shaykh possesses it. That knowledge then comes to the shaykh at that moment adventitiously, so he may convey it to this seeking possessor of aspiration, who accepts it only from him.
This is because the murīd collected his aspiration upon this shaykh concerning this question. Accounts of it are well known and related. This aspiration’s effect within divine matters is God’s saying in the divine report, “I am according to My servant’s opinion of Me, so let him think well of Me.” Whoever collects his aspiration upon his Lord—that none but He forgives sins and that His mercy “encompasses every thing”—receives mercy without doubt or uncertainty.
He, exalted is He, said, “That opinion you held of your Lord has ruined you, and you have become among the losers” [Fussilat 41:23], because they thought God did not know much of what they did. Hence we said knowledge of what this aspiration attaches to is indispensable. If it attaches to the impossible, it does not occur, and its harm returns upon its possessor: he affects himself through his aspiration. If it attaches to what is not impossible, it necessarily occurs.
Here this group’s aspiration attached to the impossible: denying God’s knowledge of certain servants’ works. God punished them through their works, and their opinion ruined them. We cannot give this question its due because of its vastness and the matters entering it that ought not be spoken or divulged. Its effect takes hold wherever it is found, however; if it is not collected and impairment enters it, it does not have this ruling.
Had those who
