How many are the wishes a person harbors, desiring to see them fulfilled,
while making no effort toward them and taking no steps to reach them, merely wishing.
This is among the things that corrupt the heart and distract it.
Allah the Exalted says:
"Let them eat and enjoy themselves, and let [false] hope divert them; for they are going to know."
Embarking upon the sea of wishful thinking is a great risk,
for this sea has no shore.
It is the sea upon which the bankrupt of this world sail,
as it has been said:
"If you spend your night wishing, feeling content,
know that wishes are the capital of the bankrupt."
Thus, the waves of false hopes continue,
along with vain fantasies,
to toy with the one who sails them, just as dogs toy with a carcass.
It is the merchandise of every weak soul that lives on illusions and imagination,
possessing no ambition to attain truths and realities,
but rather having become accustomed to mental wishful thinking instead.
Everyone is according to their own state;
one wishes for wealth and authority,
while another is a wisher for desires and pleasures.
Yet the worldly life gives to those who deserve it and those who do not,
and everyone is swimming in the sea of wishful thinking.
While he is in this state, he suddenly awakens,
only to find his hand grasping nothing but the reed mat.
He has neither attained wealth nor reached glory.
As for the person of high ambition,
his wishes are grounded and near at hand,
for he strives to realize them through knowledge and faith,
and the deeds that draw him closer to Allah.
His wishes are faith, light, and wisdom,
and he is attached to Allah
at the very time when others have attached themselves to things other than Him.
Indeed, among the greatest corruptors of the heart, absolutely,
is for a person to wish without action.
He neither attains his portion from Allah,
nor does he reach what he hoped for from those he attached himself to.
The likeness of one who attaches himself to other than Allah
is like one seeking shade from the heat and the cold
in a spider's web,
which is the frailest of homes.
So, you who sail upon the sea of wishful thinking,
what have you reaped?
And what has been realized for you
other than a mirage and a straying from the path?
Return to reality and hold fast to every thread,
and transform hope into reality
through work, diligence, and struggle,
and by attaching yourself to Allah the Exalted,
seeking His aid,
and taking hold of all the necessary means.
For these are the matters that make wishing legitimate and acceptable.
From here the path begins,
and from here the journey sets forth.