and that this is among the greatest paths followed by Allah’s allies. They therefore made contentment with every event and occurrence, or with every state in which a servant finds himself, a path to Allah, and thus went clearly astray. The path to Allah is only to please Him by doing what He loves and is pleased with—not to be content with everything that happens and occurs. He has neither commanded you to do this, nor approved it for you, nor loved it. Rather, He—glorified be He—dislikes, is angered by, and hates specific acts that occur, which none but He can enumerate.

Being an ally of Allah means being in accord with Him: loving what He loves, hating what He hates, disliking what He dislikes, being angered by what angers Him, befriending those He befriends, and opposing those He opposes. If you love and are pleased with what He dislikes and is angered by, you are His enemy, not His ally, and every condemnation directed at those who are pleased with what angers Allah applies to you. Reflect on this, for it draws attention to a fundamental principle concerning which countless people among the ascetics, Sufis, worshippers, and common people have gone astray—so many that none but Allah can number them.

The second way:

They do not distinguish between supplications they have been commanded to offer, whether as an obligation or as a recommendation, and supplications they have been forbidden to offer, or those they have neither been commanded nor forbidden to offer. A servant’s supplication to his Lord and his requests of Him are of three kinds:

“One kind” is that which the servant is commanded to offer, either as an obligation or as a recommendation, such as