Likewise is the one who depends upon Allah and puts his trust in Him...

Likewise is the one who depends upon Allah and puts his trust in Him, in which case he cuts his eye of covetousness off others, and puts down his burden of need and poverty at the threshold of the Absolute Self-Sufficient, and regards others as poor and helpless as himself.

So, the duty of the traveler to Allah is to expose himself to the Glorious Qur'an, and, as the criterion to tell a true and valid hadīth from a false and invalid one is to expose it to the Book of Allah, and the one which is not in harmony with it is to be judged as false and nonsense, similarly, the criterion for telling straightness from crookedness, and happiness from wretchedness, is that it is to turn out in the Book of Allah to be straight and correct.

And, as the character of the Messenger of Allah is the Qur'an, he [the sālik ] should make his character coincide with the Qur'an, so that it corresponds to that of the perfect friend of Allah. The character which is contrary to the Book of Allah is nonsense and false.

Likewise, he is to conform all his [other] knowledge, [ ma'ārif ], condition of heart, internal and external deeds with the Book of Allah, so as to be in harmony with it, and the Qur'an becomes the image of his inside: You are the clear Book that, By its letters the hidden is exposed.[^9] There are other disciplines in this field, some of which have already been mentioned early in this book under the title “the general discipline of worship,” and some others are mentioned here.

Going on explaining further disciplines will lengthen our discourse; therefore, we relinquish them, and Allah is the Knowing. [^1]: Sūrah al-A'rāf 7:12 [^2]: Sūrah al-Baqarah 2:31 [^3]: Bihār al-Anwār, vol. 4, pp. 186-7. [^4]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 3, “The Book of Faith and Disbelief” ch. on “The Believers' Brotherhood to One Another,” hadīth 4, p. 242. [^5]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 4, “The Book of Faith and Disbelief”, ch. on “The One Who Hurts the Muslims and Slights Them,” hadīth 7, p.53.

[^6]: In a sermon by Imām 'Alī ('a), it is said: “I am Allah's eye and His truthful tongue and His hand.” Ma'āniy 'ul-Akhbār, hadīth 14, p. 17; At-Tawhīd, ch. 22, hadīth 2, p. 65. [^7]: Usūl al-Kāfī, vol. 1, “The Book of at-Tawhīd”, ch. on “Wonders,” hadīth 4, p. 196. [^8]: Sūrah al-Anfāl 7:2. [^9]: This is a line of a poem which begins with: You think you are a small matter, While in you is contained the biggest world. The poem is ascribed to Imām 'Alī ('a). Previous…