“God, glory to Him, created His creation to worship Him, and that is their purpose, as He says: “I have not created jinn and humans except to worship Me” [Quran 51:56]. It is clear that the perfect servitude and worship that is required of humans cannot be achieved in the Home of Bliss [Paradise], but can only be achieved in the home of affliction and trials.

“God, glory to Him, wanted to take among the children of Adam prophets, messengers, friends and martyrs, loved by Him and loving toward Him. Therefore He withdrew Himself from them to let them deal with His enemies on their own, in this way testing them. When they preferred Him and strove with their souls and wealth in His way, they earned His love and approval and closeness to Him, which would have been impossible to earn without this process [of testing].

“God joins guidance with struggle in His saying “as for those who strive in Our cause, We shall surely guide them to Our ways”. The most perfect among the people when it comes to guidance are those who struggle the most in His cause, and the most obligatory struggle is the struggle against the ego and against desires, and the struggle against Satan and against the worldly life.

“Patience is to withhold the ego from vengeance when one has the ability to carry it out, to withhold the tongue from complaining, and to withhold the limbs from sinning.

“Whoever loves something other than God will be tormented by it three times in this world: He will be tormented by its lack before he acquires it, and once he acquires it he is tormented by the fear of losing it [...] and when he loses it, his torment increases further.

“Do not consider God’s saying “the righteous will be in bliss, and the wicked will be in a fire” to only apply to the bliss and torment of the afterlife.

“Of the most beneficial cures is relentlessness in supplication. Its opposite is for the servant to be hasty, so that when the answer is delayed his heart breaks and he gives up supplication.