And the second kind is that which follows an inward command: the command of the Truth, blessed and exalted is He, by which He commands and forbids His servant. This command applies only to permissible matters concerning which the revealed Law gives no ruling—meaning that they are neither prohibited nor obligatorily commanded. Rather, they are left open, with the servant free to exercise his choice; hence they are called permissible. The servant therefore initiates nothing in such matters of his own accord, but awaits the command. When commanded, he complies. Thus, all his movements and moments of stillness come to be through Allah Most High: where the revealed Law provides a ruling, he follows it; where it provides none, he follows the inward command. He then becomes one who has attained spiritual realization, one of the people of spiritual reality. Where there is no inward command, there is simply action in a state of surrender.

If you are in the state of the reality of the Truth—which is the state of true realization and self-effacement, the state of the abdāl, whose hearts are broken for the sake of the Truth, who affirm His oneness and know Him, masters of knowledge and action, leaders and princes, generous guardians serving the Truth, deputies of the Most Merciful, His eminent ones, His foremost ones and His beloved ones, peace be upon them—then following the command in this state means opposing your own self, disclaiming all power and strength, and having no will or aspiration whatsoever concerning anything in this world or the Hereafter. Be a servant of the King, not of the kingdom; a servant of the command, not of desire. Be like an infant with its wet nurse, a corpse with the person washing it, or an unconscious patient with the physician—in matters other than those governed by commands and prohibitions.”

He also said:

“Follow the revealed Law in everything that befalls you, if you are in