reliance upon Allah and seeking His help. Whoever trusts Allah to bring him what benefits him and ward off what harms him can abandon his own desires and obey His command. Otherwise, his soul will not allow him to relinquish something for which he says he needs another’s help.

The Shaykh—may Allah be pleased with him—said:

“The sign that your will has been effaced through Allah’s action is that you no longer desire anything at all. You have no aim, nor does any need or aspiration occupy you, for you desire no will alongside Allah’s will. Rather, His action unfolds within you, so that you yourself become the will and act of Allah Most High: your limbs still, your heart tranquil, your breast expanded, your face radiant, your inner being flourishing, and the Creator making you independent of created things. The hand of power turns you about, the voice of beginningless eternity calls you, and the Lord of dominion teaches you. He clothes you in light from Him and in robes, and raises you to the stations of those predecessors who possessed the original knowledge. Thus you remain forever broken in spirit.

“No desire or will remains within you. You are like a broken vessel that retains neither liquid nor dregs. Your human traits fade away, and your inner being admits no resident other than Allah’s will. Then the bringing of things into being and departures from the customary order are attributed to you. Outwardly, reason and judgment perceive these as proceeding from you, though in the light of knowledge they are truly the action of Allah, Blessed and Exalted. You then enter the company of the brokenhearted, whose human wills have been broken and whose natural desires have been removed, while divine volitions and desires attributed to them have become firmly established in them. As the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

‘Made beloved to me, from