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Al Fath ar-Rabbani – Sheikh Abd Al-Qadir Al-Jailani – Thirty Fourth Discourse - Excerpt O young man! Do not ignore and follow your own subjective thinking, because you will go astray.

Anyone who tries to get by with his subjective ideas alone will go astray and fall and slip. When you rely entirely on your own thinking, you are deprived of guidance and protection, because you do not look for them and do not see the reason for them. You say: I can manage without the knowledge of the scholars. You lay claim to knowledge, so where is the practice? What is the effect of this claim? What is its corroboration? The validity of your claim to knowledge will be demonstrated only by practical action, sincerity and patience in the face of adversity, and by your not being changeable, not getting worried and not complaining to other creatures.

You are blind, so how can you claim to be perceptive? Your intelligence is defective, so can you claim to understand? Give up your false pretension and repent to Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He). He is the One you need, to the exclusion of any other. You must turn away from everything and seek the Creator of everything. Do not concern yourself with those who can be broken and restored, destroyed and controlled. Attend to the private business of your own self until it is tamed and really knows its Lord (Almighty and Glorious is He), then you may attention to others. Take the highway of His purpose. Seek His company in this world and the hereafter. Make a practice of pious devotion, of detachment and isolation from all apart from Him. You must always practice self-effacement. Do not let yourself be certain of anything except the [devine] commandments and prohibitions, for He has made you certain of them.

O men and O women! Saved would be any among you who had with him [or her] one atom of sincerity, one atom of devotion, one atom of patience and gratitude. I see that you are bankrupt.