This is because a pure soul, softened by “spiritual discipline,” yet not drawn wholeheartedly to loving and worshipping Allah, nor possessed of a complete fear of Allah that turns it away from its desires, is overpowered whenever it falls under the sway of a physical form, just as a beast overpowers its prey. The beast seizes its prey by force, and the prey cannot resist it. Likewise, the beloved forms a person pictures in his heart swallow it up and overpower it, leaving it unable to resist. His heart remains absorbed in that form even more completely than prey is engulfed in a lion’s belly, for the beloved object of desire is the soul’s ultimate aim and wields an overwhelming power over it.
The “heart” is engulfed by whatever takes hold of it, whether something loved or something feared, as happens with the love of wealth, status and physical forms. Someone who fears another remains absorbed in him, heart and mind, just as a drowning person is engulfed in water. Just as he is inevitably overcome by the physical matter surrounding him, hearts are overcome by the things they imagine—things feared, loved or disliked. A person seeks what he loves and repels what he dislikes. Hope attaches to what is loved, and fear to what is disliked. None but Allah brings good, and none but Allah removes harm:
“If Allah afflicts you with harm, none can remove it but Him; and if He intends good for you, none can repel His bounty. He grants it to whomever He wills of His servants. And He is the All-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.”
“Whatever blessing you have is from Allah. Then, when harm touches you, it is to Him that you cry out.”