one who works and earns, while a hammām is one who is ever intent. This is what is meant by saying that a person acts through volition and intention. Volition necessarily involves awareness and perception; thus, he is continually perceiving and acting through volition. Hence the following statements occur in hadith:

“The heart is more turbulent than a pot at a rolling boil.”

“The heart is like a feather lying on open desert ground.”

“There is no heart among Allah’s servants that is not between two of the fingers of the Most Merciful.”

Since this is so, it is impossible for the heart to be entirely without perception and activity. If its perception and activity do not fall within the good deeds that are commanded or within permissible acts, they must fall within the bad deeds that are forbidden. Doing good deeds thus encompasses both matters, making it nobler and more excellent.

This is because someone who fulfils what he has been commanded to do in terms of faith and righteous deeds may thereby refrain from what he has been forbidden in one of two ways. The first concerns their coexistence: faith is the opposite of disbelief, and righteous action is the opposite of evil action, so a person cannot simultaneously affirm and deny, or love and hate. The second is that a good deed leads one to abandon a bad deed, as Allah Most High says:

“Indeed, prayer restrains one from shameful and evil deeds.”

This is evident from experience. When a person reads the Quran and reflects upon it, this is among the strongest means of preventing him from committing sins, or at least some of them. Likewise, fasting is a shield. Similarly, belief itself that forbidden things are prohibited, and that Allah punishes people for them, turns the heart away from desiring them.