As for jealousy among the people of the path, they may mean jealousy in its religiously prescribed sense: a believer’s jealousy lest Allah’s sacred limits be violated. They include within this the refusal of those brought near to Allah, out of jealousy, to let any of their affairs be for other than Him. They may thereby mean being jealous lest what the True One loves and is pleased with be directed where it does not belong. This is close to the preceding meaning.

They may also mean being jealous lest anyone else share with them in the path of the True One and His gifts. This amounts to envy and arrogance, resembling the jealousy of co-wives over a husband, or of males over a female.

They may also mean being jealous over the True One lest anyone mention Him, know Him, or look upon Him, just as someone is jealous over a dearly cherished beloved.

This is like what was previously related from al-Shiblī, and what he recounted from one of them, saying: “One of them was asked, ‘Do you wish to see Him?’ He replied, ‘No.’ He was asked, ‘Why not?’ He replied, ‘I deem that beauty too exalted for the gaze of one such as me.’”