who are chosen.’” Allah Most High also says:

“You have no authority over My servants, except those of the misguided who follow you.”

Those who are chosen are those who worship Him alone, associating nothing with Him. Allah is worshipped only in the manner He has commanded through His messengers; whoever does otherwise falls under the control of devils. This is an area in which many spiritual wayfarers have fallen into grave error: they have confused spiritual states bestowed by the Most Merciful with satanic states. They have experienced things like those experienced by soothsayers and sorcerers, imagining them to be miracles granted to Allah’s pious friends. This has been discussed at length elsewhere.

Sixth: Even if this method were sound, it could apply only to someone to whom no messenger had come. But when a messenger has come to someone and he has been commanded to follow a particular path, whoever opposes that messenger goes astray. The last of the messengers, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, commanded his community to perform prescribed acts of worship, including prayer, remembrance, supplication, and recitation. He never commanded them to empty their hearts of every thought and wait for whatever might descend upon them.

Even supposing this method had been followed by some prophets, it would have been abrogated by the law brought by Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. How, then, could it be valid when it is a method of pagan ignorance that leads to the intended goal only by chance, when Allah Most High casts into the heart of