﴿ أَيَوَدُّ أَحَدُكُمْ أَن تَكُونَ لَهُۥ جَنَّةٌۭ مِّن نَّخِيلٍۢ وَأَعْنَابٍۢ تَجْرِى مِن تَحْتِهَا ٱلْأَنْهَٰرُ لَهُۥ فِيهَا مِن كُلِّ ٱلثَّمَرَٰتِ وَأَصَابَهُ ٱلْكِبَرُ وَلَهُۥ ذُرِّيَّةٌۭ ضُعَفَآءُ فَأَصَابَهَآ إِعْصَارٌۭ فِيهِ نَارٌۭ فَٱحْتَرَقَتْ ۗ كَذَٰلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ ٱللَّهُ لَكُمُ ٱلْءَايَٰتِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَفَكَّرُونَ ﴾

“Would any of you like to have a garden of date-palms and vines, through which running waters flow, and have all manner of fruit therein - and then be overtaken by old age, with only weak children to [look after] him-and then [see] it smitten by a fiery whirlwind and utterly scorched? In this way God makes clear His messages unto you, so that you might take thought.”

Would any of you wish: this is a simile of a state entailing a good deed, be it an [act of] expenditure or otherwise, through which one draws near to God and seeks His satisfaction - as is the case with this category of expenditure. But then his soul manifests itself in this [deed] and stirs so that its stirrings, which are at variance with the motion of the spirit, and its motives, which are different and in opposition to the exigency of the heart, become like a torrent. Satan then exploits its stirrings and makes these a means for his evil whisperings so that he breathes into it [the soul] the seeing of its deed or making a show [of it]. That breath is thus like a fire that consumes his deed, despite his dire need for it, as the commander of the believers ʿAlī, peace be upon him, said: 'O God forgive me that [deed] by which I draw near to You but which my heart then disagrees with'.