The same is true of the angels. Were the people of Paradise not to take pleasure in that glorification, which is to them like breathing, this would not be so.

The authentic hadith cited earlier also contains the words:

“He gave them nothing dearer to them than looking upon Him.”

The third possible meaning is that the servant neither fears what harms him, such as the pain of punishment, nor desires what he needs, such as food and drink. This is impossible, for whatever Allah has made the servant need, such that its absence causes him pain, he must desire to obtain and fear going without. As for something he enjoys without suffering pain at its absence, such as the food and drink of the people of Paradise, he desires it but does not fear going without it.

Thus, the existence of that supreme pleasure attained through knowing Allah and seeing Him does not preclude the existence of other pleasures attained through experiencing certain created things. Those among the Jahmiyyah and Mu‘tazilah, and those who agree with them, who deny only the former are mistaken. Those among the philosophers and the Sufis who follow their path who deny the latter are also mistaken.

Yet these philosophers do not affirm the reality of the former, for they do not affirm that the Lord is loved by the angels and the believers. Instead, they make the ultimate goal their resemblance to Him, not their love for Him. There is a difference between the ultimate goal being for one to be like another,