does not ward off their harm. If it did, Allah’s prophets and His pious allies would have been better able to attain this witnessing and thereby shield themselves from the harm of sins.
Some of these people imagine that if the True One grants them a spiritual state through which they can exercise power, together with unveiling, He will not hold them accountable for how they exercise that power. This is like imagining that if He grants someone dominion, He will not hold him accountable for how he exercises it. Yet the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:
“O Allah, none can withhold what You give, and none can give what You withhold; nor can good fortune avail its possessor against You.”
He thus explained that although Allah is the One who gives and withholds, a fortunate person’s good fortune does not benefit him; only faith and righteous deeds benefit him.
This is a fundamental principle concerning which error has led many people astray. Indeed, many of these people have gone so far as to claim that Allah’s pious allies fight His prophets and assist His enemies, and that they are commanded to do so. This is a satanic command pertaining to the divine decree. Hence some of them say:
“The disbelievers have protectors among Allah’s allies, just as the Muslims have protectors among Allah’s allies.”
Many of them imagine that the Companions of the Portico fought against the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, during one of his campaigns, and that he said:
“O my companions, are you abandoning me and leaving me?”
They replied, “We are with Allah. Whoever is with Allah, we are with him.”
They deem it permissible to fight the prophets and kill them. As one of their well-known shaykhs who lived in Syria said, “If I killed seventy prophets, I would not be in the wrong.” For in their witnessing, nothing is beloved to Allah, pleasing to Him, or willed by Him except what actually occurs. Whatever occurs, Allah loves it and is pleased with it; whatever does not occur, Allah neither loves it nor is pleased with it.