what is wrong—involves two objectionable things: suggesting that the servant somehow shares in Allah’s authority when he obeys and worships Him, and setting aside the protective indignation that He has commanded and loves.

These words sound as though their speaker has never contended with divine decrees by his own efforts and for his own ends, as do rival kings and mutually hostile nations among the people of ignorance, neither side obeying Allah and His Messenger through its fighting. Rather, each follows its own desires and departs from obedience to its Lord. When both sides are equally engaged in disobedience to Allah, a believer does well to turn away from them and support neither, inwardly or outwardly. But when the undertaking is an act of worship of his Lord, in which he seeks His help, how can turning away from it be the way of Allah’s righteous servants and His pious allies? Is turning away from this anything but the way of the ignorant and unjust, who defy the command of the Lord of all worlds?

As for Shaykh Abū ʿUthmān’s statement, “Protective indignation belongs to the practice of spiritual aspirants, but not to people of spiritual realization,” he did not mean thereby—and Allah knows best—indignation at the violation of Allah’s sacred limits, which is the protective indignation prescribed by the religion. For Shaykh Abū ʿUthmān’s standing is too exalted for him to