as an intimate friend." And he said: "If I were to take an intimate friend from the people of the earth, I would have taken Abū Bakr as an intimate friend, but your companion is the intimate friend of Allāh," meaning himself. And he said: "Let no door remain open in the mosque except that it is closed, except for the door of Abū Bakr." And he said: "Indeed, those before you used to take graves as places of worship. Beware, do not take graves as places of worship, for I forbid you from that." All of this is in the "Ṣaḥīḥ," and it is mentioned that he said this a few days before his death, and that was part of the completion of his message. For in that is the complete realization of his intimacy with Allāh, which is fundamentally based on Allāh's love for the servant and the servant's love for Allāh, contrary to the Jahmiyyah. And in that is the realization of the tawḥīd of Allāh, and that they worship none but Him, as a refutation of those resembling the polytheists. And in it is a refutation of the Rāfiḍah, who deny the rights of the Ṣiddīq (raḍiya Allāhu ʿanhu) and are the greatest among those who associate with the qiblah in their worship of ʿAlī and others among humans. Intimacy is the perfection of love, which necessitates from the servant the perfection of servitude to Allāh, and from the Lord, exalted is He, the perfection of lordship for His servants whom He loves and who love Him. And the term servitude encompasses the perfection of humility and the perfection of love, for they..