It is, in reality, a composite made up of: knowing what the Messenger ﷺ brought as knowledge; believing it with conviction; acknowledging it verbally; submitting to it out of love and humility; acting upon it inwardly and outwardly; and putting it into effect and calling others to it as far as one can.

Its perfection lies in: loving for Allah, hating for Allah, giving for Allah, withholding for Allah, and having Allah alone as one’s God and object of worship.

The path to it is to follow His Messenger with unmixed devotion, outwardly and inwardly, and to close the eye of the heart to everything other than Allah and His Messenger.

Success is granted only by Allah.

Whoever occupies himself with Allah instead of with his own self, Allah relieves him of the burden of his self; whoever occupies himself with Allah instead of with people, Allah relieves him of the burden of the people; whoever occupies himself with his self instead of with Allah, Allah hands him over to his self; and whoever occupies himself with people instead of with Allah, Allah hands him over to them.

A Significant Benefit
Only the one who abandons familiar habits and customs for other than Allah finds hardship in leaving them. As for the one who relinquishes them truthfully and sincerely from his heart for Allah’s sake, he feels hardship only at the first moment—so that he may be tested: is he truthful in his renunciation or false? If he endures that brief hardship, it turns into delight.

Ibn Sīrīn said: “I heard Shurayḥ swear by Allah that no servant ever left something for the sake of Allah and then felt its loss.”

Their saying, “Whoever leaves something for Allah’s sake, Allah will replace it with something better” (1) is true, and the compensation