Thus Allah, glorified be He, created His servants with an innate disposition to love and worship Him alone. If that disposition remains uncorrupted, the heart knows Allah, loves Him, and worships Him alone. Yet a person’s innate disposition becomes corrupted through the sickness afflicting him—as when his parents make him a Jew, a Christian, or a Magian. All these things alter the innate disposition with which he was created, even though they occur by Allah’s decree and predestination—just as the body is altered by mutilation. He may then return to his innate disposition if Allah Most High provides someone who strives to restore him to it. The messengers, may Allah bless them and grant them peace, were sent to affirm and perfect the innate disposition, not to change or transform it. When the heart loves Allah alone and devotes its religion sincerely to Him, it is not afflicted with love for anyone else at all, let alone passionate infatuation. Whenever it is afflicted with infatuation, this is due to its deficient love for Allah alone.

Thus Joseph, who loved Allah and devoted his religion sincerely to Him, was not afflicted with this. Rather, Allah Most High said:

“Thus We turned evil and indecency away from him. Indeed, he was one of Our chosen servants.”

The minister’s wife, however, was a polytheist, as were her people; hence she was afflicted with infatuation. No one is afflicted with infatuation except because of a deficiency in his affirmation of Allah’s oneness and his faith. By contrast, the heart that turns to Allah and fears Him has two things that turn it away from infatuation:

(The first is its turning to Allah and its love for Him. This is sweeter and more delightful than anything else, so alongside love for Allah, no love for a created being remains to compete with it.