and that this is among the greatest paths followed by Allah’s friends. Thus, they made contentment with every event and occurrence, or with every state a servant finds himself in, a path to Allah, and so went clearly astray. The path to Allah is simply to please Him by doing what He loves and is pleased with—not to be content with everything that happens and comes to pass. He has neither commanded you to do that, nor approved of it for you, nor loved it. Rather, He, glorified is He, dislikes, is displeased with, and hates particular things or actions that exist, whose number none but He can reckon.

Friendship with Allah consists in aligning yourself with Him: loving what He loves, hating what He hates, disliking what He dislikes, being displeased with what displeases Him, befriending those He befriends, and opposing those He opposes. If you love and are pleased with what displeases Him and what He dislikes, you are His enemy, not His friend. Every condemnation incurred by those who are pleased with what displeases Allah applies to you as well. Reflect on this, for it draws attention to a fundamental principle concerning which countless ascetics, Sufis, and ordinary worshippers have gone astray—so many that none but Allah can reckon them.