Thus every kind of corruption is bound up with following caprice and nurturing long-range hopes, whereas every kind of rectitude lies in following guidance and preparing for the encounter. And Allah alone is the One whose help is sought.

• How strange it is to see someone who, when a worldly need confronts him, turns all his longing and resolve toward Allah so that He might grant it, yet never takes the trouble to ask that his heart be brought to life from the death of ignorance and heedlessness, or that it be cured of the diseases of lusts and doubts! Once the heart dies, however, it no longer even feels its own disobedience.

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Allah, exalted is He, has over His servant three constant realities: a command He has enjoined upon him, a decree He ordains for him, and a blessing He bestows upon him. The servant is never without these three. The decree is of two kinds—either calamities or moral defects—and in every one of these situations the servant owes an act of servitude.

The most beloved of people to Him is the one who understands his servitude in all these situations and fulfills it as it ought to be fulfilled; such a person is the one closest to Him. The most distant from Him is the one who is ignorant of his servitude in these situations and therefore abandons it in both knowledge and practice.

His servitude with respect to the command is to carry it out with sincerity, following the example of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). His servitude with respect to the prohibition is to stay clear of it out of fear of Allah, reverence, and love.

His servitude with respect to the decree of calamities begins with patience; above patience is contentment, and above contentment is gratitude. This is attainable only when love for Allah is firmly rooted in the heart and the servant perceives the beauty of Allah’s choice for him, His generosity, His tenderness, and His beneficence to him through the very calamity he dislikes.