then the phrase “in pursuit of Allah’s good pleasure” would have appeared in the accusative as the direct object of a verb—yet no such verb precedes it to govern it. Nor does the verse negate their act of innovation; on the contrary, it establishes it. The only governing word that precedes the phrase is “We prescribed,” which shows that the explanation we have offered is the correct one and that the phrase is a disjunctive exception. The sense is therefore: “They invented monasticism—we did not prescribe it for them; rather, We prescribed that they seek Allah’s good pleasure.” Seeking Allah’s pleasure is an obligation written upon all people, and it is attained by carrying out what is commanded and leaving what is forbidden, not by performing deeds for which there is no command or abandoning things that one has not been forbidden to abandon. Monasticism, however, entails doing what was never commanded and forsaking what was never forbidden.