hopes to meet his Lord, let him do righteous deeds and associate no one in the worship of his Lord.’

Associating partners with Allah is not merely worshipping idols; it also includes following your whims and choosing, alongside your Lord, anything other than Him, whether this world and what it contains or the Hereafter and what it contains. Everything besides Him—Blessed and Exalted is He—is other than Him. If you rely on anything other than Him, you have associated it with Him. So beware, and do not rely on anything else; be fearful, and do not feel secure; examine yourself, and do not become heedless and thus complacent. Attribute no spiritual state or station to yourself, and lay claim to none of these.”

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qādir also said:

“There are only Allah and your self, and you are the one being addressed. The self opposes Allah and is His enemy, while all things are subject to Allah. If you side with the Truth in opposing the self and treating it as an enemy, you become His advocate against your own self.”

He went on to say:

“Worship consists in opposing your self and your whims. Allah Most High says:

‘Do not follow your desires, lest they lead you astray from the path of Allah.’”

He went on to say:

“There is the well-known account of Abū Yazīd al-Bistāmī—may Allah Most High have mercy on him—who saw the Lord of Might in a dream and asked Him, ‘What is the way to You?’ He replied, ‘Leave your self behind and come.’ Abū Yazīd said, ‘So I cast off my self as a snake sheds its skin.’ Once it is established that all good lies, as a general rule, in opposing the self in every circumstance, then if