To it lies the allusion in the Hadith Qudsi: "My servant does not cease to draw near to Me through supererogatory works..." to the end of the narration as previously mentioned. And everyone whose beginning is not a burning furnace (bidayah muhriqah) will not have a brilliant, illuminating end (nihayah mushriqah).

Whosoever undergoes no spiritual struggle (mujahadah) attains no contemplation (mushahadah); and whosoever does not struggle against his own soul in his beginning will never catch a scent of the spiritual path—since the Path is built upon three pillars: its disciple (murid) does not eat except during absolute destitution, does not sleep except when utterly overcome, and does not speak except out of dire necessity.

An Admonition (Wasiyyah): Make your physical body your house, and your heart your place of seclusion (khalwah) within that house. Strive never to leave your place of seclusion, remaining in constant anticipation of your Beloved; for perhaps He will visit you, finding you present and the locus cleared of all else. Confront with the eye of the soul the mirror of its intellect, for that constitutes the life of the soul after its death.

A wondrous structure and a strange exhortation! He who is confined within the prison of his desires,