obligatory duties and recommended acts, and refrain from forbidden and disliked acts. When they drew near to Him through all the acts dear to them that they were capable of performing, the Lord loved them with a complete love, as He, Most High, says:

“My servant continues to draw near to Me through voluntary acts until I love him.”

This means love in its fullest sense, just as He, Most High, says:

“Guide us to the straight path—the path of those You have blessed, not those who have incurred Your wrath, nor those who have gone astray.”

That is, He bestowed upon them the full and complete blessing mentioned in His words:

“Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger will be with those whom Allah has blessed: the prophets, the steadfastly truthful, the martyrs, and the righteous. What excellent companions they are!”

For those brought near to Him, even permissible activities became acts of obedience through which they drew near to Allah, Mighty and Majestic. All their deeds thus became acts of worship devoted to Allah. They therefore drank an unmixed draught, just as their deeds had been purely for Him. Those who followed a middle course, however, performed some deeds for themselves, for which they are neither punished nor rewarded. They therefore did not drink an unmixed draught; rather, some of the drink of those brought near was mixed into theirs, in proportion to the mixture they had made in this world.

A parallel to this is the division of the prophets, peace be upon them, into servants who are messengers and prophets who are kings. Allah, Glorified is He, gave Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the choice between being a servant and messenger or a prophet and king. He chose to be a servant and messenger. Examples of prophets who were kings include David, Solomon, and others like them, blessings and peace be upon them both. Allah Most High says in the account of Solomon, who said:

“My Lord, forgive me and grant me a kingdom such as no one after me will have. Indeed, You are the Bestower.”

“So We subjected the wind to him, blowing