If someone is content with the hereafter, he will find that he has made the better choice. If someone is content with little, much will come to him. If someone is content with lowliness, honor will come to him. Be content with less, until your condition is transformed. If someone humbly submits to the divine decree (qadar) and is content with it, he will be raised up by Allah, the One who has power (al-Qadir) over all things. Humility and good behavior will draw you close (to Him), while arrogance and bad conduct will keep you at a distance. Obedience will improve you and bring you close, while disobedience will spoil you and drive you away.
O young man! Do not trade religion (din) for figs (tin)! Do not trade your religion for the figs of sultans, kings and wealthy people, or for a morsel of forbidden food (haram). If you eat at the expense of your religion, your heart will turn black. And how could it not turn black, when you are worshipping creatures? O wretched failure, if you had any light in your heart you would be able to distinguish between what is unlawful (haram), what is legally dubious (shuhba) and what is indifferently permissible (mubah); between that which blackens your heart and that which illuminates it; between that which brings your heart near (to your Lord), and that which keeps it at a distance.
O ignorant one, I am familiar only with earning (kasb) or total trust (tawakkul) in the Lord of Truth. Acquiring by earning comes at the beginning of faith (iman) then with strength of faith comes acquisition from the Lord of Truth, after the disappearance of intermediaries between you and Him. When the heart becomes strong, acquisition is from the Lord of Truth by way of the hands of cretures, at the command of the Lord of Truth. What I mean when I say "the disappearance of intermediaries" is the disappearance of the heart's attachment to intermediaries and the idolatrous worship (shirk) of those who are merely carrying out the commandment of Allah, so that one takes from them but turns a deaf ear to their praise and their blame, their acceptance and their rejection. If they give, one sees the working of Allah in them, and likewise if they refuse to give.
The people (of the Lord) are deaf, dumb and blind to any but Allah. They have only Him as their Supporter (Nasir) and Deserter (Khadil), their Giver (Mu'ti) and Witholder (Mani'), their source of Harm (Darr) and their source of Benefit (Nafi'). Kernel without shell, purity upon purity, goodness upon goodness - such are they who expell all created beings (khala'iq) from their hearts. Nothing remains within them except Allah. What remains in them is the silent remembrance (dhikr khafi) of Him and no other. O Allah, bless us with knowledge ('ilm) of You!
Note: Extracts from lectures given by Shaykh Abdul Qadir al-Jilani in Ramadhan 545 A.H. Reference: The Sublime Revelation (Al-fath ar-Rabbani) Translated from the Arabic by Muhtar Holland.
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