comes in many forms, and the finest replacement is intimacy with Allah, love for Him, the heart’s serenity in Him, its strength, vitality, joy, and contentment with its Lord, Exalted is He.

• The most witless of people is the one who loses his way at the end of the journey, when the destination is within sight.

• Minds graced with divine success see that what the Messenger ﷺ brought is the very truth, fully in harmony with reason and wisdom; minds stricken with abandonment, however, imagine a clash between reason and revelation, and between wisdom and Sacred Law.

• The closest means of drawing near to Allah are three: constant adherence to the sunnah, outwardly and inwardly; perpetual dependence on Allah; and seeking His Countenance alone through word and deed. No one has ever reached Allah except by these three, and no one is cut off from Him except by abandoning them, or one of them.

• The servant’s happiness rests on three foundations, each with its opposite. Whoever lacks a foundation falls into its opposite: tawḥīd (monotheism) versus shirk (polytheism); the sunnah versus bidʿah (innovation); and obedience versus disobedience. These three also share a single opposite: a heart devoid of longing for Allah and what is with Him, and devoid of fear of Him and of what is with Him.

A Lofty Principle

Allah the Exalted says, “Thus We make the signs distinct so that the way of the criminals becomes clear.” (6:55)

And He says, “Whoever opposes the Messenger after guidance has become clear to him and follows a way other than that of the believers, We shall turn him over to that which he has chosen…” (4:115)

Allah, Exalted is He, has set out in His Book—in detailed fashion—the path of the believers and the path of the criminals