his Lord and restrained his soul from desire, Paradise will indeed be his refuge.”

And as He says:

“You wished that the unarmed group would be yours.”

As for someone who does not abstain from harmful things, this will cause him harm in the end. Someone who takes what benefits him, despite some dietary indiscretion, is better off than someone who observes complete abstinence and consumes nothing in secret. Complete abstinence without nourishment causes illness. The same applies to someone who abandons bad deeds but does no good deeds.

We have already explained in a “comprehensive discussion” that good deeds, as a whole, are more beneficial than refraining from bad deeds, as is likewise the case with nourishment and abstinence. We explained that the former is sought for its own sake, whereas the latter is sought for the sake of something else, in conjunction with it.

Just as one must avoid the cause of illness before it occurs and remove it once it has occurred, so too, with illnesses of the heart, one must preserve health from the outset and continue restoring it whenever illness arises. Health is maintained through what resembles it, while illness is removed through its opposite. Thus, the heart’s health is preserved by employing things akin to what it already contains, or whatever strengthens knowledge and faith, such as remembrance, reflection, and prescribed acts of worship. It is lost through their opposites. Thus, doubts are removed by clear proofs, and love of falsehood is removed by hatred of it and love of the truth.

For this reason, Yahyā ibn ‘Ammār said:

“Knowledge is of five kinds. One kind gives life to this world: knowledge of Allah’s oneness. Another nourishes religion: knowledge concerned with recalling the meanings of the Quran and hadith. Another is a remedy for religion: knowledge of issuing religious rulings. When a person faces a difficult case, he needs someone who