Section
The Ranks of “You Alone We Worship” in Knowledge and Practice

Servitude has ranks according to knowledge and practice. Its ranks in knowledge are two: knowledge of Allah and knowledge of His religion.

Knowledge of Him, glorified is He, has five aspects: knowledge of His essence, His attributes, His actions, His names, and His transcendence above all that is unbefitting of Him.

Knowledge of His religion is of two kinds. The first concerns His religion as revealed law: the straight path leading to Him. The second concerns His judgment in recompense, encompassing His reward and punishment. This knowledge also includes knowledge of His angels, His Books, and His messengers.

As for its ranks in knowledge, they are two: the rank of the people of the right hand, and the rank of the foremost, those brought near to Allah.

The rank of the people of the right hand consists in fulfilling obligations and avoiding prohibitions, while engaging in permissible acts and some disliked acts, and leaving some recommended acts undone.

The rank of those brought near consists in fulfilling obligations and recommended acts, avoiding prohibited and disliked acts, renouncing whatever will not benefit them in the Hereafter, and scrupulously avoiding whatever they fear may harm them.

For the elite among them, permissible acts have become, through intention, acts of obedience and means of drawing near to Allah. For them, no permissible act remains equally balanced between doing it and leaving it; rather, all their deeds are meritorious. Those below them leave permissible acts aside to occupy themselves with worship, whereas these perform them as acts of obedience and means of drawing near to Allah. Within these two ranks are degrees that none but Allah can enumerate.