make perfection consist in the servant’s annihilation to his own interests, they enter the station of annihilation in the affirmation of divine lordship, concerning which they say: (1) “The knower deems no good deed good and no evil deed evil.” They make (2) this the highest degree of spiritual knowledge. Thus, in their view, no distinction remains between the allies of Allah and His enemies; between faith (3) and disbelief in Him; between praising Him, extolling Him, and worshipping Him, on the one hand, and reviling Him, insulting Him, and declaring Him to be the third of three, on the other; between the Messenger of Allah and Abu Jahl (4); or between Moses and Pharaoh.

We have discussed these people (5) at length elsewhere.

If, however, such a person is one of the theologians who say, “There is nothing at issue except the servant’s own share of created things,” they perform acts of worship as though compelled, finding them burdensome (6), while their hearts become a pasture for Satan. For the following question occurs to them: “Why does He not bestow the reward without this imposition of duty (7)?” If they answer themselves by saying that this is more pleasurable (8), this (9) is among the feeblest and most unseemly of answers (10).