Counsel Sidi Ahmad Zarrooq (d. 1492 C.E.) (Part 1) By Shaykh Hamza Yusuf

Know (may Allah give you and us success, and rectify our worldly and other worldly lives and grant us adherence to way of the truth in our journeys and in our sojourns) that: Repentance is a key. And taqwaa (awareness of Allah subhanahu wa t'ala) is vast and uprightness is the source of rectification. Furthermore a servant is never free of either blunders, or shortcomings, or lassitude. Therefore never be neglectful of tawbah (repentance), and never turn away from the act of returning to Allah subhanahu wa t'ala and never neglect acts that bring you closer to Allah subhanahu wa t'ala. Indeed, every time one of these three occurs, repent and return. Every time that you make a mistake, listen and obey. Any time you display shortcoming or lack of enthusiasm, don't desist in your efforts. Let your main concern be to remove from your outer state anything that is displeasing, and then maintain its outward state from continuous counsel. Continue doing this until you find that your fleeing from anything outwardly displeasing is second nature, and your avoidance of the boundaries of prohibited things is as if it acts like a protective net that is placed before you. At this point, it is time to turn inward, toward your heart's presence, and to its reality with both reflection and remembrance. Don't hasten the end result before you have completed the beginning. But likewise, don't begin without looking toward the end result. This is so because the one who seeks the outset at the end loses providential care; and the one who seeks the end at the outset loses providential guidance. Via-Sacred Text Series