“I kept company with thirty of the abdāl, each of whom, when parting from me, advised me not to keep company with youths.” One of them said: “No servant falls from Allah’s favour except through keeping company with these foul ones.”

Gazing then strengthens love, which becomes attachment, as the heart attaches itself to the beloved; then ardent longing, as the heart pours itself towards the beloved; then clinging passion, which holds fast to the heart like a creditor who never leaves his debtor; then passionate love, until it becomes utter enslavement. The word mutayyam means “enslaved”, and Taym Allāh means “servant of Allah”. The heart thus becomes the slave of someone unfit to be a brother, or even a servant. This afflicts only those who turn away from sincere devotion to Allah, as the Most High said concerning Joseph:

“Thus We turned evil and immorality away from him. Indeed, he was one of Our chosen servants.”

The wife of al-ʿAzīz was a polytheist, and despite being married, she fell into the evil she committed. Joseph, however, was protected by Allah through his sincere devotion to Him, despite being unmarried, despite her attempts to seduce him and her enlistment of the women’s help against him, and despite her punishing him with imprisonment for remaining chaste. This fulfilled the words He relates:

“I will surely mislead them all, except Your chosen servants among them.”

The Most High said:

“Indeed, you will have no authority over My servants, except those of the wayward who follow you.”

Waywardness means following one’s desires, and this matter is among the greatest avenues of following desires. Those who advocate passionate love for beautiful forms—whether philosophers such as Ibn Sīnā and his like, Persians, as is related of some of them, or ignorant Sufis—are people of misguidance and waywardness. Besides sharing in the Jews’ waywardness and the Christians’ misguidance, they have surpassed both communities in this regard. For