First Topic
Indeed the wiles of Satan are weak.
O my soul which is in despair due to doubts and scruples! The association of ideas and the imaginings or suppositions that occur to one are a sort of involuntary expression or depiction. If they arise from good and luminosity, the qualities and reality they possess are transposed to an extent to their forms and images – just like the sun’s light and heat are transposed to its reflection in a mirror. If such depictions are of something evil and dense, their qualities and requirements cannot pass or spread to their reflections. For example, the reflection in a mirror of something unclean or corrupt is neither unclean nor corrupt. Nor can a snake’s image bite.
In consequence, to imagine unbelief is not unbelief, and to imagine abuse is not abuse. Particularly if it is involuntary or some notion or speculation occurs to one, then it is altogether harmless. Furthermore, according to the Sunni school, the people of truth, if the Shari‘a rules that a thing is bad or unclean, it is because it is prohibited by Allah the Most High. Since what we are discussing are involuntary associations of ideas and imaginings that occur to one without one’s consent, they are not subject to such prohibitions. However ugly or unclean the form they take, they are not ugly and unclean.