to meaning. Thus, if there is no meaning to be sought, nothing remains but bare wording, leading him into things that corrupt the heart: affected eloquence, pompous speech, hardness of heart, and heedlessness of Allah.
As for his statement, “The essence of religious obligation is for one’s innermost self to be occupied with remembering Allah Most High and reflecting on His words. It is therefore quite conceivable that keeping the servant’s mind attentive and his thoughts constantly occupied with this holds immense benefit for him,” the reply is: this is so only when understanding it is possible. But if the servant is certain that no one has any way of understanding it, his mind will not attend to its meaning, his thoughts will not be occupied with it, nor will his innermost self be occupied with remembering Allah Most High and reflecting on His words on this basis. He reflects on His words only when he hopes to understand them, or has understood them and seeks a deeper understanding. As for words that he is certain no one understands, he does not reflect on them.
The extent to which one’s innermost self is occupied with remembering Allah Most High depends on one’s knowledge. If the door to knowledge is closed, the innermost self will be occupied only with bare wording. The heart is neither purified nor set right by that, nor can Allah be worshipped and loved through mere wording whose meaning no one knows. This is why we find that those who have despaired of knowing the meaning have turned their hearts away from it, neither calling it to mind nor reflecting on it—much like the turning away of