by believer and disbeliever alike. Distinguishing between these two kinds makes clear the distinction between “religious realities”—which belong to the worship of Allah, His religion, and His legislative command, which He loves and is pleased with, and whose adherents He takes as allies and honours with His Paradise—and “cosmic realities,” which believers and disbelievers, the righteous and the wicked, all share. Whoever contents himself with the latter without following the religious realities is among the followers of the accursed Iblīs and those who disbelieve in the Lord of all worlds. Whoever contents himself with them in some matters but not others, or at a particular spiritual station or in a particular state, suffers a diminution in his faith and his standing as an ally of Allah in proportion to his neglect of the religious realities.

This is a matter of immense importance in which many have erred and which has caused great confusion among those travelling the spiritual path. Indeed, so many eminent shaykhs claiming spiritual realization, monotheism, and spiritual knowledge have slipped here that none can count them except Allah, who knows what is concealed and what is made public.

Shaykh ʿAbd al-Qādir—may Allah have mercy on him—pointed to this in what has been related from him. He explained:

“Many men, when they reach the matter of divine decree and predestination, hold back. But not I: an opening was made for me in this matter, so I contended with the decrees of the Truth, through the Truth and for the Truth. A true man is one who contends with destiny, not one who simply goes along with it.”

What the shaykh—may Allah have mercy on him—described is precisely what Allah and His Messenger commanded. Yet many men have erred: they may witness the acts of disobedience and sins decreed for one of them, or such things decreed for people generally—even disbelief—and witness that all this occurs by Allah’s will, decree, and predestination, falls under the governance of His lordship, and follows from His will