the deviators—those whose very deviation stemmed from their refusal to accept the covenant, or from accepting it grudgingly, without embracing it with strength and resolve, without ever rousing themselves to understand it, reflect upon it, act by it, and carry out its commands. The covenant was presented to them while the recklessness of youth, the religion of habit, and the customs they had inherited from fathers and mothers still clung to them. They therefore received the covenant like someone already satisfied with whatever he found his forebears and predecessors upon, rather than like one who musters all his energy and heart to grasp the covenant and live by it—as though the covenant had come to him alone and someone had said, “Ponder what it contains, then act accordingly!”

Because he does not receive his covenant in that way, he sinks back into the ways of his relatives and the entrenched habits of his family, friends, neighbours, and townsfolk. Should his ambition rise a little higher, he merely settles upon what his ancestors practised, paying no heed to pondering and understanding the covenant, content to make his religion nothing more than the religion of custom.

When Satan scents this man and sees that such is the limit of his aspiration and resolve, he strikes him with bigotry and blind zeal for his forefathers, beautifying for him the notion that this alone is the truth and that whatever contradicts it is falsehood. Through that ignorant zealotry he makes guidance appear to be misguidance and misguidance appear to be guidance, so that all the man now desires is to remain with his clan and his people, sharing in their gains and their losses. Thus he is forsaken when it comes to guidance, and Allah leaves him to what he has chosen; even if every form of guidance opposing his tribe and clan were to come to him, he would see it only as error.

But if his aspiration is loftier, his soul nobler, and his worth higher, he turns to preserving his covenant, understanding it, and reflecting on it. He realises that the bearer of the covenant occupies a status unlike that of others, so he obliges himself to know his Lord through the covenant itself. There he finds that Allah has indeed made Himself known to him—revealing His essence, attributes, names, acts, and rulings. From that covenant he comes to know a Lord who is Self-Subsisting, the One who sustains all else; independent of everything while everything is dependent upon Him; established upon His Throne above all creation; seeing and hearing, pleased and angered, loving and hating; directing the affairs of His dominion while He is above His Throne, speaking, commanding, forbidding, and sending His messengers