Return to the Story of the Fortunate Servant

Return to the story of that servant who came to a good end, and the misery and bad fate of the envious whose ends were wretched. When that beauty, the envy of the moon, won the field with the polo stick of loyalty and reached the ground of the king's nearness, his rank and standing before the king kept rising, and a fire fell into the soul of the envious one. God help us from the envious of evil nature, whose foul presence has made an entire world ugly. It is out of envy that Satan stands against Adam, plotting at every moment to lead his offspring astray. He said: I will surely lead them all astray from the path of truth, except the sincere ones. Just as I would not prostrate myself, how could I let a human being prostrate? Through this envy he leads many off the road; he makes arrogance their trap. Do not say that no one is too proud to bow; no one is ever arrogant toward the truth itself. What is arrogance? It is abandoning God's command, mocking and slandering His friend. Prostration to God means following the saints, for the light of God shines from their faces. When you step outside their command, it is out of folly that you act with scorn and pride. If you want the straight road without suffering, take hold of the hem of their robe. The people of truth are the road of truth, O traveler; through this path, my heart, head toward your goal. Enter the houses through their doors, and seek things through their proper means. Go and make your heart aware through the Quran; solve your difficulty through that Book of God. The path full of dread comes in three kinds: the straying, those who earned wrath, and the straight road. The straying are the Christians, those under wrath the Jews; the religion is the straight road, O loving one. Find for yourself who the Christians and Jews are, through your own pure intellect, not from this book. Beware, beware, do not become suspicious here; read the verse: surely some suspicion is a sin. My intent was the worthless envious one; what business have we with other devils? This envy is a very harsh and bitter disease; indeed, it is unbelief itself, if you look well. Since the blind, envious one, with this blameworthy trait, has fallen into enmity with the just and wise God, he wishes the loss of a blessing that God in His wisdom has granted to a servant. If he believes the envied one is worthy of it, then to wish its loss is to find fault with God. And if not, then that fool is claiming he knows better than God knows about that servant's case. Both of these are unbelief; and even if you set them aside, where has any envious person ever gained from envy? Rather, that deceiver is forever in torment, since he never reaches his aim and desire. Nothing comes to him from it but disgrace, for they have said: the envious never prospers. All he gets is his grief and sorrow, the burning of his heart, his heaped up anguish. Indeed, of all people that wretch has the least joy; beware of this disease that has no cure. Whatever I say, it is still more than that envy can hold; when have you ever seen an envious one who truly worshipped God?