by the revealed Law, and to refrain from what the revealed Law forbids. When the servant is instructed to relinquish his own will, this concerns matters that are neither commanded nor forbidden. This is correct: such a matter has not been commanded, so that he should will its occurrence, nor has it been forbidden, so that he should will its nonoccurrence. In such matters, he therefore relinquishes the will for either alternative.

It has been explained that the person of spiritual reality must always adhere to the command: the outward command of the revealed Law, if he knows it, or the inward command. It has also been explained that the inward command applies only to matters that are neither obligatory nor forbidden in the revealed Law. In such matters, one awaits a particular command, so that one acts on its authority.

If you ask, “What, then, distinguishes this person from the person of piety who precedes him, and from the person of the Truth who follows him?”

The answer is:

As for those who follow him, whom he called the “abdāl,” they act only at the command of the Truth, and only through Him. They do not witness their own agency in the acts of obedience they perform; rather, they witness that it is He who brings about, through them, their obedience to His command.

For this reason, he said:

“Following the command in this state means opposing your own self by disclaiming any power or strength of your own.”

These people thus witness Allah’s oneness in lordship together with His oneness in worship, and they witness