The origins of all the dispraised acts are self-conceit...

The origins of all the dispraised acts are self-conceit, selfishness, ostentation, and obstinacy, each of which is the origin of many dispraised characters, and is at the head of many sins.

Having completed this purification, and purified the clothes of taqwā with the water of sincere repentance and lawful austerity, the sālik will have to busy himself with the purification of the heart, which is the real concealer [ sātir ] and into which Satan's intrusion is greater, and its impurities spread to other clothes and concealers. So, without purifying the heart other purifications will not be easy.

The purification of the heart passes through several stages, some of which will be referred to in these pages. One of them is purging the heart from loving this world, which is at the head of all sins and it is the origin of all corruptions. As long as man has this love in his heart, it will not be possible for him to be admitted to the Presence of Allah; and divine affection, which is the mother of purities, is not accomplished with this impurity.

Perhaps in the Book of Allah and in the advices of the prophets and holy men (' a ), particularly Amīr al-Mu'minīn ['Alī] (' a ), importance is the least given to other than abandoning this world, neglecting it and avoiding it, all of which are of the realities of taqwā .

This stage of purification is not achieved except by useful knowledge, strong cordial austerities, concentrating one's thoughts on the beginning [ mabda' ] and the return (to Allah) [ ma'ād ], engaging the heart in taking lessons from the decay and the destruction of the world, and the excellence and happiness of the invisible worlds: “May Allah have mercy upon the one who knows where he has come from, where he is and where he is going.”[^2] Another purification is to be purged from dependence on the creatures, which is a concealed polytheism; yet, to the people of knowledge, it is a manifest polytheism.

This purification is accomplished through (the belief in) Allah's Unity of Acts, which is the source of all cordial purifications. It must be noted that mere demonstrative knowledge and contemplative step concerning the Unity of Acts do not have the required result. It sometimes happens that too much indulgence in the experimental sciences brings darkness and displeasure to the heart, and hinders man from attaining the higher objective.