Characteristics of a Successful Muslim – Yahya ibn Mu`adh al-Razi
In the Name of Allah, the Benevolent, the Merciful
Yahya ibn Mu`adh al-Razi (Allah have mercy upon him), one of the great imams of the spiritual path from the early Muslims (salaf), said:
“Glad tidings be to a servant who has:
1. Made their occupation worship (`ibada);
2. Neediness (faqr) their longing;
3. Spiritual seclusion (`uzla) their desire;
4. The Hereafter their concern;
5. Seeking a living their means [f: rather than an end in itself];
6. Death their reflection (fikr);
7. Their intention busy with renunciation (zuhd);
8. Killed through abasement (dhull) their self-consequence (`izz);
9. Making their Lord their sole need;
10. Remembering their errors in their solitude (khalwa);
11. Sending forth in ecstasy their contemplation;
12. Complaining only to Allah regarding their strangeness (ghurba);
13. And asking through repentance for Allah’s Mercy.
Glad tidings be to one for whom these are their traits; whose regret is over their sins; ever-yearning in need by night and day; weeping before Allah in the depths of the night; calling upon the All-Merciful; seeking the Gardens of Paradise; and fearing the Fires of Hell.” [Related by Abu Nu`aym, Hilyat al-Awliya, 10.58]