Chapter on The First Obligation upon the Servant: to Know and Reflect

Chapter on the First Thing That Veils the Servant from Knowledge of It and Reflection upon It

I said: Will you not command me with what I should begin?

He said: Know that you are a servant owned by a Lord, and there is no salvation for you except through taqwā (mindful reverence) of your Master, Mighty and Glorious is He, and your Patron — and after it, no destruction shall befall you. So reflect and remember: for what purpose were you created? And why were you placed in this perishing abode? Know then that you were not created in vain, nor were you left without purpose. Rather, you were created and placed in this abode for trial and testing — that you either obey God, Mighty and Glorious is He, the Most High, or disobey — and then you shall be transferred from this abode to either the punishment of eternity or the bliss of eternity.

So when you know that you are a servant owned by a Lord, and then you comprehend: Why were you created? And for what were you put to trial? And to which of the two states shall be your destiny — the punishment of eternity, or the reward and the bliss of eternity? — that is the first thing incumbent upon you to begin with.

For the first of what is incumbent upon you regarding the rectification of your nafs (soul) — which cannot be rectified without it — and it is the first thing in al-ri'āya (observance) — is to know that it is owned by a Lord and is charged with worship. When you know that, you know that there is no salvation for the owned, worship-bound soul except through obedience to its Lord and its Patron, and that the guide to obedience of its Lord and its Patron, Mighty and Glorious is He, in general terms, and then acting upon His command and His prohibition in their proper contexts, their reasons, and their causes — one will not find that except in the Book of his Lord and the Sunna (practice) of His Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace.

For obedience is the path of salvation, and knowledge is the guide upon the path. The foundation of obedience is waraʿ (scrupulous piety), and the foundation of waraʿ is taqwā (mindful reverence), and the foundation of taqwā is the guide to muḥāsaba al-nafs (self-reckoning of the soul), and the foundation of muḥāsaba al-nafs (self-reckoning) is khawf (fear) and rajāʾ (hope) — perhaps through that which God, Mighty and Glorious is He, is worshipped in their hearts and their limbs among His creation, and likewise the people of this world.