Something more emphatic has been narrated than the above...

Something more emphatic has been narrated than the above, that is, the Almighty has said, “It is I, Allah; there is no god but I; one who is not patient when I afflict him, and he does not accept my judgment, should seek a god other than I.”[^8] It has also been narrated that Allah Almighty inspired this to David, peace be with him: “O David! You want something, whereas I want something else. What shall be is what I want. If you surrender to what I want, I shall spare you what you want.

But if you do not surrender to what I want, I will wear you out regarding what you want, and [in the end] only what I want shall come to be.”[^9] Ibn Abbas has been quoted as saying, “The first to be called on to enter Paradise on the Judgment Day will be those who praise Allah Almighty under any condition.”[^10] Ibn Mas`ud is quoted as having said, “Should I lick a piece of burning timber, and it burns whatever it burns, keeping whatever it keeps, it is dearer to me than I say about something which happened that I wished it did not, or about something which did not happen that I wished it did.” The Prophet, peace and blessings be with him and his progeny, is quoted as having said, “Allah Almighty, through His wisdom and greatness placed spirituality and ease in acceptance [of Allah’s decrees] and in conviction, and He made grief and sadness in doubt and rage.”[^11] [Imam] Ali son of [Imam] al-Hussain, peace be with them both, has said, “Asceticism is [divided into] ten portions: The highest degree of asceticism is the lowest degree of piety.

The highest degree of piety is the lowest degree of conviction. And the highest degree of conviction is the lowest degree of acceptance [of Allah’s decrees].”[^12] [Imam] al-Sadiq, peace be with him, has said, “The attribute of acceptance is that you accept what you like and what you do not like. Acceptance is a ray of the light of Gnosticism. One who…