In short, his protective jealousy demands that all his states, words, and deeds be devoted to Allah alone; likewise, he is jealous over his time, lest a single moment slip away in something that does not earn the pleasure of his Beloved.

This is the servant’s jealousy—directed against anyone or anything that competes with him, hinders him, or cuts him off from the good pleasure of his Beloved.

By contrast, the jealousy of the Beloved toward His servant is His aversion to the servant’s heart turning from love of Him to the love of another so that anyone might share in that love.

For this reason, the jealousy of Allah is that the servant should approach what has been forbidden to him (1). Because of that very jealousy, exalted is He, He has forbidden every form of indecency, outward and inward (2). All creatures are His male and female slaves; He is jealous over His maidservants just as a master is jealous over his bondwomen—yet to Allah belongs the highest comparison. He is also jealous over His slaves should their love be directed to other than Him, driving them to idolize physical forms and to commit the indecency that follows.

• Whoever so magnifies Allah’s majesty in his heart that he cannot bring himself to disobey Him, Allah will establish that person’s dignity in people’s hearts so that they are unable to abase him.

• When the roots (3) of true knowledge take hold in the soil of the heart, the tree of love sprouts; once it is firmly established and strong, it bears the fruit of obedience, and that tree continues “to yield its fruit at every season, by the leave of its Lord” [Ibrahim 25].

• The first station on the travelers’ path is His saying: “Remember Allah with much remembrance (41), and glorify Him morning….” [Al-Ahzab 41]