thing nor the power to bestow it.
His statement: “And that to your Lord is the final return” (42) ⦗al-Najm 53:42⦘ encloses a tremendous treasure: every object of desire that is not pursued for His sake and linked back to Him is destined to wither and cease, for the journey does not end with it. The end lies only with the One to whom all matters have finally returned—their creation, decree, wisdom, and knowledge all culminate in Him. He is therefore the ultimate aim of every pursuit. Any beloved not loved for His sake turns that love into hardship and torment; every deed not performed for His sake is squandered and void; and every heart that fails to reach Him is wretched, barred from its happiness and success.
Thus, everything that may be sought from Him is gathered in His words, “There is nothing but that with Us are its treasuries,” while everything that must be sought for Him is gathered in His words, “And that to your Lord is the final return” (42). Beyond Him, exalted is He, no further goal can be sought, and beneath Him there is no station at which the journey may conclude.
Within this lies a profound secret of tawḥīd: the heart finds no stability, reassurance, or rest except by arriving at Him. Whatever else is loved or desired is only loved for something beyond itself, whereas the One who is loved for His own sake is a single Being—toward Him alone is the end. It is impossible that the final end belong to two, just as it is impossible that creation’s beginning come from two.
Whoever lets the terminus of his love, longing, intent, and obedience rest with anyone other than Him will see all of that invalidated; it will leave him and forsake him when he needs it most. But whoever makes Him, exalted is He, the end of his love, desire, fear, and quest will attain His bliss, delight, joy, and everlasting felicity for all eternity.
The servant is ever fluctuating between the rulings of commands and the rulings of calamities: he needs—indeed, is compelled to seek—assistance when confronted with commands and gentle kindness when visited by calamities. In proportion to his fulfilment of the commands he will receive gentle kindness during calamities; and if his fulfilment is perfected