The Path of the Worshipful Servants

The author tells us how he implored Allah to make it possible for me to compose a book one that would meet with unanimous approval, and the reading of which would result in positive benefit and He inspired me with a marvelous arrangement, the like of which I did not recall in any of the previous compositions dealing with the secrets of religious practices. "We therefore looked into the subject of worshipful service, and made a careful study of its path, from its beginnings to its destinations, which are the desired goals of its travellers. It is indeed a rugged path and a hard road, fraught with many obstacles, serious hardships, remote distances, enormous difficulties, frequent hindrances and impediments. It is beset with deadly perils and interruptions, abounding in enemies and highway robbers, and offering very few companions and followers. This is exactly how it needs to be, since it is the path of the Garden of Paradise..." He also said, Worshipful service is the fruit of knowledge, the benefit of life, the income of strong servants, the stock-in-trade of the saints [awliya'], the path of the truly devout, the allotted portion of the mighty, the goal of those endowed with aspiration, the emblem of the noble, the vocation of real men, and the choice of those with faculties of vision. It is the way of good fortune and the path [minhaj] of the Garden of Paradise.