without being used to aid obedience, they belong to the righteous, not to those brought near to Allah. But if they arise through means sanctioned by the revealed Law and are used to help fulfil its commands, these are the extraordinary feats of the foremost, those brought near to Allah.

“Extraordinary feats” must therefore be examined in terms of their causes and purposes: how they arose and what they led to—just as wealth is examined in terms of how it was acquired and how it was spent. Whoever uses them—I mean extraordinary feats—to serve his natural desires is blameworthy. As for someone devoid of both natural desire and a will that accords with the revealed Law, the most he can hope for is to be pardoned because he did not know what the revealed Law required him to will. But if he knew this and turned away from it, he is blameworthy and deserves punishment unless he is pardoned.

He is praised insofar as his will is not governed by his desires; nevertheless, it must also conform to the command of Allah Most High and His Messenger. It is not enough for it to follow neither one nor the other. Moreover, he cannot be entirely devoid of will: he must will something. If he does not will what Allah and His Messenger love, he wills what Allah and His Messenger do not love. Yet if he strives against himself to abandon what he desires, he continues to will what he supposes he has been commanded to do, and thus goes astray. This resembles the condition of those Christians who have gone astray.

Allah Most High has said:

“Guide us to the straight path, the path of those You have blessed, not those who have incurred Your wrath