Allah.”

If Allah has guaranteed him victory even though he has already exacted his full due, what of someone who has exacted none of his due, but patiently endures aggression? No sins bring swifter punishment than oppression and severing ties of kinship. Allah’s established way is such that, were one mountain to oppress another, He would level the aggressor to the ground.

The fourth means is reliance upon Allah. Whoever relies upon Allah, He is sufficient for him.

Reliance upon Allah is among the strongest means by which a servant wards off harm, injustice, and aggression from others that he cannot withstand. It is among the most powerful means of doing so, for Allah is sufficient for him—that is, He takes care of him. Whoever has Allah to suffice and protect him gives his enemy no hope of overcoming him. His enemy can cause him only such unavoidable discomfort as heat and cold, hunger and thirst; but he can never harm him in a way that achieves his purpose.

There is a difference between hurt that outwardly causes him pain but in reality benefits him and harms the aggressor himself, and harm through which his enemy satisfies his spite against him. One of the early generations said:

Allah has assigned every deed a recompense of its own kind, but He has made the recompense for relying upon Him His own sufficiency for His servant. He says:

65:3 “And whoever relies upon Allah, He is sufficient for him.”

He did not say, “We shall give him such-and-such a reward,” as He said concerning other deeds. Rather, He, glorified be He, has made Himself sufficient for the servant who relies upon Him, taking care of him and protecting him. If a servant relied upon Allah as he truly should, then even if the heavens and the earth and all within them plotted against him, his Lord would provide him with a way out, suffice him, and grant him victory.

We have discussed the true nature of reliance upon Allah, its benefits, its immense usefulness, and the servant’s pressing need for it in Kitāb al-Fath al-Qudsī. There we also explained the error of one who classified it among the deficient spiritual stations and regarded it as a station for ordinary believers. We refuted his claim on many grounds and explained that it is among the most exalted stations of those who know Allah. The higher a servant’s station, the greater and more pressing his need to rely upon Allah; and his reliance is proportionate to his faith.

Our purpose here, however, is only to mention the means by which the evil of the envier, the one who casts the evil eye, the sorcerer, and the aggressor may be warded off.