and other matters, just as benevolence is established through the attractive faculty of appetite. For warding off what is disliked without attaining what is loved amounts to absence: neither what is loved nor what is disliked is present. Attaining both what is loved and what is disliked, however, constitutes a flawed existence, since both are present together. These two alternatives compete for preference: some souls may choose one, while others choose the other. This applies when they are evenly balanced. When a little of what is disliked accompanies much of what is loved, existence is preferable; conversely, when much of what is disliked accompanies little of what is loved, absence is preferable.

Yet because the causes of both what is loved and what is disliked—that is, good and evil—are present, and, assuming both exist, aid is obtained just as provision is obtained amid fear, warding off what is disliked has come to hold great importance both in the revealed law and in human nature. In the revealed law, this finds expression in piety: it is accorded great importance in the Book, the Sunnah, and scholarly consensus. The ultimate good outcome belongs to those who possess it, and theirs is the reward.

In human nature, this is evident in the esteem people have for those who aid them by warding off harm from an enemy or any other source. Those who provide sustenance hold those who provide aid in greater esteem than the latter hold the former. This—and Allah knows best—is because aid without sustenance is beneficial, since the causes that bring sustenance are present and continue to operate. Sustenance without aid, however, is of no benefit, for the causes that bring aid are dependent.

This, however, is open to question. It may be said that the two stand in a reciprocal relationship: those who provide aid love those who provide sustenance more than those who provide sustenance love those who provide aid. For sustenance is loved, whereas aid is held in esteem.