Umar ibn al-Khattāb, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “What an excellent servant Suhayb is! Even if he did not fear Allah, he would not disobey Him.” This expresses the full meaning of His words:

“The path of those You have blessed, not of those who have incurred Your anger, nor of those who have gone astray.”

And His words:

“And they exhort one another to truth and exhort one another to patience.”

And His words:

“Possessors of strength and insight.”

And His words:

“They are upon guidance from their Lord, and it is they who are successful.”

And His words:

“Indeed, the criminals are in error and blazing fire.”

And His words:

“Whoever follows My guidance will neither go astray nor suffer misery. But whoever turns away from My remembrance will have a life of hardship, and We will raise him blind on the Day of Resurrection.”

And other similar verses.

The reason is that goodness may come through knowing the truth and following it in both knowledge and action. Soundness of speech and action rests on knowledge and will. Knowledge is the foundation of action, will, love, and other such things, and necessarily entails them unless something intervenes to prevent this.

Thus, knowing the truth leads to following it unless a stronger opposing influence intervenes, such as following one's desires through arrogance and the like. This was the condition of those of whom Allah said:

“I will turn away from My signs those who act arrogantly on earth without right. Even if they see every sign, they will not believe in it. If they see the path of right guidance, they will not take it as their way; but if they see the path of error, they will take it as their way.”

And He said:

“They denied them, though their souls were convinced of them, out of injustice and arrogance.”

And He said:

“It is not you that they deny; rather, it is Allah’s signs that the wrongdoers reject.”

For this reason He said: “O David,