for the soul, and has made it clear that abandoning immoral acts is part of purifying the soul. Purifying the soul entails removing all evils, including immorality, injustice, associating partners with Allah, lying, and other such things.
Likewise, one who seeks leadership and supremacy on earth is, at heart, enslaved to those who help him attain them. Although outwardly he may be their leader whom they obey, in reality he places his hopes in them and fears them. He lavishes wealth and positions of authority upon them and pardons them so that they will obey and support him. Outwardly, he is a leader who is obeyed; in reality, he is their obedient slave. The truth is that each party is, in some measure, enslaved to the other, and both have abandoned true worship of Allah. If they cooperate in seeking unjust supremacy on earth, they are like two people cooperating in sexual immorality or highway robbery. Each is enslaved by the other because of the desire that has enslaved and enthralled him.
The same applies to one who seeks wealth: it enslaves and enthralls him. These things are of two kinds:
(One kind)
comprises things a person needs, such as food, drink, housing, marriage, and the like. He seeks these from Allah and turns to Him in desire for them. Wealth is then something he uses to meet his needs, like the donkey he rides or the mat he sits upon—indeed, like the privy in which he relieves himself—without becoming enslaved to it and thus becoming fretful