by which He admonishes you.” Allah, exalted is He, also said:

“Allah has certainly bestowed a great favour upon the believers by raising among them a Messenger from their own midst, reciting His verses to them, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom.”

And He, exalted is He, said:

“He is the One who raised among the unlettered people a Messenger from among themselves, reciting His verses to them, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom.”

This is the Reminder of which Allah said:

“Indeed, We have sent down the Reminder, and We will surely preserve it.”

Whoever turns away from this Reminder—the Book and the Sunnah—is assigned a devil as his companion and becomes one of Satan’s allies to the extent that he follows him. If he is loyal to the Most Merciful at times and to Satan at others, he possesses faith and friendship with Allah to the extent of his loyalty to the Most Merciful, and enmity towards Allah and hypocrisy to the extent of his loyalty to Satan.

As Hudhayfah ibn al-Yamān said, hearts are of “four kinds”: a pure heart containing a shining lamp—this is the believer’s heart; and a covered heart—this is the disbeliever’s heart. “Covered” means enclosed in a covering, as Allah, exalted is He, said concerning the Jews:

“And for their saying, ‘Our hearts are covered.’ Rather, Allah has sealed them because of their disbelief.”

The Prophet’s saying, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has already been cited:

“Whoever misses three Friday prayers, Allah seals his heart.”

Then there is an inverted heart—this is the hypocrite’s heart; and a heart with two sources of nourishment: one nourishing its faith and the other nourishing its hypocrisy. Whichever prevails determines its state.

This has also been narrated in the Musnad of Imām Ahmad as a report traced back to the Prophet. In the two Sahīh collections, ‘Abd Allāh ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Ās reports from the Prophet