The Hikam of Ibn ‘Ata’illah / Chapter 5

And he said (may Allah be pleased with him!):

43. Do not keep company with anyone whose state does not inspire you and whose speech does not lead you to Allah.

44. You might be in a bad state; then, your associating with one who is in a worse state makes you see virtue [al-ihsan] in yourself.

45. No deed arising from a renouncing heart is small, and no deed arising from an avaricious heart is fruitful.

46. Good works are the results of good states. Good states arise from the stations wherein those having spiritual realization [at-tahaqquq] abide [maqamat al-inzal].

47. Do not abandon the invocation [adh-dhikr] because you do not feel the Presence of Allah therein. For your forgetfulness of the invocation of Him is worse than your forgetfulness in the invocation of Him. Perhaps He will take you from an invocation with forgetfulness [ghafla] to one with vigilance [yaqaza], and from one with vigilance to one with the Presence of Allah [hudur], and from one with the Presence of Allah to one wherein everything but the Invoked [al-Madhkur] is absent. “And that is not difficult for Allah.”