They only practised it in pursuit of Allah’s good pleasure,” even if the wording supported such a meaning, it would still contain no praise for monasticism. Whoever does something that Allah has neither commanded—indeed, has forbidden—may, because of his good intention, be rewarded for that intention, but he is not rewarded for the act that has been forbidden, nor for something that is neither obligatory nor recommended. How much more so when the wording itself does not support that meaning? For Allah says,

“We did not prescribe it for them, but [We prescribed] seeking Allah’s good pleasure.” [57:27]

He did not say, “They only performed it in pursuit of Allah’s good pleasure,” nor did He say, “They only invented it in pursuit of Allah’s good pleasure.” Had the intended meaning been that they only performed it, or only invented it, in pursuit of Allah’s good pleasure