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These two meanings are sound and firmly established; indeed, they constitute the very essence of religion, certainty, and faith. The first—Allah being in a person’s heart through knowledge and love of Him—is obligatory upon everyone and indispensable to every believer. If he fulfills his obligation in this regard, he follows the middle course; if he neglects part of it, he wrongs himself; and if he abandons it entirely, he disbelieves in his Lord.

The second—being in accord with his Lord concerning what He loves and dislikes, what pleases Him and what angers Him—in its fullness belongs only to the foremost, those brought near to Allah. They draw near to Allah through voluntary acts of worship, which He loves but has not made obligatory, after fulfilling the obligations that He loves, requires, and punishes those who abandon.

Thus, when these people performed the inward and outward words and deeds beloved to the True One, encompassing knowledge, spiritual states, and burdens, Allah Most High loved them. He said:

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

They did what He loved, so He loved them. For recompense corresponds to the deed, bearing the same relationship to it as an effect bears to its cause.

It should not be imagined that this means the servant must perform every single action that Allah loves, for that is impossible. Rather, what is meant is that he should perform whatever inward and outward deeds he is capable of;