The fourth category is the praiseworthy one: those who have truly fulfilled the words:

“You alone we worship, and You alone we ask for help,”

and His words:

“So worship Him and put your trust in Him.”

They sought His help in obeying Him and acknowledged that He is their God, whom alone they may worship, through obedience to Him and His Messenger. They acknowledged that He is their Lord:

“They have no protector or intercessor besides Him.”

They also acknowledged the truths expressed in His words:

“Whatever mercy Allah grants to people, none can withhold; and whatever He withholds, none can release thereafter.”

“If Allah touches you with harm, none can remove it except Him; and if He intends good for you, none can repel His bounty.”

“Say, ‘Have you considered those you invoke besides Allah? If Allah intended harm for me, could they remove His harm? Or if He intended mercy for me, could they withhold His mercy?’”

For this reason, a number of scholars have said: “Turning to causes constitutes associating partners with Allah, contrary to His oneness; denying that causes are causes is a deficiency in reason; and disregarding causes altogether undermines the revealed law.” The trust in Allah that is commanded brings together the requirements of monotheism, reason, and the revealed law.

It has thus become clear that anyone who considers trust in Allah to be one of the spiritual stations of ordinary followers of the path has made a grave error, even if he is a leading shaykh—such as the author of ‘Ilal al-Maqāmāt (The Defects of the Spiritual Stations), who is among the most eminent shaykhs, and from whom the author of Mahāsin al-Majālis (The Merits of Gatherings) adopted this view.

The weakness of the argument advanced by those who hold this view has also become clear: they suppose that trust in Allah serves only the interests of ordinary people and contributes nothing to attaining the intended goal. The same applies to those who regard supplication in this way. This is akin to regarding the commanded deeds in the same way—as in the case of someone whose preoccupation with trusting in Allah distracts him from what is required of him in the way of