“Whatever good comes to you it is from Allah, but whatever evil comes to you it is from your self”[1]  

Since the meanings of the names that drive an action pertain to Allah, it is good and belongs to Allah. Yet since it is bound by the limits of a composition and is processed by a composition, it is evil and belongs to the ego-self of its doer.   

The self (ego-identity) is altogether the manifestation of the Rabb!

I explained in previous chapters that what we call the self is the name composition comprising your being, governed by Rububiyyah.

That is, your essential reality is a composition of divine names which is your Rabb. So, when we refer to your compositional make-up, we say Rabb. In this light, he who obeys his self (nafs) obeys his Rabb!

This is a natural state of dhikr. Therefore, when we see an action, if this action is driven and produced by the composition, which is most often the case, then it is driven by the self (nafs).

If an action is not produced by the compositional effect, then it is from Allah, which was the case with all the Nabis and Rasuls, as wilayah necessitates “dying before death”. To die before death means you overcome your compositional boundaries and hence all actions that come forth from you afterwards is driven directly by Allah and not the ‘self’.

Nevertheless, a Nabi takes ownership of his actions out of ethical code and morality, for no composition is lifted forever!

Overcoming your composition means you begin to live at the level of the Names and at the level of Attributes, with the observation of Allah, and consequently you become a servant to Allah.

Despite this, an action still comes out from the composition. For if there is an action then there must necessarily be a composition that produces that action. There is no way for it not to exist. Hence the effects of a composition cannot be lifted indefinitely!

A common mistake of those who misunderstand “oneness” is based on their misinterpretation of statements such as “I came from Allah, to Allah is my return” which leads them to deny heaven and hell. It is nothing other than a total misunderstanding.

Regardless, if the divine laws and regulations are observed the person may still go to heaven, but due to his misunderstanding he will not have reached a state of perfection. If he complies with the divine laws and fulfills the necessary practices yet dies with this misunderstanding, with death he will realize this and see the truth. This will not perfect his state however, he will simply observe the truth of the matters he misunderstood. 

Yet again, all of this is with the condition that the person complies with the divine laws, for only then a person may be subject to divine grace.