without asking, you will be granted help in discharging it.” Another example is his saying:

“Do not wish to meet the enemy, and ask Allah for well-being. But when you meet them, stand firm.”

The Sunan collections contain the following report:

“Whoever asks to be appointed a judge and enlists intercessors to secure the appointment will be left to shoulder it on his own. But whoever neither asks for the appointment nor seeks help to obtain it, Allah will send down an angel to guide him aright.”

Another version says: “and if he is compelled to accept it.”

The two Sahīh collections report that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said concerning the plague:

“If you hear of it in a land, do not enter it; and if it breaks out in a land while you are there, do not leave to flee from it.”

It is also reported that he, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, “forbade making vows.” Another example is his saying:

“Leave me be as long as you refrain [from questioning], for those before you were destroyed only because of their excessive questioning and their disagreements with their prophets. When I forbid you something, avoid it; and when I command you to do something, do as much of it as you can.”

Section

Shaykh ‘Abd al-Qādir said:

“If you are in the state of spiritual realization, which is the state of friendship with Allah, oppose your desires and follow the command as a whole. Following the command is of two kinds:

(The first): Take from this world the sustenance that is the soul’s due, forgo personal gratification, fulfil your obligations, and devote yourself to abandoning sins, both outward and inward.