If that captive king were to say, “My enemy has tightened my bonds, secured my fetters, fastened me with chains, and prevented me from rising toward You, fleeing to You, and travelling to Your gate. If You would dispatch troops from Your side to loosen my bonds, break my chains, and bring me out of his prison, I could present myself at Your door; otherwise I have no power to leave my cell or shatter my shackles,”—

then, should he utter those words merely as an argument against that Sovereign, rejecting His message and being content with the state he is in under his enemy, the Supreme King will abandon him to his condition and let him pursue what he has chosen.

But if he speaks them out of utter need for that Sovereign, displaying his helplessness and humiliation—acknowledging that he is too weak and incapable to reach Him on his own, to emerge from his enemy’s prison, or to free himself by his own strength—and recognizing that the perfection of the King’s favor, just as He sent him this very message, would be to reinforce him with some of His troops and servants who could help him escape, break the prison door, and undo his shackles; then, if the King grants him that aid, He has completed His bounty upon him. And if He leaves him, He has neither wronged him nor withheld any right that was his; rather, His praiseworthy wisdom has required that He withhold assistance and leave him in his cell—especially since He knows that the prison is His prison, that the enemy who confined him is one of His own subjects, a servant whose forelock is in His hand, unable to act except by His permission and will. Thus the King pays no heed to that enemy, fears him not, and believes he possesses no authority, benefit, or harm. Instead, He fixes His gaze upon His Master—the One who directs every affair and holds every forelock—devoting to Him alone fear and hope, entreaty and refuge, longing and awe; and it is then that the armies of victory and triumph descend upon him.

• The highest aspiration in seeking knowledge is to pursue the knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah, to grasp exactly what Allah and His Messenger intend, and to understand the limits of the revelation. The lowest aspiration among students is to confine their concern to tracking down eccentric issues that have never arisen and are not likely to arise, or that were