The eighth distinction:

When evil comes from the soul, it is vile and blameworthy. Its vileness is described in such statements as His words:

“Vile things are for vile people.”

The majority of the early Muslims said: “Vile words are for vile people.” Some said: “Vile words and deeds are for vile people.” He, Most High, also says:

“Allah sets forth a parable: a good word”—up to His words—“And the likeness of a vile word is that of a vile tree.”

And He says:

“To Him ascends good speech, and righteous deeds raise it.”

Words and deeds are attributes of the person who speaks and acts. Thus, when a soul is characterized by evil and vileness, it belongs only in a place suited to it. Whoever wishes to have snakes and scorpions live among people like cats will not succeed. Nor will anyone who wishes to make falsehood serve as a witness, an ignorant person a teacher, or a fool a ruler.

Vile souls are therefore unfit to dwell in the pure abode of Paradise. Rather, if a soul contains any vileness, it is purified and refined, as stated in the authentic collection:

“When the believers have been saved from the Fire, they will be detained on a bridge”—to the end of the hadith.

When a person knows that evil comes from his own soul, he will not expect complete happiness while evil remains within him. Rather, he will recognize the truth of His words:

“Whoever does evil will be recompensed for it.”

And His words:

“Whoever does an atom’s weight of good will see it, and whoever does an atom’s weight of evil will see it.”

He will know that the Lord’s actions follow the rule of justice and beneficence. In the authentic collection it is stated:

“Allah’s right hand is full”—to the end of the hadith.

He will also recognize the falsity of the position of the Jahmiyyah, who hold that reward and punishment have no underlying wisdom. He, glorified be He, has borne witness that there is no deity worthy of worship except Him, as have the angels and those endowed with knowledge, while He upholds justice. Their aim was to oppose