Once the beliefs and faith are set straight...

Once the beliefs and faith are set straight, then the roots and branches (of the faith) will also become correct. The tradition we quoted at the beginning of the discussion shows us that all of our actions must return back to the issue of 'Unity of the actions of Allah (SwT).' The meaning of “…keeping one's hopes solely upon Allah” is that we cut off hope from all others and attach ourselves solely to Him; we close our eyes to everyone else and focus only on Allah (SwT).

If one were to reach this station, then Allah (SwT) would be sufficient during times of difficulty! The tradition then mentions that “…however if a person keeps his hopes on the transient world, then Allah leaves him to the world…” Therefore, if a person was to stop relying upon Allah (SwT) and put all of his trust in the material world and assumed that respect and disgrace come directly from the people, or assumed this his sustenance comes from the physical Earth through his hard work alone, then Allah (SwT) would leave this indivudal to the whims of the material world!

Of course, we are not opposed to the world of cause and effect; however, we must remember that behind the material world lies the hand of the One who induces things to happen (the actual Cause). In order for humanity not to forget that there is a Causer for everything, sometimes people create reasons and rationale for things which happen around them.

For example, sometimes people say that, “All the doors (of prosperity) were closed to me, and then all of a sudden, I found a way out!” while sometimes, the exact opposite of this is also said![^4] If one was to lose the Causer for everything that happens and was to rely solely on the frail spider's web known as the material world, then Allah (SwT) would leave the person alone within this weak web, as it has been stated in the Qur`an: مَثَلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّخَذُوا مِنْ دُونِ اللٌّهِ أَوْلِـــيَآءَ كَمَثَلِ الْعَنْكَبُوتِ اتَّخَذَتْ بَيْتاً وَ إِنَّ أَوْهَنَ الْبُـيُوتِ لَبَيْتُ الْعَنْكَبُوتِ لَوْ كَانُوا يَعْلَمُونَ “The similitude of those who take other than Allah as their guardian is as the example of the spider who takes his (frail) web as a house.

And surely the weakest of houses is the house of the spider, if only the people had knowledge of this (fact).”[^5] The intelligent person is one who does not rely upon the frail house of the spider - the material world.

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