T h i r d  P o i n t : This world is the realm of wisdom, the realm of service; it is not the realm of reward and recompense. The wage for deeds and acts of service here is given in the Intermediate Realm and the hereafter. Acts here produce fruits there. This being the truth of the matter, the results of actions that look to the hereafter should not be sought in this world. If they are given, they should be received not gratefully, but regretfully. For in Paradise, the more fruits are picked the more they grow. So it is hardly sensible to consume in this world in fleeting fashion the fruits of actions  that  pertain  to  the  hereafter,  which  are    lasting.  It  is  like  exchanging  a permanent lamp for one that will last a minute and then flicker out.

It is because of this that the people of sainthood look on service, difficulty, misfortune,  and hardship as agreeable. They do not complain and lament, but say: “All praise be to God for all situations!” When illuminations and wonders, unfoldings and  lights  are  bestowed  on them,  they accept  them  as divine  favours,  and  try to conceal them. They do not become proud, but offer more thanks and worship. Many of them  have wanted  those  states to be concealed  or to cease,  lest they spoil the sincerity of their actions. Yes, the highest divine favour for an acceptable person is not to  make  him  realize  the  favour,  so  that  he  does not  give up beseeching  and offering thanks, or become complacent and start complaining.

It is because of this truth that if those who seek sainthood and follow the Sufi path do so for illuminations and wonders, which are some of the emanations of sainthood, and they are turned towards those and receive pleasure from them, they as though consume in transient fashion in this transient world the enduring fruits of the hereafter. This too opens up the way to loss of sincerity, the leaven of sainthood, and to sainthood eluding them.

Seventh Allusion

This consists of four points.

F i r s t  P o i n t : The Shari‘a is directly, without shadow or veil, the result of the divine address, through the mystery of divine oneness in respect of absolute dominicalitY. The highest degrees of the Sufi path and of reality are like parts of the Shari‘a. Or they are always like its means, introduction, and servant. Their results are the incontrovertible matters of the Shari‘a.