ascend to the celestial sphere from the other side.” Although this is possible in terms of what can be done, it is impossible in the sense that a person seeking his goal cannot will such a course. It runs contrary to the innate disposition, for a person seeks his goal by the shortest route, especially when the One he seeks is the One he worships and relies upon. If he turns towards Him by a path other than the straight path, his journey is inverted and reversed.

Moreover, in his journey and intention, such a person combines negation with affirmation: drawing nearer to the One he seeks while moving farther away from Him, seeking Him while recoiling from Him. For if he turns towards Him by the most distant and remote route, abandoning the nearest and shortest one, he combines two contradictory intentions. His intention to seek Him is therefore not complete, since a complete intention excludes its contradiction and opposite. This is known through the innate disposition.

If someone loves the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, with complete love and seeks him—or loves anyone else, whether that love is praiseworthy or blameworthy—then whenever his love is complete and he seeks his beloved, he takes the shortest route by which he can reach him.

This differs from the case in which his love is conflicted. For example, he may love something that religion disapproves of loving, so that his desire continues to urge him to seek it while his reason forbids him from doing so. You therefore see him approaching it by a roundabout route, as people commonly say: “One foot forward and one foot back.”

Likewise, if his religious commitment is deficient, and his reason bids him go to the mosque, undertake jihad, or pursue other goals that religion commends but the soul dislikes, he continues towards that goal by a roundabout route, moving slowly along the way. All this is known through the innate disposition.