—never at all, no matter what people said of him; he would never seek vengeance for his own sake. Yet when the sacred limits of Allah were violated, he was the fiercest of people in dealing with those who transgressed them. A Muslim, therefore, should feel protective jealousy for his Lord: he should not hear anyone curse Allah, revile Him, or mock Him without being stirred to indignation and censuring that person—even if the matter must be reported to the ruler—for this is part of sincere counsel to Allah.

Another facet of counsel to Allah is to defend His religion—the faith He has legislated for His servants—by thwarting the schemes of the plotters and refuting the atheists who portray religion as nothing more than chains that shackle people and strip them of freedom. The truth is that religion safeguards freedom, for a person binds himself to Allah, through Allah, and within the bounds set by Allah. Whoever refuses to be bound in this way will find himself bound to Satan, following in his footsteps. The human soul is forever restless; it is never truly still. It must be occupied with something—either with good or with evil.

How excellent are the words of Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH) in his didactic poem al-Nūniyyah:

They fled the servitude for which they had been created,
And fell into the servitude of the self and of Satan.

They fled from the servitude for which they were created—that is, the worship of Allah. The Exalted says, “I did not create jinn and mankind except to worship Me” (Surah adh-Dhāriyāt 51:56). Yet they ran from this servitude, which is the perfection of freedom and true happiness, only to fall into the servitude of the ego and of Satan.