So when a person fails to perceive this truth, he sees himself as worthy and entitled to the blessing. Self-admiration fills him; he becomes arrogant because of the favor, exalts himself through it, and looks down on others. His only share of it is exultation and boastfulness, as Allah says: “If We let man taste a mercy from Us and then withdraw it from him, he is indeed despairing and ungrateful. And if We let him taste prosperity after hardship has touched him, he will surely say, ‘The evils have gone from me.’ Truly he is exultant, boastful.” [Hūd 9–10]

Thus Allah censures him for despair and ingratitude when tried with hardship, and for joy and pride when tested with prosperity. Instead of praising, thanking, and extolling Allah when the affliction was lifted, he said, “The evils have gone from me.” Had he said, “Allah has removed the evils from me by His mercy and grace,” he would not have been blamed; on the contrary, he would have been praised. But he was heedless of the Benefactor Who dispelled the harm, ascribed its disappearance to itself, and proceeded to rejoice and boast.

When Allah, glorified be He, knows this to reside in a servant’s heart, it becomes one of the greatest causes of that servant’s khidhlān (abandonment) and of Allah’s withdrawing from him; for his vessel is unfit to receive the unrestricted, perfect blessing. Allah the Exalted says: “Indeed, the worst of creatures in the sight of Allah are the deaf and dumb who do not reason. Had Allah known any good in them, He would have made them hear; but even if He made them hear, they would still turn away, averting.” [al-Anfāl 22–23] Here He informs us that their receptacle is unsuited to His favor, and that, in addition to their lack of receptivity, another barrier exists: even were they to recognize the favor and be certain of it, they would still turn away from it and avoid it.

One must also realize that the causes of khidhlān lie in leaving the soul upon the state in which it was originally created, neglecting it and letting it go unchecked; the causes of abandonment spring from the soul itself and are contained within it. By contrast, the causes of tawfīq (divine enablement) come from Allah’s making the soul receptive to His blessing; the causes of enablement, therefore, are from Him and from His bounty. He is the One who created both conditions—just as He created parts of the earth conducive to vegetation and others that are not, and trees of which some bear fruit and others do not.