samāʿ (devotional listening) and recount stories about certain spiritual masters whose faults and failings they would have done better to conceal. Such conduct is akin to associating partners with Allah and goes hand in hand with disbelief.

Let the spiritual aspirant beware of sitting and mingling with youths, for even a little of this opens the door to being forsaken by Allah and marks the beginning of estrangement from Him. We seek refuge in Allah from an adverse decree.

Here is an important and beneficial principle that must be considered: as we have mentioned, matters condemned by the revealed Law are those whose harm outweighs their benefit, just as praiseworthy matters are those whose benefit outweighs their harm. Benefit predominates in good deeds, and harm predominates in evil deeds. Good deeds have degrees, some higher than others, and some evil deeds are graver than others. Just as those who do good are divided into the righteous who follow a middle course and the foremost who are brought near to Allah, those who do evil are divided into wicked wrongdoers and disbelievers who deny the truth. All of these have their respective degrees before Allah.

It is well known that the greater the good deeds, the more excellent the person who performs them. Thus, when a person moves from a good deed to a better one, he draws ever nearer to Allah; but if he