“Whoever is pleased by his good deed and distressed by his evil deed is a believer.”

This is because Allah has made good deeds beloved to the believers and evil deeds hateful to them.

I say: His making all acts of disobedience hateful to them necessarily entails their loving all acts of obedience. Neglecting acts of obedience is itself disobedience; moreover, a person cannot abandon all acts of disobedience unless he engages in their opposite, which he will therefore love—namely, obedience. The heart must necessarily will something; if it hates all evil, it must desire good. A permissible act becomes good through a good intention and evil through an evil intention. No voluntary act occurs without an exercise of will. Hence the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said in an authentic hadith:

“The names most beloved to Allah are ʿAbd Allāh and ʿAbd al-Rahmān; the truest names are Hārith and Hammām; and the ugliest are Harb and Murrah.”

His statement that the truest names are Hārith and Hammām is because every human being is both a hammām and a hārith. A hārith is someone who earns and works, while a hammām is someone who frequently forms intentions—which are the beginning of volition. A human being is a living creature, and every living creature has sensation and moves by its will. Thus, whenever a person performs a permissible act, there must be some end toward which his intention is directed. Every intended end is sought either for its own sake or for the sake of something else.

If his ultimate aim and desire are to worship Allah alone, without partner—Allah being his God whom he worships, worshipping nothing else, and whom he loves more than anything else—then his will ultimately leads to seeking Allah’s Countenance. He is therefore rewarded for the permissible acts by which he intends to help himself perform acts of obedience. Thus, it is reported in the two Sahīh collections that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“A man’s spending on his family, when he seeks reward for it, is charity.”

It is also reported from him in the two Sahīh collections that he said to Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās when