O you who believe, with cognitive faith, fulfil your bonds, that is, the resolutions which you have consolidated in the wayfaring. The difference between the covenant (ʿahd) and the bond (ʿaqd) here is that the covenant was the depositing in them of [the knowledge of] the Oneness since pre-eternity, as has been mentioned, while the bond is the consolidation of the resolutions to [fulfil] the obligations [of religion] imposed upon them so that they might be led to the fulfilment of what they were covenanted to. Thus the covenant comes first and the bond follows. Every resolution to do something requires the bringing out of what is in the preparedness from potentiality into actuality, a bond between the person and God which must be fulfilled and which must avoid invalidating by any neglectfulness or shortcoming. Lawful to you, are all types of enjoyments and shares through healthy souls, [souls] which are not overcome by predatorialness or covetousness, such as the souls whose natures are those of the three types of animal flocks, except that which is [now] being recited to you, of the enjoyments that are incompatible with virtuous traits and justness: these are forbidden [to you] because they veil [you] from [realising] perfection [at the level] of the individual or of the species, game not being lawful to you when you are on pilgrimage, that is, not enjoying shares while disengaging for the wayfaring and embarking on spiritual discipline for the journey to God desiring arrival; for in this case it is necessary to make do with what one is entitled to [only], because entering into pilgrim sanctity is manifestly the [outward] form of real entry into sanctity for those wayfaring along the path of the Kaʿba of connection and for those seeking to enter into the divine sanctuary and the pavilions of the attributes of Majesty and Perfection. Verily, God decrees whatever He desires, for whomever of His friends (awliyāÌ) He wishes.
