Rather, He even knows the secret promptings of the souls before they surface, before they become apparent, while we know nothing of them. Allow me to pose a simple, close-at-hand question: do you know anything about your own rūḥ (spirit)—the very element by which you are alive? Do you know anything at all about it? The answer is, No.

“They ask you about the spirit; say: the spirit is of my Lord’s command, and you have been given but little knowledge” (Qur’an 17:85). The spirit that dwells between your two sides—you have no knowledge of it, no awareness of its reality. The phrase “you have been given but little knowledge” carries a note of reproach, as though He were saying, “What has escaped you of knowledge is not limited to the mystery of this spirit; how many other branches of knowledge have eluded you!” In sum, Allah declares: “Allah knows, and you do not know.”

The Exalted also says, “Go forth, whether light or heavy” (Qur’an 9:41). Go forth to what? To jihad. “Go forth, whether light or heavy,” meaning: set out whether departure is easy for you or burdensome. “Go forth, whether light or heavy, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the path of Allah; that is better for you, if only you knew.” In other words, if you are people of understanding, then realise that this is what is truly best for you.

He further says, “Indeed, Allah has purchased from the believers their lives and their wealth in exchange for Paradise. They fight in the path of Allah, kill and are killed—a promise binding upon Him in the Torah, the Gospel and the Qur’an—and who is truer to His covenant than Allah?” (Qur’an 9:111). Consider this transaction—a sale perfect in all its conditions and elements: the Purchaser is Allah, the sellers are the believers, and what the believers hand over are their very lives and their properties.