And if a man is well versed in the inward realities of faith and distinguishes between states that come from the Most Merciful and those that come from Satan, then Allah has cast some of His light into his heart, as the Most High says:

“O you who believe, fear Allah and believe in His Messenger. He will grant you a double share of His mercy, give you a light by which to walk, and forgive you.”

The Most High also says:

“And thus We have revealed to you a spirit by Our command. You did not know what the Book was, nor what faith was, but We have made it a light by which We guide whomever We will of Our servants.”

Such a person is among the believers described in the hadith narrated by al-Tirmidhī from Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, in which the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“Beware of the believer’s discernment, for he sees by the light of Allah.”

Al-Tirmidhī said, “It is a good hadith.”

The authentic hadith recorded in al-Bukhārī and elsewhere has already been cited. In it, Allah says:

“My servant continues to draw near to Me through voluntary acts of worship until I love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he grasps, and his foot with which he walks. Through Me he hears, through Me he sees, through Me he grasps, and through Me he walks. If he asks Me, I will surely give him, and if he seeks My protection, I will surely protect him. I have never hesitated over anything I am to do as I hesitate over taking the soul of My believing servant: he dislikes death, and I dislike causing him distress, yet he must undergo it.”

If a servant is one of these, the state of the allies of the Most Merciful is distinguished from that of Satan’s allies, just as a money changer distinguishes a genuine dirham from a counterfeit one, just as someone who knows horses distinguishes a good horse from a poor one, and just as someone familiar with