or that his sole ambition is to catalogue the points of disagreement and chase after people’s various opinions, with no real concern for knowing which of those views is actually correct; seldom does anyone of this sort profit from the knowledge he amasses.

• The loftiest aspiration in the realm of will is for one’s resolve to be bound to love of Allah and to standing with what He wants in terms of His religious, prescriptive will. The lowest is for one’s resolve to stand with one’s own want from Allah; such a person worships Him only for what he hopes to get from Him, not for what Allah wants from him. The first seeks Allah and seeks what He seeks; the second seeks something from Allah while remaining heedless of His will.

• The scholars of ill intent sit at the very gate of Paradise: with their tongues they invite people to it, but with their deeds they beckon them toward the Fire. Whenever their words say to the people, “Come!” their actions cry out, “Do not listen to them!” If what they were calling to were really true, they would have been the first to respond. In outward appearance they are guides; in reality they are highway robbers.

• If Allah alone is your portion and your aim, then every form of bounty will follow after you and draw near—whichever of its kinds you choose to begin with. But if your portion is merely what you can obtain from Him, bounty will be withheld from you, for it is in His hand, subordinate to Him, an act among His acts. When Allah Himself is granted to you, bounty comes along incidentally and as a corollary; whereas if bounty itself is your goal, you will not attain Allah incidentally or as a corollary. Should you have already come to know Him and feel at ease with Him, only to slip back into seeking bounty, He will deprive you of it as a punishment, and thus you will lose both Allah and the bounty.

Section

When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ emerged from the enemy’s siege, he entered the fortresses of victory. The hands of his raiding parties began to toy with triumph on every frontier, his fame spread to the horizons, and people in relation to him fell into three groups: those who believed in him, those who made peace with him, and those who feared him.

He cast the seed of patience into the field of the divine command, “So be patient, just as the Messengers endowed with firm resolve were patient” (Q 46:35), and before long the branches of the crop quivered, fragrant with the blossoms of “All violations demand equivalent retaliation” (Q 2:194). Then he entered Mecca in a manner unmatched by anyone before him or after him: around him stood the Emigrants and the Helpers, only the whites of their eyes visible beneath their armor; the Companions were arrayed in their ranks, the angels hovered above their heads, and Gabriel was going back and forth between him and his Lord. Allah had made His Sacred Precinct lawful for him—a concession granted to no one but him (1).